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Hey everyone Nicole here with Startup Fashion
We are in the studio of Erin Dana Lichy who is the founder and creative director
of handbag line Erin Dana. Thank you for having us. Thank you I'm very excited.
So Erin you can you tell us a bit about your brand
Sure so Erin Dana is a womens lifestyle brand
and right now we're focusing on womens leather handbags
and basically the idea behind this collection is
to be affordable luxury. So we're making bags for you know every day girl
I was really trying to make bad for myself and for my friends. So Erin, tell us
a bit about why you started your brand.
So I'm born and raised in New York, so I've always been very immersed in the fashion world.
I went to NYU to get my masters in real estate development, so
I really learned a lot about architecture and
design through that outlet and
It kind of paired you know with fashion, the fashion world
when I learned a lot about you know architecture I kinda got this concept for
really clean lines and
yeah so you can see how the architect inspiration here. Show the guys
in the camera. yeah awesome. This is one of our clutches that you can wear many different ways
these flaps come up so for example you can hold it
at a tote or as a shoulder bag. ahh. Tell us bit about some of the
obstacles you encountered in trying to get your line off the ground.
There are so many but um
One of the major ones was finding good manufacturer.
Just sticking with somebody who you feel comfortable with and
you know, you kind of vibe well with and
can trust. Yeah because it's a real relationship. It's a real relationship. There's a lot of stuff goes into
starting a business
that really difficult, you know just even learning.
I didn't know really what I was getting myself into so
you kind of have to roll with the punches and go with it. You make mistakes but
you know. yeah absolutely I think that's
a good point. It's something that tends to happen with designers.
You're nervous to make to make those mistakes, so then you don't do anything at all
and then
you know. You look back and then it's like I never started it so.
I didn't ask that question to freak any of you all out, but it's more just about
understanding that if not a walk in the park. It's not sitting and sketching all day.
No, its' not glamorous really. It's a lot of work, I mean we work sometimes
last night i worked until 10:30 at night. i mean moving boxes and like now I'm
I was in a freight elevator working the elevator
There's no one job when you start your own business you
you do everything and it's really cool but
you know you need to be prepared you can't get discouraged. You know you have to be
resilient
Erin do you I'm have any advice or a tip for other designers
who are about to enter into this field?
Well first of all believe in your product.
You have to believe in it. I can't stress that enough. You're gonna make mistakes
There are gonna be, you know, parts of your line that you might not like and
you'll discontinue them, but believe in what you're doing. I mean it's so important.
And another thing is don't stress yourself out too much. Like take
it lightly. I mean
you're gonna get stress. You're gonna cry, you're gonna laugh,
you're gonna scream. But ya know, don't beat yourself up over some things
that you do wrong because that's kind of the beauty of the very beginning of a label.
So tell us what is on the horizon for Erin Dana. What's new and exciting?
So we just finished up our spring line.
And we're super super excited about it. Its really, if I do say so myself
awesome. We're introducing a *** pack.
Ooh fun. A really cool backpack and
they're just, they look super super high end.
you know we're pricing them afforddably, which we'll always do, so
It's very exciting. I can't wait here show everybody what we've got. Excellent.
So Erin thank you so much for
inviting us here to your awesome studio. My Pleasure.
And telling us about your brand and all the cool things you're doing. We really enjoyed meeting with you.
Yeah it was great having you guys. Thanks.