Spark and Hustle

Dressing as Self-Expression: Inside the world of LIIEVE

• Season 2 • Episode 17

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From designing luxury homes to revolutionizing women's wardrobes, Lieve Sather's journey into fashion began with a simple observation: while her interior design clients loved their beautifully crafted spaces, they struggled to find clothing that matched that same level of thoughtful quality. Drawing on two decades of high-end design experience, she created Leva—a brand reimagining classic wardrobe essentials with a patentable twist.

What sets Lieve apart is its ingenious convertible collar technology, allowing women to express their individuality while maintaining timeless style. Each garment is meticulously crafted with attention to fit, form, and function—from button placement that prevents gaping to shapes that flatter diverse body types. This isn't fast fashion; it's investment dressing designed to be collected, cherished, and lived in.

"I'm trying to take the burden, the frustration, off the table for women when they stand in their closets in the morning," Sather explains. Her approach combines European craftsmanship with a deep understanding of how women's needs evolve throughout their lives. The brand's Austrian-milled fabrics and globally sourced components reflect her Belgian-American heritage and her belief that quality is the foundation for meaningful self-expression.

For aspiring creative entrepreneurs, Sather offers unexpected advice: gain corporate experience first. This foundation provides crucial understanding of operations, finance, marketing, and people management—skills essential for building a sustainable brand. Her methodical approach to building Leva demonstrates how creativity and business acumen can harmoniously coexist.

The most rewarding moments come when customers experience transformation - when mothers and daughters shop together, when strangers compliment each other's collars and start conversations. As Sather puts it, "Feel good in your skin, feel good in who you are, ignore all the noise."

Ready to reignite the joy of getting dressed? Follow @lievebrand on Instagram or visit Liieve.com to explore the collection and connect with a brand that celebrates women's individuality through thoughtful, timeless design.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back to another episode of Spark and Hustle. It's been a while, but after a few months we are back in action and this podcast is all about the stories behind bold entrepreneurs, creatives and visionaries who are redefining success on their own terms. Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with someone who is transforming the way we think about fashion Leva Seder, the founder of Leva. Leva Sather is the founder behind the brand, reimagining Classic Wardrobe Essentials with Artistry and Innovation. With a 20-year background in luxury interior design, she brings a deep understanding of fit form and timeless style to fashion. Her passion for making us women feel effortlessly confident led to the creation of Leva's patent-pending convertible colors and impeccably tailored pieces designed to be collected, cherished and lived in.

Speaker 1:

Hello, welcome to Spark and Hustle, the podcast that ignites your inspiration and fuels your hustle in the dynamic worlds of career and entrepreneurship. I'm your host, karina, a marketing junkie on a journey of exploration, conversation and empowerment. In each episode, we dive deep into the stories of professionals, entrepreneurs and thought leaders, discover the spark that ignites their journeys and the hustle that propels them to success. Whether you're navigating the corporate ladder or building your empire, follow Spark and Hustle for inspiration, practical advice and why not occasional handwork. Get ready to spark your ambitions and elevate your hustle game.

Speaker 1:

We believe in the power of connection. Join our community on Spotify, itunes and Instagram to share your experiences, learn from others and become part of a supportive network of dreamers and doers. And again, liva, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me and share more of your journey. I am so thankful, and everything happens for a reason. So we briefly met at South by Southwest for a few minutes, and that was enough time for us to exchange contact information and got us where we are today. So if you can start with introducing yourself and give us a little bit more of your background.

Speaker 2:

Please, yes, of course, of course. Well, indeed, I couldn't agree more. It was lovely to meet you and I think that you know sometimes there's just a good immediate connection point. So nice that we've had that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so my name is Leva Sather and I am currently based in Austin, but I've grown up between the United States and Europe. Most of my life, most of my family, actually all my family, is European and it was my husband, who's Norwegian, that wanted to come back to the United States and try living here for the first time. So after moving back and forth a whole lot, we decided to settle here in Austin eventually and raise some children. So I have run an interior design firm on the high end of the market custom projects pretty much only for the past 20 years. It's been a fantastic, you know, ride.

