St. John Knits May Be Going Public : Stock: German owner seeks buyers for its 80% stake of the Irvine apparel company. Shares will be offered for $14 to $17.

IRVINE — St. John Knits, the Irvine women’s apparel maker, said that its German-based owner plans to sell its share of the company in a move that could take the company public.

Escada AG, the European women’s clothing maker that holds an 80% stake of St. Johns, did not publicly disclose its reason for seeking buyers of its shares, said David Krinsky, an Irvine attorney who represents the St. John subsidiary.

The Wall Street Journal said last week that Escada’s losses for the year ended Oct. 31 would be greater than expected and possibly in excess of $60 million. Another report, in the Financial Times of London, suggested that the sale would be made to prop up its balance sheet and restore investor’s equity.

Krinsky declined to comment on Escada’s troubles.

On Friday, St. John officials filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares in the $14 to $17 range to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Krinsky said.

St. John, which posted $90 million in revenue last year and an undisclosed profit, has grown from a boutique maker of women’s sweater sets and dresses into a designer of a large collection of career and evening wear. In fact, Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to wear St. John designs when she makes the rounds at Inaugural events this week.

St. John has 13 boutiques in the United States and Europe, and a 14th is scheduled to open in March at South Coast Plaza. It has six factories in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

The company was founded 30 years ago as a grass-roots business by Marie St. John, then a hostess who pointed to prizes on TV’s “Queen for a Day.” At the time, she knitted a few dresses to pay for a Hawaiian honeymoon with her fiance, Robert Gray, an apparel salesman. A buyer was so impressed that he ordered 180 dresses, and they had to hire independent contractors to fill the order.

The Grays sold the majority of the company to Escada in 1989 but have remained key players in its management. St. John management owns the other 20% of the company. Robert Gray is now chairman and chief executive, Marie Gray is head designer, and their daughter Kelly is vice president and creative director.

“All it means is that it would be a publicly owned company, instead of Escada” owning it, Krinsky said. “There will be no change in the operations or the direction of the company.”

The offering would be underwritten by Prudential Securities Inc. and PaineWebber Inc., both in New York.