From Shanghai to Madrid to CARAA: Aaron Luo’s Life-Changing Journey into Handbags

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, Emily Blumenthal, Handbag Designer Expert and Handbag Fairy Godmother, where we cover everything about handbags from making, marketing, designing and talking to handbag designers and industry experts about what it takes to make a successful handbag.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Welcome, Aaron Luo, co-founder and CEO of CARA.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I am so excited to have you here as part of the Handbag Designer 101 podcast.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>In advance, I apologize for my scratchy voice.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Hopefully that'll make it that much more interesting here at me on this level.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>But, Aaron, thank you, thank you, thank you for being here.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, it's a pleasure.

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<v Aaron Luo>We've known each other for a long time and I think it's going to be an exciting conversation.

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<v Aaron Luo>Looking forward to it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, well, I think I am more than you, so let's just jump right in.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you are Chinese, but born in Spain, correct?

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<v Aaron Luo>That's right.

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<v Aaron Luo>That's correct.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, I was born in Shanghai, china, grew up there up until fourth grade and then moved to Madrid, spain, and that's where I grew up.

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<v Aaron Luo>I feel very much as much as Chinese and Spanish, as American, just because now I've lived in the States for 20 plus years.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, came to the States for school, kind of stayed, did a bachelor, the business school, the Hoshibank and you've got a nice, responsible, respectful Chinese child should do.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, yeah, checked all those boxes, checked them all and followed the path per se.

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<v Aaron Luo>And yeah, it's been living in the US for 20 plus years.

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<v Aaron Luo>I travel extensively.

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<v Aaron Luo>I didn't first come to fashion right away, even though my family has always been in fashion for 20 plus years.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Wait, wait, wait.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Let's go back Now.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>What is someone from China moving to Spain doing, and how many Chinese kids were there in your class?

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, that's a very interesting and funny question.

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<v Aaron Luo>So I moved there because my grandfather moved there.

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<v Aaron Luo>Matter of fact, he was one of the earlier Chinese to establish himself in Spain and because of that, of course, he ended up bringing up the entire family out in Spain and, honestly, there's just maybe a You're on your dad's side.

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<v Aaron Luo>My mom's side.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So your dad went along with it.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, my dad back then also traveled quite a bit.

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<v Aaron Luo>You're going to realize this is China in the 80s and 90s, right, Right, when the economical and social situations wasn't as desirable as it is now.

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<v Aaron Luo>So you were only child then.

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<v Aaron Luo>I was only child as you do.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, I was, you know, first-generation immigrant from my parents' side.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know they're looking for the good fortune, you know, for the kids and for themselves and so on and so forth.

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<v Aaron Luo>So because of my grandfather connection, of course, you know, I ended up in Spain and it's a lovely country.

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<v Aaron Luo>It's a lovely country, I loved it.

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<v Aaron Luo>But to answer your question honestly, they're just wearing that many Chinese, you know.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>That must have been hard.

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<v Aaron Luo>Like In the early days, for sure, you know, as an immigrant kid, you know, in a country where you know everybody is different Now, given Spain is a very welcoming country, you know.

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<v Aaron Luo>Nevertheless, I think there's definitely that culture shock for me right In the early days.

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<v Aaron Luo>I moved there when I was nine, nine and a half, almost 10.

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<v Aaron Luo>And literally my parents kind of threw me into a Catholic school and all boys Catholic school and zero Spanish.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Different uniform.

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<v Aaron Luo>Oh yeah, different uniform, exactly, exactly.

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<v Aaron Luo>So, you know, for the first two years it's a healthy combination of not really know what's going on in a healthy amount of fights, you know, as happened in boys' school, seriously, oh yeah, oh yeah, no, I mean you know little boy stuff, but no, it was a very interesting childhood, you know, raising or growing up in Spain.

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<v Aaron Luo>Like I said, it's a wonderful country.

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<v Aaron Luo>As a Spaniard, as I feel, you know American or Chinese, and part of the reason why we ended up starting a second brand, which you know we can talk about that later on, is because I feel very connected.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know both me and my co-founder, so but yeah, it was an interesting childhood, loved it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Not many people can speak to that combo.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You know like you are like a double minority.

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<v Aaron Luo>It really was.