Speaker 2:

I kind of got pushed into that by folks who liked my aesthetic and often asked me about design. This was a business that I started post-corporate career and it's been a wonderful two decades where I've learned a lot, loved a lot, have grown some fantastic teams and somewhere around the pandemic I had been hearing throughout my two decades my clients had always been asking we love now our surroundings. Now we feel so good with you know our homes, because it's not unusual that I'm with my clients for 10, 15 years. Right, I helped them with first home, second homes, you know baby room, going into elementary school, into teenager. So you get very close and they, a lot of them were consistently asking me well, where's something good in fashion? And I couldn't answer it because there's so much fast fashion. So I decided to do something about it. So in the spring of last year I launched Leva.

Speaker 1:

I love it. Congratulations, thank you. I mean, I met you and I couldn't I couldn't not mention how much I loved your, your color and it was so attractive and eye-catching. So I I loved all your pieces and they are a timeless piece and could. Maybe we can talk a little bit about fast fashion, fast fashion, fast fashion, before we start talking about more about Leva, and what are your thoughts today and how does your brand represent slow fashion?

Speaker 2:

Leva is deeply rooted, in slow fashion, in that it is a very qualitative piece that every single detail has been thought through in terms of improving fit, feel, fabric and allowing a new concept to arise for female expression. So all of those components allow us to slow down literally in the manufacturing process. Us to slow down literally in the manufacturing process but also experience something that is longer, lasting and more deeply resonating over time. We make investment pieces and they are meant to be go-tos in your closet, to mix with everything else, to constantly make you feel good.

Speaker 1:

Love it. You mentioned a little bit of what got you started because of your interior design clients always asking questions regarding the fashion and you saw the need to create. But can you maybe think about the moment when you actually decided you're going to move forward with this project, to create Leva, and what was the driving force behind it on that moment that you decided to go for it?

Speaker 2:

You know that's such a great question. I mean, it took me a long time, like I said, to feel satisfied with scratching that itch, in the sense that I wanted to take the time to really devise a product that was meaningful and that actually had a purpose, solved a problem. But from the moment that it dawned on me that I would do convertibility, I would reimagine classics to fit better, feel better and then offer playful convertibility, it became a well, this has to be out there, this has to move forward. Also because I was approaching, or I am at midlife and for me there is such meaning in growth and in challenge and in figuring out how to solve new problems.

Speaker 2:

I'm a big believer that that should never end and I had sort of reached this point, naturally after so many years, you know, working on interiors and working at the custom end, where every single project is unique and every time there's a whole new set of problems to solve. But at a certain point you kind of find your rhythm. So for me, the trigger point was really growth and solving something for women, because women, oftentimes they put everyone else first, which is great we're nurturers, but we also occasionally have to put ourselves first is great we're nurturers, but we also occasionally have to put ourselves first, and I'm a big believer that when you tend to yourself, you're better with others. So that was really the driving point is growth and problem solving, and that's what triggered me to get going.

Speaker 1:

That forever learning or never-ending learning mindset. I love you mentioned that we as women put ourselves first before anyone else. I am not a mom yet, but I'm sure even it happens more once you become a mom. Maybe you can talk to me a little bit of how your transition has been from starting your interior design business to balancing a family and then are you still doing interior design or did you stop that already?

Speaker 2:

Well, I've. You know I'll never leave my existing clients in a lurch, put it that way. I'm a very committed individual to thoroughness put it that way. But I sit more on the creative consulting side. I actually help businesses in the design field when they are trying to either narrow down product choices from an aesthetic or otherwise in terms of how they can curate well and sell better to their customers. I've been doing it for so long and because I understand the service side of the business and the product side of the business, that's a really, you know, easy apex for me to assist other businesses to move away the clutter and really focus on how you can be connective and have a very elevated aesthetic. So I do still do that.

Speaker 2:

But you know, women women do put themselves last, whether they intend to or not. And when I started my interiors firm, I had actually I was still working a corporate job. Had actually I was still working a corporate job, I was having my first baby and I was starting this business. So a lot of things at the same time. But I think that's okay. I think when you're young you have this energy. If you're so inclined, you have this idea that you can do it all. You'll try to do it all. You'll realize that it ebbs and flows and you can do it all. You perhaps just can't do it all at the same at the exact same time, but we have such energy when we're young and so that moves things forward and it moves the exploratory side of ourselves forward, even when we're putting all these other things first. So I think that that's doable To answer your question about how it's changed between when I started then and when I started now.

Speaker 2:

When I started, leva Now is starting. Leva Now was both a selfish in that I said. As I mentioned earlier, it was an opportunity for me to answer, just an innate wish to grow again. But it also came from a place of experience. You know, I know what women are missing to some degree because I've had 20 years of finding that out experience. So it's a little bit of both you, you definitely as women, we we put ourselves last, but depending on how you look at it, that's not always a bad thing. You can sort of eke around that and I'm trying to pull that back out. If that makes sense, that does make sense.

