RTA and Robert Liptak have parted ways

After Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s dismissal as creative director of the Ann Demeulemeester brand, Rhuigi Villaseñor’s departure just 14 months after his appointment as creative director at Bally, and the dismissal of GmbH designers, Serhat Isik and Benjamin A. Huseby a year and half after their nomination at Trussardi, it’s now the turn of Robert Liptak, former designer at Tom Ford, and creative director of the Los Angeles-based brand RTA, to step down.

While fashion houses generally give few explanations for these sudden dismissals, usually pointing to disagreement over the artistic direction to be taken, the case of RTA raises questions about the real strategy employed by the Los Angeles brand and the speed of decision-making, even before the release of sales results for the new collection.
 
Appointed new creative director of the RTA brand last November, Robert Liptak had been hired to completely reposition the brand, which became more elevated, more singular and assertive, breaking with its rock and gothic spirit. In addition to a new logo and a new white storefront, Liptak presented his first collection last November which hit the stores this may.

“The decision to stop with Robert Liptak is first and foremost linked to the current economic climate,” said David Rimokh, CEO and founder of the RTA brand. “Liptak remains a talented creative director, but the current negative market results, the reaction of retailers whose budgets are being cut by 40%, their unwillingness to invest in a new vision, all this combined with our customers’ tremendous demand to return to basic products, forced me to react. I remain optimistic about the brand’s future but there are factors I can’t control.”

Liptak did not make a statement following Rimokh’s comments.

Alongside Liptak’s departure, a significant part of the team has also been let go.

“The brand continues,” Rimokh added, “with an in-house design team led by myself.”

As of this morning, RTA’s Instagram account re-posted the brand’s old logo with the tagline “Back to basics”.