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<v Aaron Luo>It really was, you know back then, spain was, you know, and I forgot the percentage, but very high percentage, you know, basically Spaniard Catholics, right, yeah?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's not like you were in South America, where, at least Brazil and so forth, there's a gigantically high Japanese population, even Asian.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>By going to Spain, which is such a uniform culture, like double culture, shock, throw yourself in and then, obviously, being Chinese, you had to, so be the top of the top.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, it really was, honestly, some of my most found memories of my life, not just my childhood.

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<v Aaron Luo>It really happened in Spain.

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<v Aaron Luo>My best friend in my wedding was my childhood friend from Spain.

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<v Aaron Luo>Every year I go back I still see all my friends and we catch up and goof around Anyway your wife is not from there, she's from here.

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<v Aaron Luo>That's right.

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<v Aaron Luo>My wife is American.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, she's from there.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you went there.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And then what made you say that, ok, now being in Europe, that gives you an edge, because you could have honestly gone to any university.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Why come to America and pay full price?

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, that's a great question.

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<v Aaron Luo>Sounds like you really know your stuff.

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<v Aaron Luo>You kind of know it and navigate you through the different educational system.

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<v Aaron Luo>But yes, growing up in Spain, easily you could go to a top university for free.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Really $1.50, if anything.

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<v Aaron Luo>If anything.

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<v Aaron Luo>Matter of fact.

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<v Aaron Luo>I mean I think back then they didn't have these kind of programs, but later on they actually even subsidized your school right Paying to go to school and all that.

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<v Aaron Luo>But could?

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<v Aaron Luo>You imagine that I know, I know right, I know.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>What did I do wrong?

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<v Aaron Luo>But I love the US In the summers.

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<v Aaron Luo>I have family in the States right.

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<v Aaron Luo>So when I was in my teenage years I always spent well, no, always, but two summers I spent in the States, loved it Well, my family is in Maryland but I traveled quite a bit.

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<v Aaron Luo>When I was in my teenage years through YMCA program, I came here, did the consular thing.

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<v Aaron Luo>It was hilarious.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>That must have been amazing, like coming in being, like wow, look at me, I could carry so much weight.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm still a foreigner.

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<v Aaron Luo>And you know what?

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<v Aaron Luo>And I feel very connected with America to a certain extent because, truly, I saw a lot of Asian Americans, to your point, earlier, coming from Spain where I saw maybe two Chinese kids of my age to come to the States.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's such a diverse community, you were like oh my god, they're more of me.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Who knew?

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<v Aaron Luo>There was bubble tea and Chinese food which back then did not exist in Spain back in those days.

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<v Aaron Luo>And so Filipe Lov Filipe Lov for the country also really saw the opportunities that this country represents.

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<v Aaron Luo>Spain as wonderful as a country economically it's not as advanced as countries like the States and I wanted more.

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<v Aaron Luo>I had that fire in me, I guess you can say, to really make it for myself, and obviously I don't think I ever said this in public, but staying away from my parents or being away from my parents, it's exciting.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Exactly Like Lord, I can go to college and without my parents breathing in my neck and just be Like, just finally not have to follow and do what's expected, stay out late, drink, do all the crazy things and God forbid you ever did anywhere else.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>That's right, pre-social media, of course, so they would have no account of knowing.

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<v Aaron Luo>No idea what am I doing.

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<v Aaron Luo>There's a monthly phone call, if any.

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<v Aaron Luo>That's kind of it.

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<v Aaron Luo>The only rule or condition I guess they put forward is that I had to study engineering oh my god, which, honestly, in hindsight, I'm glad I did just because you told me how to solve problems.

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<v Aaron Luo>I honestly did not really care about electrical engineering.

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<v Aaron Luo>I mean, do women ask me how certain complex circuits work?

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<v Aaron Luo>Because I really didn't care too much.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I got to tell you you're not the only Asian designer I've worked with who had a suggested and then, in parentheses, forced major of engineering and it's like, well, it wasn't all bad, because now I know how to make things, I know how to reverse, engineer, how to take things apart and see things in black and white as opposed to like let me just start a business, let me just become a designer, let me just go into something that I know absolutely nothing about and try to be a success.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, no, I think you're right on, and that was the thinking right.

