Wet seal

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Brands: wet seal

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Wet Seal is a young women's clothing retailer headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California. It carries moderately priced brand name and company-designed apparel and accessories. The company was founded in Newport Beach, California by Lorne Huycke in 1962 as "Lorne's." The "Wet Seal" name comes from a comment Lorne Huycke made during a fashion show commenting that a model wearing a bathing suit looked like a "wet seal."

In 1995, Wet Seal acquired 237 Contempo Casuals stores from the Neiman Marcus Group. Contempo Casuals would continue to use its own name until 2001, when the remaining stores were converted into Wet Seal stores. The company then launched the Arden B. brand in November 1998 and changed most of the remaining Contempo Casual names to Arden B. As of November 22, 2006, Wet Seal has 428 locations in 48 states and Puerto Rico.

The Wet Seal, Inc. and its subsidiaries operate as a specialty retailer of apparel and accessory items for women in the United States. It operates two mall-based chains of retail stores under the Wet Seal and Arden B brands. The company's Wet Seal stores offer apparel and accessories for teenage girls; and Arden B stores provide feminine, contemporary collections of fashion separates and accessories. It also operates Web-based stores, which include www.wetseal.com that offers Wet Seal merchandise; and www.ardenb.com, which offers Arden B apparel and accessories. As of February 2, 2008, the company operated 494 retail stores, including 399 Wet Seal stores and 95 Arden B stores. The Wet Seal, Inc. was founded in 1962 and is based in Foothill Ranch, California.