Speaker 1:

Um, it seems like also what I'm understanding. Your background in your interior design profession has shaped and influenced a lot on creating this new brand. What inspired you, or motivated you to go for interior design?

Speaker 2:

I'm so kind of you to ask. You know, I think it's all shaped me, I think my moving around between all the continents when I was young, and just well, not all the continents, but certainly between Europe and the US, mostly my interiors business. I was pushed into that for sure. I came up as a young person, person very artistically. I was the daughter of a musician. My mother is very sort of culturally aware, and so I was always encouraged in the fine arts, whether that was as a little person or going into high school or university, and I was a boarding school kid very early.

Speaker 2:

I started boarding school when I was about eight or nine, so very young, and so for me how you arrange your space was very much attached to my identity and how that was projected, particularly when I was in countries where I couldn't speak the language yet. So I think all of that, all of that informed and pushed me as I got older to always be attached to aesthetic and how quality makes you feel. And so when I was in my late teens, early twenties, I started getting feedback from the world in the form of requests of people asking me to help them with their apartments or with a store window, or with this, that and the other, I very stubbornly or one could say, it all ends up being helpful went a corporate route. But those two things ultimately brought me to interior design and I was asked by several people to push it into something more professional. So I started my firm. So lucky me.

Speaker 1:

Congrats, Congrats, Liva. Focusing on more on the brand. So the brand? It's all about craftsmanship, reinvention, unique, timeless. How do you approach designing pieces that are both timeless and innovative?

Speaker 2:

Great question.

Speaker 2:

I believe that most things that are well-made have a classic fundamental basis.

Speaker 2:

So if you think of a wonderful piece of fine art, even if you're looking at something very contemporary, it's more likely to be a quality piece when you can see that the artist has an understanding of the foundation of a classical basis.

Speaker 2:

So for me, the way I have approached the pieces in the brand of Leva is to always take a classic, a piece that will stand the test of time, that has been around forever. For now it's shirts and collars, but that will evolve to skirts and dresses and pants and sets. But they will always be rooted in those pieces that we know have stood the test of time, fit the body well, haven't changed much in their nature, and then I layer on top of that a twist or an unusual component that draws out the modernity of that. That's sort of been my play at interiors and it's something that I do in my own personal life. I'm very much of a purist, but I'm very much of a playful purist, so I love to take things that exist as they are and then turn them on their heads. So that's how I've done that with Leva.

Speaker 1:

I can't wait to see what's on the pipeline for the pieces coming soon. And Leva is described as offering classics, as you mentioned, and what does it mean to you? Maybe talk to us a little bit about, first of all, the name. What does it mean, which we had a conversation previously and I? I loved the meaning behind it, and so what does, what does why? Where did the name come from? And what does it mean to you? Um, to set your, how does your brand set apart from others? To set your, how does your brand set apart from others?

Speaker 2:

So the name comes from my own personal name. My name is Leva. I added the I, as I mentioned, to separate it slightly from my person. It was a deeply difficult decision to name it after myself, I will say but it was my sort of family and friends that felt that it was so that the, that, the brand and the concept and this, this new concept, was so inherently me that that it sort of was a natural extension of myself. So my name means dear or sweet and when I thought of that, the deeply connective and personal component of that of being dear or sweet, and when you address a letter, for example in Flemish or Dutch, you would say you know, lieve Carina, which would mean dear Carina. That felt so natural because I was looking to create a brand that would be connective for women, where women feel like they can go to and always interact with to find others that just really want to feel good.

Speaker 2:

There are no errors we consider ourselves a luxury brand, but we are first and foremost an approachable luxury brand. We use the terminology luxury because our components are really well built and they are quality oriented and very thoughtfully made. So that's our luxury component. We are, you know, we make investment pieces, but we're sort of antithetical to that pretty woman moment in the movie. We want you to feel like you're a part of our feel good community, where other women come to feel good and don't trip over the fact that they're different to someone else. We want to celebrate your differences. We want you to be expressing who you are. So that's fundamentally why the name Leva felt very appropriate, because it's a unique name.

Speaker 1:

Very unique, very unique, and your pieces are adaptable and it's patent pending right. It's going to be patent soon. Can you share more about how that works and why is it important to you to create a versatile garment?

