Great news—we’re having our once-a-year Warehouse Sale on November 6 & 7, 2009.

It’s just two weeks away! So if  you live in the Los Angeles area or if you’ll be visiting the LA area on those dates, you won’t want to miss it!

At the sale, you can save up to 80% off on 1,000’s of koi designer scrub tops, pants & more! Prices start at $5 and nothing will be over $20. We’ll even pay the sales tax!

Plus, at the sale, you can get a sneak peak of our new Spring 2010 Collection, which will be on sale at authorized koi retailers starting in January.

The sale will be for two days only.

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, 10 am to 3 pm

Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, 9 am to 2 pm

Location:

Our Los Angeles area warehouse:

275 W. Walnut Street

Rancho Dominguez, CA 90220

(Just off Freeway 91, less than 30 minutes south of downtown Los Angeles) 

We hope to see you there! Come early for best selection!

You’ll look great this fall and winter in our newest Kathryn tops. These stylish, head-turning new print tops are flattering for all shapes and sizes. Get them while they last at your local authorized koi retailer.

From left to right: Our new Kathryn tops include Nordic Stripe (115PR-NDS), Graffiti (115PR-GRW), Vision (115PR-VIS) and Snow Queen (115PR-SNQ).

Above: Sanchon, one of the many beautifully designed restaurants you can find in Korea.

Earlier this year, koi designer Kathy Peterson and some members of the koi creative team packed their bags for a trip to the Far East. The second destination was Korea. Here are some of Kathy’s thoughts on this part of her journey: 

There are many interesting things about Korea that most people don’t get a chance to see. As a society, they really value aesthetics. I noticed this in the interior of buildings, mainly restaurants.  My friends and business associates in Korea are always so kind and find the best restaurants to take me. It is always very challenging for them because I am a vegetarian and Korea is well known for their beef. They found a great restaurant for me named Sanchon that had its own unique story. Sanchon was created by a monk. At this restaurant, they serve typical temple cuisine that is all vegetarian and utilize vegetables and plants from the temple’s nearby surroundings. I love this concept. It was an amazing experience to sit on the floor and eat dinner under beautiful lotus shaped lanterns. If I could have fit them in my suitcase I would have taken a few.

Nearby this restaurant is a great shopping area that is devoted to creative individuals and artists. It was incredible to see individual artist with their own storefronts selling their unique creations from food, art, jewelry, clothing, and home decor. Everything about this building was creative. The floors were built on a gradual incline so you could reach the top of the building by just walking forward and never past the same store in this direction. It was so refreshing to see this in contrast to the big department stores and chains we see in the US.  I love countries that supports creative artists and entrepreneurs. I hope in the near future we will see more places like this in the US.

Above: A unique shopping mall in Korea devoted to the work of creative artists.

While I was in Korea I found beautiful sheets and bedding. This fabric inspired our new Bella top. It is incredibly silky and is the perfect softness to have against your skin. I also love that it has a slight sheen to it. The mismatched buttons designed to go on this top were inspired by the beautiful artwork created by one of the artists in Korea. I chose to mismatch the buttons because it represents the uniqueness of an artist along with the imperfection of art. I think when this is done right it can be beautiful. Sometimes when something is too perfect it doesn’t come across as authentic.

Another lesser know fact is that Korea has a high percentage of plastic surgeries. Plastic surgeries are common and acceptable there. I discovered  this when I would look through Korean fashion magazines and see that a third of the magazine was devoted to plastic surgery advertisement. I have to admit that many of the women there are beautiful and have incredibly milky skin. Their preference there is for lighter whiter skin. Tanning is not popular in Japan, Korea, or China. Whiter skin is considered more attractive and many of the cosmetics sold in Asia contain a whitener.

Shopping is always good here. Korea has these great outdoor markets that open at 11:00 PM when the regular stores are closed. You can almost have a 24-hour shopping experience if you choose to. The other incredible thing is that you will see lots of couples in department store together. Often times it is a way they spend time together on the weekend. It is also unbearably crowded on the weekends because of this. Just another reason to love Korea. Any country that would promote shopping together as an activity is my kind of country.

Check our blog for more highlights from Kathy’s Far Eastern trip soon.

