Explore Luela Spiro & Lauren Kronzer's journey in the Fashion Industry

Growing up, I did not know that fashion was a business. There were shopping and clothing on the sales floor but I never understood how it got there. Once my parents explained the process of how clothes were made, I was hooked. As I got older and started researching the fashion industry and you can go to school to design clothes, I was hooked. I am a rootless entrepreneur because before going to fashion school, I had no connections in the industry.

I never thought that I could possibly have a career in anything else; I have never wanted to do anything other than fashion.

In the conceptual days of LUELLE we spent hours daily focusing on LUELLE, even if some of those days were spent just talking about the industry or getting inspired. To give it a number, we spent at least 2 hours daily.

We met at Elie Tahari, that was a great company to work for, we both learned the ins and outs of the industry, and it was really the inspiration for LUELLE. At the Tahari, the emphasis is all about fabric, fit, and styling. We took that foundation and really applied it to intimates. We also realized how complex and how much loss the fashion cycle creates yearly. Seeing that loss on fabric and styles due to a trend-driven industry, we wanted to focus on a product that was timeless.

When we were working on LUELLE, in the beginning, we designed and developed a full intimates/lounge/sleep collection. That was our first mistake because developing a fashion collection is very very expensive. After the collection was complete, we quickly realized that we needed to change course and focus on the core of LUELLE, which is the ELLE Classics collection. We quickly shifted our first goal to producing the classics and setting up our online shop + selling the collection to our favorite lingerie store in NYC. I will have to get the correct dates, but from the production of the ELLE Classics to launching our site and getting into Azaleas, it took about 1 1/2 to almost two years.

With all the costs that go into development and production, we were not left with much for marketing; therefore social media has been our best asset. The power of word of mouth has been crucial to our success, especially for the pop-ups.

The connections to the factories in NYC that have developed and produced our product has been vital. Our end product is only as good as the pattern makers, cutters, and sewers that make them.

We are working on getting capital to propel LUELLE to the next level. This entails a lot of outreach and a lot of research. It is not just about getting money to grow the brand; it is about getting money and bringing in the right investors that understand your brand and the industry. The first and most important step is to create a robust business deck.

When we got featured in Hypebae, I think that was the first time we realized that people were noticing; that was towards the end of our 3rd year.

Absolutely, we had a very idealistic idea of how LUELLE would operate, and we quickly realized that would take an incredible amount of capital to compete with all these established brands so we had to narrow our goals and focus on our core product and existing customer base.

Going too big with the collection and thinking that we would be able to financially produce the collection. We were too eager, and it was a big financial burden but a great mistake to learn from.

Always staying aware of trends is very important, but being authentic to your brand and core is more important. If you follow all the trends, it will be really hard to succeed in trends. Trends are fleeting; our intimates are timeless.

Perseverance… this industry is incredibly hard and it is crucial to keep going and stay authentic to yourself and brand.

All of our profit is recycled back into the company and it’s been great, but we are ready to take the leap and leave our full-time jobs.

Absolutely, we understand the industry really well and are making products that we love, and so do our consumers.

Before COVID-19, our goal was to leave our jobs and be full-time LUELLE by the end of 2020, but of course, so much has changed, so now we are reevaluating.

Sketching and playing with clothing are some of my earlier memories. The power of clothing is explosive; it can really uplift and give you a lot of confidence or the opposite, and being able to create things that make us feel amazing is a feeling that I will never get over.

The creativity part of design came naturally to both of us, but we both went to college for design to gain technical skills and a deeper understanding of the industry.

Our first design was overly complicated and ambitious; we designed a bra with adjustable shoulder straps and a torso adjustment instead of the traditional hook/eye extension. We still think it’s an amazing design, and one day we will bring it to fruition with the right corrections.

A few fashion schools offer technical design as a major, but my path was a little different. My major was fashion design, and I sought a job in technical design after graduation. I knew the fit would be an integral part of any fashion business I would have in the future, and I wanted to really understand and execute fit properly instead of having to hire someone else.

Lauren has been the driving force behind getting investment for LUELLE; we got our first investment of 50k from a colleague of Lauren’s, who really believed in us from the very beginning.

Our initial costs went to fabric sourcing, sample/pattern development, and supplies, and that took around 30k.

We had our first pop up two years after developing the ELLE Classic undies.

LUELLE was one of the first brands to use models with pubic hair on our e-commerce site and photoshoots. We don’t just preach body positivity; we really embody that, and our customers know it is authentic.

We sourced our fabric from an amazing fabric trade show with a focus on lingerie and swim. Our signature micro-mesh fabric comes from an Italian fabric mill. Our production is local, and all of our products are produced in NYC’s garment district.

Reputation is vital to success in the industry, whether you are launching your own brand or working at one of the already established companies. The industry is incredibly small, and everyone knows each other, and that can be your greatest asset.

Authenticity, the market is incredibly saturated with so many brands, but an authentic message is powerful. Quality, the consumer is very smart, and we love them for it. We will never produce something that we are not 110% obsessed with. The most important part of branding is that the brand is really who we both are. It’s how we like to feel in our intimates and about ourselves.

Adaptability, it is an industry that comes with a lot of moving parts and variables. I think the moment we stopped resisting the hardships and became more flexible on how to handle the problems and flexible with our working relationships.

Kept it moving; you must analyze the failure, take the lessons, and keep it moving.

Absolutely, our failure to develop a whole collection without the proper channels for sales and financial backing for production led to us focusing on our core and building our foundation.

Depending on your investment, we are looking at about 10% growth.

Seeing LUELLE on the cover of Harper Bazaar Greece was incredible.

Pick a signature style and stick to it – I think both Lauren and I are chameleons with our style, and that is the most exciting thing about fashion, always change it up!

Having a more focused goal and reducing our development, which would drastically reduce financial cost. We would do that differently.

Expansion of the ELLE Classic styles and more bras!!