Replenish Brings Inviting Women’s Fashion to the Canyon

By Laurel Busby

News & Information Editor

John Ward, Owner of Replenish Photo: Levi Langen

The light, airy bungalow that houses Replenish provides a distinctive space to shop for clothes.

Jeans are stacked on shelves in the closets of the beach cottage at 169 W. Channel. Hard-wood floors, white walls, and shaded windows provide a warm background for dresses, tops, hats, and other women’s clothes from brands such as Citizens of Humanity, Janessa Leone, and Enza Costa.

“It’s a charming space,” said Replenish owner John Ward. “It’s pretty and also unexpected…. When people shop these days, they want an experience. This provides that. It’s a little unusual and original.”

Ward, who opened Replenish in 2020, is a veteran of the fashion industry who has focused his career on high-quality clothes that remain in style as fads come and go. At Replenish, for example, in addition to an array of jeans, cashmere sweaters arrive every fall.

“Jeans and sweaters are a natural California marriage,” Ward said. “That’s the way we dress. I try to carry very straight-forward things in really good fabrics with really good quality. I think that it resounds with my neighbors. People want something that is going to last.”

Ward’s own interest in clothes began as a boy growing up in northern Virginia near Washington D.C., but he had no dreams of working in the fashion industry. Instead, he happened on his career after graduating from the University of Maryland in 1977. A film appreciation course during his senior year prompted him to first consider a career in writing movies, so he moved to NYC where his uncle was an independent movie producer.

He soon discovered that writing films wasn’t his forte, but he experimented with numerous other jobs, including starting his own business with a friend. The two sold houseplants out of a truck, which evolved into opening a store called Natural Surroundings on Broadway.

“I liked retail—that was something I was really drawn to,” Ward said “I never thought in college that I wanted to be a businessman, but growing up I always had a way to make money whether cutting grass or shoveling snow.”

His store on the Upper West Side of Manhattan brought him into contact with people who worked in fashion, which inspired his next project, a clothing store called Johnny Ward, also on the Upper West Side. The store introduced him to an even wider circle of fashion insiders, including friends who manufactured clothes. Several years later, he transitioned to the wholesale clothing business and opened a showroom in the Garment District.

A closet of jeans at Replenish

“It was not planned,” Ward said. “One thing led to another, and by chance I found something that I really loved.”

In about 1993, he moved to California, because he was dating a woman from Palos Verdes. Soon afterwards, he started Three Dots, the first clothing line to specialize in high-quality women’s T-shirts. The relationship eventually fizzled, but his clothing line thrived. He operated Three Dots for over a decade before selling it to his partner, and, along the way, he discovered Rustic and Santa Monica Canyon.

“I thought it was a magical area,” Ward said. “I loved the architecture, the hidden away nature of it, being close to the trails in the mountains and the beach…. It’s an incredible part of the country.”

Ward hired an architect to design a Rustic Canyon house, where he lived for several years before his Replenish landlord, realtor Frank Langen, helped him sell it to actor Bradley Cooper. When Ward later learned the previous occupant of Replenish’s bungalow was leaving, he was bored and ready for a new venture.

Starting a clothing store during the height of the Covid pandemic turned out to be a challenge, and then the months following the Jan. 7 Palisades Fire brought new difficulties. Yet, Ward said the neighborhood has been supportive from the beginning, and, a few months after the fire in April, his business began to revive. Sales were even stronger in May and June.

Ward, who joined the newly formed Canyon Business Association to help promote local businesses, has enjoyed getting to know the community both through the association and at his store. Visitors sometimes pop by Replenish to chat or enjoy lunch with him, but many also seek to explore the store’s offerings or request assistance in choosing a particular piece of clothing.

“People often need help with jeans because there are so many styles and fits,” said Ward, who embraces a no-pressure sales style. “When you buy online, you might buy five pairs of jeans and return all five. We have a new technological innovation called a dressing room, which really makes life easier. I know the jeans and know their fit, and people tend to appreciate the friendly advice.”

Replenish is open Sunday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

Clothes inside Replenish at 169 W. Channel.