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<v Aaron Luo>And I think you know bless my parents hard in terms of wanting to build a for me right in a certain path or a certain way.

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<v Aaron Luo>Like I said, I walked away with basically the problem solving skills.

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<v Aaron Luo>I think that's the key.

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<v Aaron Luo>I'm old to what I knew.

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<v Aaron Luo>I was going to go to the business school after.

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<v Aaron Luo>I didn't want to go to the business school right away, but my parents are entrepreneurs.

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<v Aaron Luo>They always have been.

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<v Aaron Luo>I grew up in the early days washing dishes and, you know, waiting waitress and tables.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>What did they have?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>What was their business?

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<v Aaron Luo>Well, they were still entrepreneurs.

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<v Aaron Luo>So we started with a chain of Chinese restaurants back then.

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<v Aaron Luo>Wow what?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>was it called?

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<v Aaron Luo>Well, there were a couple.

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<v Aaron Luo>The names were typically typical Chinese, chinese restaurants.

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<v Aaron Luo>One is called yinbing, which means translates to welcoming, and the second one is called gas at the bamboo, which translates to house of bamboo, you know.

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<v Aaron Luo>And then we have another one called me son, you know.

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<v Aaron Luo>There were a few others that we, you know they either helped to operate or invested in, but point is that I grew up watching them and then, later on, seeing that anything was possible, like, hey, let's just start a business.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And here's the template we know what to get, we know how to build, we know how to serve.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>That's right, that is gold.

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<v Aaron Luo>I mean for a child yeah, I agree, 100% for a child.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know I grew up understanding the value of hard work.

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<v Aaron Luo>This restaurant, you know, you know mostly, but you know hard work.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know customer service, yeah.

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<v Aaron Luo>Supply chain, you know if you really kind of translate to big words like supply chain.

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<v Aaron Luo>So you know, again, hated it back then when I had to watch dishes you did Fridays, but no but tell me great values.

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<v Aaron Luo>But later on they switched to fashion.

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<v Aaron Luo>They had an opportunity to basically start working on supply chain and fashion hand back specifically.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Actually I didn't know that.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I didn't know that that ended up being a heritage business for the Luol family.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I had no idea.

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<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, we were fortunate enough to work with several large Italian luxury brands.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>How did the switch over from food to fashion happen, which doesn't?

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<v Aaron Luo>Well, through a series of investments actually Basically started with investing in a factory, then some opportunity to operate the factory, building a network.

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<v Aaron Luo>Then, through our roots in Europe, a lot of European brands start to.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know, my dad is a good networker and ended up being acquainted with a lot of brands.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>They moved back to China or they stayed in Spain for all of us.

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<v Aaron Luo>A little split, you know.

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<v Aaron Luo>So it was a little bit of part of the family in Spain.

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<v Aaron Luo>Part of the family started operating in China.

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<v Aaron Luo>Like I said, fortunately for us, that was the time where a lot of European brands started to venture into China to expand their manufacturing footprints.

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<v Aaron Luo>We did have actually a small factory in Florence as well and ended up actually closing that and trapped me up basically fully moving to Southeast China and so yeah, so that's kind of you know what?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>What were you when all this was happening?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Were you out of college?

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<v Aaron Luo>Were you still in college?

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<v Aaron Luo>I was in high school.

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<v Aaron Luo>I was in high school.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So this?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You were still living in Spain when the school evolution went from food to handbags and now everybody's having to get acquainted with leathers and silhouettes and how materials and structure and just throw.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I bet your home was then all of a sudden filled with a whole bunch of samples out of nowhere.

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<v Aaron Luo>Samples everywhere.

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<v Aaron Luo>So I was that kid that said, instead of watching or reading you know, video game magazines, I was reading Vogue just because that was the only thing around.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know, my parents, basically you know, had all these fashion products and magazines and materials where you know, as a little kid that was the first thing that you pick up when you were on the house and saying so really kind of got a sense of fashion introduction for my parents.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know, venturing to the fashion world from that perspective and fascinated by it, love you know the fashion side of things.

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<v Aaron Luo>I actually was a lot more interested in the retail side of the things as far as, like you know, the different stores that the brands open and, of course, fascinated by the glam you know, who wouldn't be fascinated by that side of the fashion.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know, also kind of got very interested in the manufacturing side.