Speaker 2:

Yes. So for me, fundamentally, as I said, I didn't want to enter the marketplace without solving a problem, and we are indeed patent pending for the convertibility technology. So as we expand the line, whether we go into pants, dresses, skirts, whatever, we will always have a form of convertibility, because when I distill the brand down at the heart of it, there will always be classics reimagined. We'll worry about fit and feel, and then you guys get to play. You as women, get to express yourselves.

Speaker 2:

I'm trying to take the burden, the frustration, off the table for women when they stand in their closets in the morning and they're sort of like I don't know what to wear, I'm just going to grab leggings. Do that some days. Of course, we all have our days where we just need sort of comfort food, if you will. But I'm hopeful that women will find the sense of agency and empowerment in reinvesting in themselves and celebrating their differences. So that convertibility was crucial to me and I wanted to do it in a really refined way. I mean, you and I right now we're on camera. Unfortunately no one else can see this at the moment, but all of these connection points is a beautiful brass. It's my favorite metal. I've been working with it in my studio for years.

Speaker 2:

So I wanted it to be a beautiful detail on its own, so that, even if you are not wearing your collar, you feel great and you see it from the back, because there's button detailing at the yoke of the of the back of the shirt and all around the collar, so that somebody will tap you on the shoulder and say, hey, what are you wearing?

Speaker 2:

And get to know you, and we have fantastic feedback from our customers that that's happening. So that makes me super happy and just you know you and we have fantastic feedback from our customers that that's happening. So that makes me super happy and just you know. Because things aren't as well made anymore, because we're so worried about fast, fast, fast and you know, next, next, next. I wanted to slow us down to just be able to appreciate something that you can grab again and again because you know it feels good. So that's really what was behind the convertibility component and I wanted to package that up nicely so that it can be at the heart of our brand, where people always know when they come to buy our pieces, there's a part of their own play in it that's completely separate from us. It's up to their own interpretation how they decide to step out the door in the morning.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and we are best users of that. We're proof of that. You actually get stopped on the street. I mean, again, that's how I got to meet you, because I I stopped you in the middle of the event and say, wow, I love your button up. It's just, it was so different. So definitely prove that that does happen for those who wear those button ups, and unfortunately the others won't be able to see it. But of course, we will share where they can find you and how they can find you, and they can learn and see more of the garments. You talk about reigniting the joy of getting dressed. What challenges do you think many women face? Well, we've already touched on that, but I don't know if you'd like to touch on any additional challenges that many women face with their wardrobes today, and how does Leva solve them?

Speaker 2:

Sure, sure. So you know most women because we have kids and work and partners and life and social media, and you know 20 million pings on our phone a day asking us to turn our attention to these little machines. We wake up and we stand in front of our closets and we feel defeated before the day has even gotten started. I'm not saying that's every day, but I've certainly felt that I know a lot of us do, and of course, that ebbs and flows, but I think that in the shuffle of life and the everyday tasks that we are responsible for in terms of navigating this life, it's easy to forget who we once were, where we once were.

Speaker 2:

Our personalities can sometimes get lost in the many roles that we play, particularly as women. So I'm not trying to change that so much as I think it's really a wonderful significance that we have mother hats and we have partner hats and we have business hats and we have friend hats and all of that. But we also need to feel comfortable and confident celebrating and expressing our idiosyncrasies, our individualities, our skin tones, our diverse upbringings and heritages and all the things that make us unique. And so, for me, creating convertible collars that are sort of jewelry-like are just that icing on the cake that allow you to express that mood, that feeling, that part of you that's more permanent, whatever the case may be, as you go out in the morning, and I'm so very glad to hear that it was a connective experience via our garments for you and I.

Speaker 2:

It is one of the greatest treasures in my life that I get texts or direct messages from our customers saying, hey, I was in line and I saw somebody and I dared to connect with them. And that's not always easy for women either, because we sort of again, we talk ourselves out of some things sometimes, right, and so I'm trying to bring that back. Feel good in your skin, feel good in who you are, ignore all the noise. If I can shift that needle just a teensy, tiny bit, I think that would be great. I would be very honored to do so yes, and you've already doing it.