With October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re excited to introduce the koi Hope Breast Cancer Collection to help support breast cancer research. Included in this limited edition collection are exclusive versions of our popular Kathryn and Bridgette tops featuring our unique Hope print. koi will donate $2 from the sale of each Hope top toward breast cancer research.

Also part of this collection is our Hope bracelet. koi is donating $1 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® for every bracelet sold through December 2009, for a minimum contribution of $15,000.

Join koi in the fight against breast cancer by purchasing items from our Hope Breast Cancer Collection at your local authorized koi retailer. Together, we can make a difference.

Above from left to right: koi Kathryn top (115PRM-HPE) and Bridgette top (129PRM-HPE) featuring our Hope print to support breast cancer research.

Above: koi Hope bracelet (806). koi is donating $1 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® for every bracelet sold through December 2009, for a minimum contribution of $15,000. 

Above: a Louis Vuitton window display in Tokyo featuring the brightly colored artwork of Takashi Murakami. 

Earlier this year, koi designer Kathy Peterson and some members of the koi creative team packed their bags for a trip to the Far East. The first destination was Japan. Here are some of Kathy’s thoughts on this recent trip:

Our first stop was Japan. I love Japan. I say this not because my heritage is Japanese but because it really is a cool place to visit. It was an adventure from the moment we landed. Reports of the swine flu entering the US were all over the TV around the time I landed in Tokyo. Japan is known for many things: cool electronic gadgets, very polite people, sushi and innovative fashion. A lesser known fact is that many Japanese people are very germophobic (in Japan) and will wear surgical masks when they are sick to prevent the spread of germs. Before we were allowed off the plane, we went through an inspection process that looked like a 1960s space horror movie. We had to pass inspection by a group of men dressed in yellow full-body rubber suits , masks and huge heat-sensory cameras. If they weren’t so polite it might have been scary. I am happy to say that they allowed us to deplane and start our adventure. 

In Tokyo, Louis Vuitton was celebrating the 6th anniversary of their collaboration with Takashi Murakami. Murakami is known for the brightly printed Louis Vuitton purses with the cherries and colorful LV letters. The windows of the stores were decorated in bright colors and beautiful, playful art.  Japan featured a lot of bright, joyful colors reminiscent of the 80s. These colors inspired our Spring 2010 collection. Adidas created this huge mural of tennis shoes. When you entered the store they gave you a marker and a sketch of a shoe to color. They later posted your shoe on the mural. We could see someone hanging from a bungee cord mounting the shoes on the wall. Very cool.  

We also went to Japan’s famous shopping district Harajuku. It was so packed with people we could hardly walk.  We saw huge lines that were 4 people deep for many, many blocks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people lined up before. Everyone, both men and women, were in line for hours to get into the new Forever 21 store that just opened. There is a huge trend and demand in Japan for stores that are inexpensive and fashionable. They love stores like H & M and TopShop. Harajuku is also a great place to people watch. This area is known for their outrageous fashion. We saw neon colors paired with black, denim mini skirts and furry Russian hats. A great trend we were inspired by is longer tops with a drawstring and dropped waist. You can see this inspiration in the new Reese top. The prints were inspired by the beautiful textile patterns and prints we saw throughout Japan. Many people do not know this, but Japan is known for beautiful textiles and prints. They are often used in the better designer markets in Europe because of their high cost. Japan is also known for the beautiful fabrics that are used in Kimonos, traditional Japanese attire. Some of the fabrics are woven with gold thread and cost thousands of dollars. They are a work of art.

The Japanese are known for their presentation, and store purchases often come with a bag within a bag. They consider the packaging part of the gift. Many stores provide you with an extra gift bag just in case you give the item you purchased as a gift. The concept of recycling hasn’t quite caught on there yet. I tried several times to leave a store without a bag and I would always end up with the item either wrapped up in paper or in a smaller bag than they would have originally given me. Sometimes I would end up with both. I have to admit, the packaging is beautiful. 

Check our blog next week for more highlights from Kathy’s Far East trip. Next stop: Korea. 

Above: A mural created by Adidas in Tokyo featuring drawings of Adidas shoes hand-colored by their customers.