By the seat of the pants; A new Dallas boutique hopes to cash in on customized recycled denim and other women's and children's offerings. (Rich Hippie) Holly Haber.

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2005 Fairchild Publications, Inc.

Byline: Holly Haber

The days of sitting at home painstakingly embroidering flowers and patches onto jeans are long gone. Today, most women prefer to pay someone to trick up their denim.

That's the concept behind Rich Hippie, a recycled denim wholesaler that has opened a shop in Dallas of its women's and children's clothing, among other items.

Though Rich Hippie has been stitching appliques and embroidery onto old Levi's since 1990 under the name ReDenim, until now its styles were sold in the United States only at Fred Segal in Los Angeles. The bulk of Rich Hippie's roughly $1 million annual volume comes from Europe and Japan.

"We sell at shows in London and Berlin because no one copies us there," explained Eric Kimmel, Rich Hippie's founder and designer. "Here, if something sells well, they copy you."

In addition, the company's colorful, unique styles and vintage decorations were more warmly received abroad. "In Japan, they want to look different," Kimmel observed. "Here, they want to look the same."

Still, the American market has clearly jumped on the vintage train, and Kimmel felt the time was right for a retail outlet for his products in his hometown. His partners in the store are his sister, Nikki Solomon, who is the head buyer, and Mindi Kahn, who owns United Southern Waste in Dallas. USW buys clothing by the pound from various charities and grades it, with some of it winding up as decoration on Rich Hippie's denim and knitwear.

Kahn, who last year became a partner in Rich Hippie's wholesale business after 15 years as a supplier, said she saw the store as an opportunity for USW to retail its products. Currently, most of USW's clothing is shipped overseas to Third World countries.

"We want to be vertical and control our own destiny," Kimmel affirmed. "We're trying to build our own brand and beat our own drum."

The trio hopes to perfect the 1,800-square-foot concept here with an eye on rolling it out to New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris.

Opened in late October, the store's first-year sales projection is $1 million.

The shop's decor features painted peace signs and other symbols, which sets the mood for its bohemian yet fashionable merchandise mix. Most of the goods are from Rich Hippie, such as patchwork appliqued jeans, French military pants with fuzzy floral embroidery and dip-dyed thermal T-shirts with whipstitched leather heart appliques. The store also will make custom pieces, such as stitching bits of a child's soccer jersey onto jeans that mom can wear to a game. Most Rich Hippie pieces retail from $48 to $198.

For the remainder of the shop's merchandise, Solomon concentrates on hip fashion that she can retail exclusively in Dallas. That includes Little Big denim jeans, Tatiana's semiprecious chandelier earrings, Below the Belt studded leather belts and Michelle Roy's sparkle bracelets, as well as a selection of unusual sweaters, handbags and beauty products. A leased department of Outerluxe's fashion-forward furs, shearling and outerwear rounds out the women's mix.

Rich Hippie's children's wear is lighthearted, such as jeans with a print of Tweety Bird stitched onto one leg and a print of the Cat in the Hat on the other. The store will stage children's birthday parties in which guests can choose decorations for their jeans.

With its location in Dallas' wealthy Highland Park neighborhood, Rich Hippie draws a diverse clientele, from university students to septuagenarian world travelers. "Our customer is someone who likes designer -- not someone who shops at the Gap," said Solomon.

Caption(s): Rich Hippie partners Nikki Solomon, Eric Kimmel and Mindi Kahn / Symbols from the Sixties appear throughout Rich Hippie, like in this clock at the checkout counter. / The 1,800-square-foot interior of Rich Hippie.