Speaker 1:

so I I admired you and breaking those barriers of really approaching someone and and, uh, compliment on what they're wearing, and obviously somebody already feeling good about wearing it. But whenever somebody comes in compliments, it even feels better. Before I touch on entrepreneurship and some lessons that you've learned along the way, I'm a professional product marketer and I want to congratulate you and say how much I admire for how you position the brand, what the value proposition is of the brand, everything. It seems like it was very well planned, but maybe you can talk to me a little bit about how was the steps before you actually launched and what was the experience behind doing the designs, working with the different people in your team? Maybe, if you I know it's a loaded question, but if you could summarize what the process was like and what the day that you went live was.

Speaker 2:

Very methodical. You know, because this was my this was not my first rodeo and because I'm an entrepreneur, you know, I definitely will say to your listeners go with the 80-20 rule, right. I mean, try not to get it to so much perfection that it stalls you or becomes an impediment. But at the same time, I think there's a balance in weaving in a certain amount of thoughtfulness and attention to detail and doing your due diligence up front. I would say, if there's a theme around the methodical component, it was definitely, you know, feeling like I could do my due diligence. I did not want to put a product out there that wasn't considered, and one of the reasons why I was so specific in the aesthetic and you know the brand identification and how we position ourselves, you know how the garments are made, where they're made because they're made in part in Europe, in Asia, in the United States, in Mexico, they're sort of literally all over the world was just to make sure that we were considering lasting quality and we were considering, you know, how is this actually going to work and how is this actually going to feel going to work and how is this actually going to feel. We mill our fabric in Austria. I focused on a white that would stay beautiful for a long time and that would flatter a number of skin tones. I want it to feel good on a lot of different beautiful skin types because, oh my gosh, there are so many.

Speaker 2:

So every little detail was considered and sometimes, with our positioning, I feel like we have so many benefits because we work on fit and feel. We try and accommodate most body types. We thought about where the button is placed. We moved away from shirts that often gape. I built it so that it trapezes away from the body because as we age you know, menopausally we gain weight or things change. We gain weight in life. We should feel good about all our bumps and curves and wonderfulness. So all of these things are meant to really solve lots of problems. Again, taking it back to that methodical approach, so I didn't want to get too lost in the weeds, of course, but I did want to take every element step by step and consider it and ask myself does this feel like it goes in a meaningful way? And so when you approach it like that, it starts to build a very strong rooted system for a brand. That's at least my experience.

Speaker 1:

And what were some of the biggest challenges that you faced during launching or previous to launching?

Speaker 2:

It was all the learning. You know, I come from a professional services background. I come from a background where scale is not the goal, right, I mean volume is not the goal. In the case of interior design specifically, where I come from custom interior design each project is sort of, you know, like birthing a baby. In many ways it's all about what's unique to that customer, to that home, to that experience, what's quality driven, what fits, what takes them out of their comfort zone, what pushes them into some new kind of thinking.

Speaker 2:

When I launched Leva and when you shift into a product brand, you have to suddenly think about those things volume reach in ways that you know, at scale, that's not obviously or always obvious to a single person starting a business, if you will. You know for me, figuring out, you know how and where I was going to manufacture product and who was going to be up to my standards. And I'm very grateful to have grown up with a very deep awareness of clothing and well-made clothing and how clothing should fit and where clothing is appropriate in terms of some sort of older etiquettes that certainly have thankfully modernized and we've loosened up on, but they also are deeply rooted in some things that we could go back to to feel good, so sort of all of those things pulling and tugging. I think the biggest lesson for me is precisely that all the lessons, all the newness, all the problem solving, which most of the days I deeply deeply love. Some days I don't, but most of the days I deeply deeply love.

Speaker 1:

Problem solver at heart as an entrepreneur. What has been the most rewarding part of building Leva?

Speaker 2:

It's the same exact thing as it has been for my interiors practice. The joy that I get from and this is maybe selfish, but the joy that I get from seeing someone feel better about themselves when we were creating interiors the greatest compliment I could get from any one of my clients is that they feel shoulders down and they feel so comfortable and themselves like themselves, like the best versions of themselves in their space. And I wanted to bring that to a greater scale. I wanted to reach a larger amount of people with that tiny little sentiment where you can feel good and when we have our mostly we do trunk shows, because we wanted to launch the brand with a very personal and connective approach approach when we see people, customers, buying our pieces and putting it on and standing in front of the mirror.

Speaker 2:

I tell you we had a styling session once with a mother-daughter and two days or so after the styling session, the daughter emailed me and her mother's in her 70s and she said I have not seen my mother feel that good about herself in years and I mean it just brought me. You know, it sort of teared me up. I mean that is what should be the norm. It should not be abnormal. We should be feeling better about ourselves. So, yes, I hope that answers your question, but that is probably the greatest feeling of all time, for sure the greatest feeling of all time, for sure.