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<v Aaron Luo>You know, I think most people if you haven't really been in a manufacturing environment or setting right and you know this, emily, you're working to a factory and it's mesmerizing.

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<v Aaron Luo>I mean there's some factories that you probably don't get mesmerized, but you know, and I've been in those, yeah, there's a lot of them.

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<v Aaron Luo>There's like wow, you know, like this is where you know a Prada bag comes to life.

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<v Aaron Luo>Or you know where you know a Dior bag comes to life right, let me ask you that something.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So where did you go to college?

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<v Aaron Luo>University of Massachusetts in the States.

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<v Aaron Luo>Okay, so you're there.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You've escaped your family, thank God by.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I get a monthly phone call, if that, whatever, it's really interesting to me, because anybody with a background like yours I didn't even say like mine the mindset is that was interesting.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm sure I learned a lot by asoasis, but it's the last thing I'm ever going to get involved with.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I've no desire nothing.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm going to go into something totally different.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So when you accidentally end up going back into it, it's almost like your head is kind of down when you go to your parents being like so hey guys, I've got an idea.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Hey guys like, or was it your parents like, listen, when you're ready, you're coming back.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>How did all that manifest?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you graduated in MY yeah it's the former.

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<v Aaron Luo>It's very interesting.

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<v Aaron Luo>So I was very fascinated by the whole fashion thing.

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<v Aaron Luo>But I knew that I didn't want to just do manufacturing and supply chain to a certain extent, especially back in the-.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Interesting, but not sexy.

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<v Aaron Luo>And not just that.

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<v Aaron Luo>I feel like in the early 2000s I feel, especially once I started getting educated with American education, I started learning about supply chain operations and so on and so forth.

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<v Aaron Luo>To a certain extent I feel that was a little bit of a commodity, to a certain extent Totally In the sense that with the right connections which a lot of people have connections with the right connections and with a little bit of perhaps, rigor or discipline, you could get into a really great factory.

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<v Aaron Luo>You don't need to operate it right.

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<v Aaron Luo>To an extent, what really fascinated me was the branding side Brand branding, retail.

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<v Aaron Luo>So that was very fascinating to me.

00:10:58.950 --> 00:11:05.298
<v Aaron Luo>I don't think I'm that smart of a business person, but I was smart enough to know that I did not have what it takes to run a brand or know a company.

00:11:05.298 --> 00:11:09.197
<v Aaron Luo>So I knew I was foolish if I was going to go back to my dad and say like, hey look, I'm graduate from college.

00:11:09.197 --> 00:11:09.798
<v Aaron Luo>I did what you said.

00:11:09.798 --> 00:11:12.956
<v Aaron Luo>You know I'm a big man now coming out, let me get an executive position in the company, right.

00:11:12.956 --> 00:11:17.736
<v Aaron Luo>I mean, first of all he probably would slap me and say you know, no, you're going to start in the warehouse, right, and by the second of.

00:11:17.736 --> 00:11:18.470
<v Aaron Luo>I just knew I didn't have it right.

00:11:18.470 --> 00:11:22.549
<v Aaron Luo>So I, right after college, I actually wanted to go and work for an American company.

00:11:22.549 --> 00:11:27.168
<v Aaron Luo>There's a several in my mind that I really wanted to work for, really to learn process, operations, finance.

00:11:27.168 --> 00:11:37.658
<v Aaron Luo>You know there's certain functions and skill sets that I think any business person, whether you're in fashion, whether you're in tech or whether you're in any other industry if you don't have it, I think you know you are handicapped.

00:11:38.049 --> 00:11:42.620
<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, you just called that a very important point of this recognition to get paid to learn.

00:11:42.620 --> 00:11:46.860
<v Emily Blumenthal>And a lot of people, I think, don't see the value in that or just want to try and skip steps.

00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:52.154
<v Emily Blumenthal>But by skipping steps you not only lose time, lose money and the sunk costs of that learning curve are extreme.

00:11:52.154 --> 00:12:00.855
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you know, check, check to you, Aaron, for figuring that out very early, saying let me figure this out, Let me learn something else, Let me have someone pay me for it and then see what I need to do.

