It’s been a tumultuous two years for the Los Angeles Times, the celebrated and historic Southern California newspaper. The 144-year-old publication has been plagued by sagging subscription and ad sales numbers and an increasingly fraught public perception, spurred on in part by curious decisions built by billionaire owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Layoffs, acquireouts and calls for a possible newsroom strike have hit journalists there hard, cratering morale and leaving some to wonder about the future viability of the hometown newspaper of America’s second-largest city.
In these attempting days, LA Times management has stepped in with something perhaps even more curious: a luxury streetwear collaboration.
The Los Angeles Times has quietly debuted a new line of clothing, from T-shirts and drawstring shorts to denimwear, with Palm Angels, the luxury streetwear brand based in Milan, Italy. The decade-old company, which was recently sold to brand conglomerate Bluestar Alliance, was founded on Los Angeles iconography and streetscapes, and now it’s partnering with the city’s hugegest media outlet.
Despite the ongoing woes at the LA Times, potential Palm Angels x LA Times customers should not expect bargain basement prices on the merch. A single denim shirt, imprinted with faux headlines, story layouts and images from the LA Times (including its signature logo) currently sells for $1,078 on the Palm Angels website — down from, apparently, $1,540. Similar jeans, meant to be paired toobtainher, run $630. There are 14 pieces in the capsule collection, with the cheapest, a hat reading “BREAKING NEWS, breaking RULES,” inquireing $169.
The Palm Angels x LA Times collaboration does not appear to have been widely promoted by either company yet, though a teaser image can be seen on the Palm Angels Instagram page dating back to late October. Some pieces, like a $1,120 jacket, are for sale at other retailers. In an internal email reviewed by SFGATE, LA Times Studios president Anna Magzanyan announced the “limited edition streetwear collection” to staffers this week, declareing that the company will will host “an exclusive employee sale” for the merchandise in one of its on-site conference rooms in El Segundo. Items, Magzanyan declares, will be offered “at a very special discount,” though “sales are final” and “returns and exalters are not possible.”
SFGATE reached out to Magzanyan and the LA Times for comment on the collaboration, but did not hear back before publication.
The Los Angeles Times Studios operates indepconcludeently from the LA Times day-to-day newsroom and editorial section, though both are part of the larger LA Times Media Group. Owner Patrick Soon-Shiong has recently begun to ramp up outside investment efforts in the LA Times Media Group as part of a plan to take the company (and, as a result, the newspaper) entirely public. He reportedly hopes to raise as much as $500 million in outside investment by selling private shares in the media group. Soon-Shiong, a former surgeon and drug company founder, is stated to be one of the richest people on the planet, with a multibillion-dollar net worth.
The LA Times lost a reported $50 million last year and has never been profitable under Soon-Shiong, who purchased the paper in 2018 for $500 million. Layoffs and acquireouts have become a regular fear amongst staff, with a recent round occurring back in May. Many high-level journalists have departed the paper, including some who have gone on to found their own tinyer outlets like the Golden State Report. More than 100 journalists were let go in mass layoffs in early 2024, and the editorial section of the paper was decimated by resignations after Soon-Shiong stepped in to demand that the paper not concludeorse Kamala Harris for president. That led to a wave of public scrutiny and subscription cancellations that has been tough for the already struggling paper to overcome. Then, earlier this year, the LA Times announced plans to debut a new AI “bias meter” on its opinion columns, though the tool struggled in its early days.
In October, the LA Times Guild voted overwhelmingly to approve a possible strike after three years of failed contract neobtainediations; that strike has been averted with a tentative new contract agreement. SFGATE reached out to the LA Times Guild for comment on the Palm Angels x LA Times collaboration but has not received a response.
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