Speaker 1:

If there was any advice you could give someone wanting to start a creative business of their own, you mentioned the 80-20 rule, but what other advice would you give them?

Speaker 2:

I would say, if you have the bottle, the stamina, get some corporate experience first. Namely, you mentioned anyone wanting to start a creative business, and that is the operative word as creatives, if that's the only muscle we've exercised. We're often not great. I'm not saying that this is for everyone, but as a generalization, we're typically not great at understanding how to run a business and understanding how to approach operations or finance or marketing or all of those things, or people management or people growth or clients or sales.

Speaker 2:

All of those things are. They take time, they take experience, they take messing up, and so any version of a corporate career I feel is enormously informative to set you up for a better success. When you decide to launch your creative career, if you know it's feel good and the bottom line is less of a priority, for whatever reason may work in your life, you know, that's great. But if you want it to be financially successful and sustainable, that's the other thing For a creative business. I would say get corporate experience wherever you can, for whatever limited amount of time you are able.

Speaker 1:

I love that answer. I've had many other people on the podcast give many other answers, and sometimes repetitive, but this is the first time, I believe, that I hear an advice like this and it makes sense to me. I'm an entrepreneur and I have my side business, but I have my corporate world and sometimes some of my friends ask me well, wouldn't you want to go fully on your entrepreneur and leave your corporate world? And in my head I'm thinking, no, I don't, because I'm learning so much from it right now that I want to continue to learn from it and then maybe at some point in my life, yeah, I can go on my own, but at the moment, it's my university, it's my school where I'm learning every single day. So I think it's very important to get that sort of experience, especially to learn from the many different functions of what it takes to create a business it takes to create a business.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're absolutely right. Well said, karina. It is a school of I was going to say hard knocks, but it's not always that. And you know, are there things in corporations that are tough or boring or that you don't want to do. Yes, but imagine when you run your own company. You have no choice. You have no choice but to do all the things that you want to do and do not want to do. So, yeah, very well said. Couldn't agree more.

Speaker 1:

And just to go back before I do some rapid fire questions, I totally forgot to ask you if you could walk us through what the patent process work looks like.

Speaker 2:

So there are a few different types of patents. For us, the design patent was the most appropriate. You know, patents have been around in this country for such a long time that they're a fairly complicated process in terms of finding the right fit and capturing whether you can even go down that route. It's expensive, it's time consuming and it's not always as appropriate as you think it might be, because it's not a simple route. But I think the most important thing for the patent process is to do your research, do a little bit of a deep dive.

Speaker 2:

The usptogov site is a great site to understand. You know where you might fall. Having said that, it's also a government site, so it's a bit tricky to navigate in that. It's not often you know, simply in layman's terms, but I think it's a great place to start familiarizing yourself with. Am I even in the right place?

Speaker 2:

Does this even make sense, whether that's, you know, a quick read on budget needed for it time you know what you think your concept is or your solution that you're trying to protect, and then really going from there if it is getting with a great patent attorney to help you drive through the process because, as I said, it is very administrative and it is very lengthy and very particular in terms of the administrative approach.

Speaker 2:

So if you don't have, I'm sure you can do it by yourself, but I felt personally that there were the potential of too many mess-ups was there and it just didn't seem worth the squeeze given all the other operations, components and development that I had on my plate with the new business. So that's kind of how we approach that. That's kind of how we approach that and the reason we decided to patent this is because we really want to be able to stay consistent with this approach and component in the rest of the garment types as the brand evolves. This playfulness component and this self-expression was pretty key for me to feel like the customer had a sense of adventure, a build your own adventure in their participation in our brand. So I wanted to put a moat around that so that I could stay consistent with that and keep offering that without having barriers to hop over.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sounds so right. How long has it been taking you to do the whole process?

Speaker 2:

So I think we're probably looking at about a year to two years somewhere in that. I think we're close to the end of ours and we'll probably be at about the year and a half, the year and three quarters mark somewhere there. But I'll tell you when we get there.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I'll stay tuned. And so rapid fire questions what ignites? Leave us creative flame.