00:12:01.238 --> 00:12:03.169
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, and that was the idea that I wanted to trip.

00:12:03.169 --> 00:12:04.938
<v Aaron Luo>I wanted to fail to certain extent.

00:12:04.938 --> 00:12:06.748
<v Aaron Luo>Right, I wanted to get beat up On somebody else's time.

00:12:06.748 --> 00:12:09.919
<v Aaron Luo>Well, somebody who is not going to be cuddling me, right?

00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:16.820
<v Aaron Luo>Because you know, the reality is that if you join a family business and your family, your uncles and your dads are the head of the family, you're going to get cuddled you know you're going to get cuddled?

00:12:16.820 --> 00:12:18.255
<v Aaron Luo>Well, I think in Chinese culture.

00:12:18.275 --> 00:12:23.517
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, you know, even though I think you know, abusive, but abusive on the inside, but cuddled on the outside.

00:12:23.537 --> 00:12:24.238
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, and the worker right.

00:12:24.238 --> 00:12:26.721
<v Aaron Luo>You're going to start from the bottom and even your managers will treat you differently.

00:12:26.721 --> 00:12:28.844
<v Aaron Luo>I know this because I've seen it right, right, so, of course.

00:12:28.844 --> 00:12:33.049
<v Aaron Luo>So I wanted to get beat up a little bit on my own by Western cultures to a certain extent, and I got my fair share.

00:12:33.070 --> 00:12:34.554
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because you hadn't been enough already.

00:12:35.037 --> 00:12:38.134
<v Aaron Luo>No, because I mean you know you go through college and I drug around.

00:12:38.134 --> 00:12:40.561
<v Aaron Luo>The college is somewhat of a vacation to a certain extent.

00:12:40.561 --> 00:12:46.099
<v Aaron Luo>No, no, in the best of ways, right, because I mean you are in such a kind of controlled environment.

00:12:46.099 --> 00:12:51.236
<v Aaron Luo>You're there to learn, you know, yes, you have off campus jobs, but come on, let's face it, those are oh yeah, you know what I mean.

00:12:51.236 --> 00:12:53.698
<v Aaron Luo>Like it's 100% yes, so I love college.

00:12:53.698 --> 00:12:54.783
<v Aaron Luo>I mean I was like this is heaven.

00:12:55.235 --> 00:12:58.985
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, I could go back like magic magic.

00:12:58.985 --> 00:12:59.395
<v Emily Blumenthal>I know.

00:12:59.395 --> 00:13:02.384
<v Emily Blumenthal>I feel the same way like walking around with a backpack, being stressed about a test.

00:13:02.384 --> 00:13:03.278
<v Emily Blumenthal>Come on, give it to me.

00:13:03.278 --> 00:13:03.961
<v Emily Blumenthal>I know, I know.

00:13:04.182 --> 00:13:06.462
<v Aaron Luo>I know, so yeah, so I really wanted to.

00:13:06.462 --> 00:13:10.779
<v Aaron Luo>Like I said, the key thing is I knew I didn't know finance, I didn't know operations.

00:13:10.779 --> 00:13:16.014
<v Aaron Luo>You know I didn't know processes, I didn't know the rigor of quarterly closing or short term outlooks.

00:13:16.014 --> 00:13:18.003
<v Aaron Luo>I mean, you know, there's so many things I learned from General Electric.

00:13:18.003 --> 00:13:22.326
<v Aaron Luo>So you know, general Electric, ge, was one of the key brands of businesses that I really, really wanted to join.

00:13:22.326 --> 00:13:23.700
<v Aaron Luo>Back then I read a book from Jack Welch.

00:13:23.879 --> 00:13:27.118
<v Emily Blumenthal>I didn't feel he was like this on the cover yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:13:27.118 --> 00:13:28.241
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I remember that.

00:13:28.514 --> 00:13:43.005
<v Aaron Luo>He actually went to my school and if he's fraternity actually was next to my fraternity and anyways, I got exposed to GE very early on in my days in college and love the concept of conglomerate, got fascinated by the company in general and I said, look, there's few, right, there's McKenzie, the GE, there's few owners out there.

00:13:43.005 --> 00:13:47.721
<v Aaron Luo>And I said if I was going to pick a company to work for, these are the guys right that I need to kind of come at you.

