The fires that in Los Angeles have continued to cause destruction to residences and businesses, along with a death toll of 27 people so far.
The fires have proven massively disruptive to Los Angeles’s vibrant fashion and beauty industries. Brands have lost stores to the fire, closed them out of concern for safety, halted operations in parts of the area and sent employees to work from home for the foreseeable future.
But as the near-hurricane-force winds that fanned the fires into full strength die and firefighters make progress containing the remains of the wildfires, brands that have been affected have been left wondering when, and how, to return to normal operations.
Courtney Weis, head of marketing for FP Movement, Free People’s activewear line, told Glossy the brand has been deeply affected by the fires since it has offices and stores throughout Southern California. At least two of the company’s stores have been destroyed or damaged by fires. Its store in the Palisades called Free-est, focused on travel apparel and goods, underwent severe damage despite still standing. Another store in Malibu is likely damaged, but Free People hasn’t been able to send anyone to check since the fires there are still active.
“I have 15 people on my team and not one of them doesn’t know someone whose house or school or livelihood has been destroyed,” Weis said. “The sheer scale of destruction has been unbelievable.”
Lisa Neville, a musician and artisan who sells handbags individually in the L.A. area, told Glossy that two of her biggest clients lived in Altadena and she has lost out on their business.
“I live 20 minutes from the fires which is not exactly far away considering the L.A. traffic,” she said. “Most of my private customers live in those areas, so it’s safe to say that 2025 will not be a year that they utilize my services. I just pray everyone is safe and sound.”
Free People, like many brands with a presence in the area, immediately moved to aid employees and neighbors. Weis’s team took a full week off from regular work to deal with the fallout from the fires, and store employees were forced to evacuate affected stores. Many of those employees have immediately begun work on the Free Shop, a collection of thousands of units of free goods that Free People distributed in the Santa Monica area from January 18-20. That included clothing from Free People, as well as donations from its partners like On Running and Hoka and food and water. Everything is free and people are not required to prove they were affected by the fire to receive aid.
Other brands have taken similar measures. MeUndies, a brand with a strong in-office culture, immediately moved every employee in the area to work-from-home in the wake of the fire, as did Snap, which is based in Santa Monica. Some business owners have been less quick to offer lenience to their affected employees, leading to some reports of employees walking out of stores even when their owners had ordered them to keep them open.
While resuming operations is contingent on uncontrollable factors, like the structural integrity of stores, others are murkier. Whether to resume normal marketing communications is one such consideration. Free People paused all SMS and email marketing in Southern California at least through January 19. Weis said she didn’t want promo codes and marketing texts to be flooding people’s phones when they’re also looking out for safety and evacuation alerts.
Avant Collective, a PR firm that represents fashion and beauty brands, began pitching its brands to editors again on January 14, even as both founders live in the affected area and one had to relocate.
But for many brands, the future after the fires is still up in the air. Weis said the employees from the closed stores have been eager to help in other parts of the business. Positions will be made for them elsewhere in the company if the stores close permanently, she said.
“We are a global brand and business is still running outside of the area,” Weis said. “Our e-commerce is still going strong. We have teams around the world that can help pick up the slack.”