Speaker 2:

I made a note of this because I was thinking for me it's new places and new perspectives. Put me in any new place. It doesn't have to be glamorous, doesn't have to be exciting, but put me anywhere physically, geographically, could be in a part of my own town that I don't know yet. That new perspective always lights a fire in me and gives me an excitement to figure something out, go taste something, go try something, create something. It can run the gamut.

Speaker 1:

I love it and you are a traveler, it seems like. So what has been your favorite place of all in the world?

Speaker 2:

I mean, what a question. What a question. I mean I am really truly a person. If all else went away in life certainly not my loved ones, but all of the trappings of my life went away and I could still travel, I would be happiest.

Speaker 2:

I love discovery and I love juxtaposition. I would say if I have to narrow it down it'll have to be two places. I feel most at home in Italy. I have spent time there as a young person over the summers with my cousins and have some deep love of memories from that and just love the ease and the sort of how shall I say the sort of how shall I say imperfection that is Italy. And then, on the other side of the spectrum, since I was a little girl I've always been fascinated and have since had the chance to travel there, very fortunately Japan. I love the juxtaposition that Japan that the Japanese hold with this very intense tradition that is centuries and centuries old, with this highly cutting edge newness. I think that pull that tug is fascinating. So those are probably my two, if I may answer two.

Speaker 1:

I love it and I saw you are a Belgian American. You are a Belgian American. We were in Europe for a little bit last year and I got to visit Lubin and a lot of people asked me because we went to Sardinia, we went to Spain, we went to Belgium, we went to Germany and everybody kept asking me what was your favorite? And I thought you know what? I was not expecting Belgium to be how it is, and Brussels and Lubin and how everything is just perfectly built and how people just. I perceived a lot of calmness as I walked through the city and how clean it was and obviously the chocolate it was delicious. So I loved Lubin and Brussels and Antwerp.

Speaker 2:

I'm so, so honored and glad to hear that it is one of these smaller countries that we should tell no one else about because everybody's going to go there. But it is a small country that has a lot of identity crises to get over. In a certain way, it has two official governments. It has two, probably three, official languages, if you count English. It's the seat to the EU. As you know, it's the home to NATO. It's a tiny, tiny country and I think that's what makes it so unique, resilient and, I'll say, calm, proud to think of all the many great designers, clothing or otherwise, that have come out of Belgium. It's a place very dear to my heart, as is the United States. I feel very lucky to feel like a citizen of the world. It wasn't always easy as a kid, not feeling like I didn't know where home was, but as an adult I think that's kind of now become a badge of honor.

Speaker 1:

So two questions for rapid fire. So one what? Where would you call your home? Would you call Austin your home?

Speaker 2:

Austin is our current home, but it's not our home. Home because my husband and I am very lucky that he feels the same way. I don't think that we necessarily feel like a geographic location is home For us. We're a very tight family. He and I have a daughter who's 20 and a son who's 16. Our daughter goes to university abroad she's in the UK and our son would like to do the same. It's wherever the four of us are and I say that sort of more relationally or in the heart, because of course it's their time to go off and live their own lives. But I think we feel home is wherever we're in each other's orbit. I think we feel home is wherever we're in each other's orbit, so we can be a little bit removed, but if we're in the sort of vicinity, that's where home is.

Speaker 2:

We have loved Austin. We have been here long enough to raise these two children and I probably did that as a way to overcompensate for my crazy moving around and never feeling like I had stability. I wanted to make sure our kids knew exactly where home was. But you know, I think it's great that they want to launch and try other parts of the world and we should all do that to some degree, you know, even if we can't afford to travel abroad, just going anywhere. That, as I said, changes your perspective, is hugely rewarding and, I think, makes us better in how we relate to other people. So that was probably a little bit more than answering your question.

Speaker 1:

No, I loved how strong your family values are. I love that. That says a lot about you. So if you could describe one word in one word that describes your stage of life right now, what would that word?

Speaker 2:

be Enlightening for sure. It has been a time in life for me to grow but also to remember. I catch myself because I'm such a doer and I'm such an A-type personality. I catch myself and remind myself, very happily, to stop and be in the process. You know, again, I chose to launch this business because I wanted to get back into process and figuring things out and growth and all of the things I've mentioned many times. So, enlightenment I love the fact that I'm learning. I don't always get it right, I certainly make many mistakes and I'm probably doing things 10 times when I probably could go a different route and do it once. But in this back half of my life, that seems like for me personally, what's the most meaningful is enlightenment, and I don't mean to make that word overly heavy or sacred, but it's good to know more things and see it slightly differently, I guess.

Speaker 1:

I love it and I know we are almost at time, but I do want to know what's next for Leva. Any exciting projects? You briefly gave us a brief of what's coming soon, but upcoming collections that you can share.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so we're new, right, We've only been around since last spring and we actually launched at a funny time of year because summer is always, you know, most people are traveling, so we're still very much in infancy. What's ahead for us is a lot of in-person shows, trunk shows, you know, participation in events. We really want to meet people. We want to get to know you want to meet people. We want to get to know you. We want you to be excited to be in person and shopping again in a way that feels fun and that you enjoy taking your time doing. A big part of our brand is about the collectability and the limited edition. Mother-daughters love to shop us because, again, it's a very relational and connective experience that doesn't have to all be solved now. It can keep going.

Speaker 2:

So, to answer your question on the product side, you know we'll keep evolving and offering pieces that we feel would be interesting to that expressive feeling and situation for women. I am going to take my time and do it right, though. So if anybody's, you know, knocking on my door asking me for more product because our, our line is so specific, I hear you and I will get there, but I want to do it right. I don't want to just put product out there like a lot of consumer goods that just you know, get out there to keep people's attention going. That's again part of our slowness. Our pieces are great. Invest in them. They can go with lots of different things in your closet and you can then, on top of that, add collars to differentiate yourself and take time in enjoying that process, and we'll add all sorts of other stuff as we grow. So help us bring the awareness and enjoy saying it. A lot, leva. And yeah, come shop with us. Yes, shop.

Speaker 1:

And then I also saw that you do sessions, styling sessions, so maybe if you can talk a little bit about those styling sessions.

Speaker 2:

Yes, no, you're very kind to ask. So when you buy one of our pieces and if you have the interest in connecting either in person if you're local to Austin or online, I would love to help you style your new piece with some pieces in your wardrobe, again, because we want women to feel good and we want to be that brand that takes its time. We are there to do things that help you feel good about your purchase and about how you're going to wear it, and to wear it often, and to share that and spread that with others, because it should be contagious. It should not be hard to find quality things, and we hope that we are the tip of the iceberg of that. I don't want to call it a movement, but that change, I guess.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and so do you go to people's house or do they bring their garments to you to meet with you, to do the styling session? After purchasing the piece.

Speaker 2:

So it really depends. We handle it on a case by case basis because we want to make sure that it's most convenient for everyone, ourselves included, because when it's convenient for everyone, everyone can have the most success at it. So we really just DM us or, you know, reach out via our website and you know we'll chat and get something set up. We can also do it virtually, like I said, but we just want to have a sort of quick touch base to make sure you feel good and know all the many things you can do with it, because you can really take a white button down or your collars and do a myriad of things. We've got a styled section on our website and we hope that you follow us on Instagram at Leva L-double-I-E-V-E brand. That's the best place to see what's happening and to stay abreast of all the wonderful things that are happening and what you can do with your pieces.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and where can the listeners and everyone that knows about your brand? Where can they find you? Maybe you can share your social handle and then also your website.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so our website is Levacom. That's L-I-I-E-V for Victor Ecom, and we are on all platforms, but the best one to start the connection is at Leva. L-i-e-v for Victor E brand on Instagram.

Speaker 1:

Perfect. Thank you so much Again. I am so excited because I know that piece is going to be in my closet sometime soon, so I'm very excited to own one in the near future and I really appreciate your time, Liva, of sharing a lot of your journey, your background, your interior design and your entrepreneur journey. So I truly appreciate it and it was great to reconnect and I'm sure it will not be the last time I will reach out so we can do it in person again.

Speaker 2:

Karina, thank you so much for having me and having us, and it's such a pleasure to talk with you and very exciting to watch what's happening for you. I love that you try and extract more and different perspectives from all sorts of people. I think you and I share that in common that we really love and relish that. So thank you also for your time that we really love and relish that.

Speaker 1:

So thank you also for your time Again. This has been such an inspiring conversation and I love how Leva infused her background in design into creating something so innovative and meaningful. In fashion, the idea of clothing as a collectible and a form of self-expression is so powerful For those of you listening. If you're looking for truly unique, high quality and adaptable pieces that make getting dressed fun again, be sure to check out Leva. You can find all the details in the show notes. If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who would love Leva's story and her brand as much as we do. Keep sparking ideas and hustling towards your dreams. We'll see you in the next episode. No-transcript. No-transcript.