00:13:47.721 --> 00:13:53.446
<v Aaron Luo>Then, fortunately enough, I was in offer a great role with GE actually back in my junior day, so they locked me in my junior year.

00:13:53.687 --> 00:13:54.253
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's amazing.

00:13:54.253 --> 00:13:55.839
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, the magic to the magic summer top.

00:13:55.839 --> 00:13:57.744
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like we want you back, that's that was.

00:13:57.945 --> 00:13:58.706
<v Aaron Luo>that was very lucky.

00:13:58.706 --> 00:13:59.397
<v Aaron Luo>That was very lucky.

00:13:59.397 --> 00:14:01.163
<v Aaron Luo>I mean, you know, I like to say that I do work hard.

00:14:01.163 --> 00:14:02.995
<v Aaron Luo>That's cool, but it was true and come true.

00:14:02.995 --> 00:14:07.941
<v Aaron Luo>So, you know, spent 10 years with GE, primarily in operations and finance, dabbling into merchant acquisitions a little bit too.

00:14:07.941 --> 00:14:12.966
<v Aaron Luo>Towards the end, before I left, I was a CFO for one of their operations, which was very young for you to be doing that at that age.

00:14:13.658 --> 00:14:15.605
<v Aaron Luo>And that's the reason why I wanted to join GE.

00:14:15.605 --> 00:14:29.548
<v Aaron Luo>Right, there are several companies that I knew that they, if you're good and you're willing to work your butt off like truly your butt off and you're willing to make certain sacrifices, they tap you, they give you the opportunity and, which is something to be said about, you know, ge now, for GE, it's in a different spot now, you know, and and all that.

00:14:29.548 --> 00:14:43.258
<v Aaron Luo>But so that was, truthfully, one of the things that really kind of inspired me to join a company, because I knew that if I did good and work hard and accelerated, that, I could go far at a young age, because I didn't have a lot of patience, I didn't want to spend, you know, lifetime learning, and then, yeah, and then wait, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:14:43.599 --> 00:14:53.727
<v Emily Blumenthal>So at this point now you have a friend colleague named Carmen Shenwu, so I know you have some history with her and a lot of people assume that she's your wife's last partner.

00:14:53.727 --> 00:14:54.876
<v Emily Blumenthal>She is none of the above.

00:14:54.876 --> 00:14:56.541
<v Emily Blumenthal>None of the above.

00:14:56.541 --> 00:15:00.207
<v Emily Blumenthal>And talk a little bit about how that came to be.

00:15:00.207 --> 00:15:04.293
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like because I know you knew her from your childhood, and like how did all that?

00:15:04.293 --> 00:15:12.894
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like, hey, let's just start a handbag brand, let's give it a name, it after you and, by the way, my wife is going to know that I'm with you all the time, and it's like a very interesting dynamic.

00:15:12.894 --> 00:15:14.062
<v Emily Blumenthal>So talk a little bit about that.

00:15:14.224 --> 00:15:20.643
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, yeah, that's about the juicy stuff, right A lot of people don't know that I mean right now, because I'm privy to that, because you were through the handbag awards.

00:15:20.643 --> 00:15:23.416
<v Emily Blumenthal>We had a micro licensing deal that never went anywhere.

00:15:23.416 --> 00:15:36.923
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank God I'm so happy it didn't because you know you pivoted right after not taking credit for it, but maybe I will a tiny bit but for you to speak about how Carmen Chen would came to be and then what prompted Kara to magically appear right after, yeah, no, it's been a wonderful journey.

00:15:37.244 --> 00:15:46.837
<v Aaron Luo>So, right after you know the whole thing I mentioned about GE and business school and all that you know, back in 2012, 2013, I was ready to take that jump right.

00:15:46.837 --> 00:15:49.264
<v Aaron Luo>A lot of things just fall into place and I said this is it.

00:15:49.264 --> 00:15:51.437
<v Aaron Luo>I was in my early 30s.

00:15:51.437 --> 00:15:59.778
<v Aaron Luo>Okay, so that's honestly also part of the reason why I said it's even either now or yeah, or I will say never, because I see a lot of successful entrepreneurs that started in the 40s, even 50s.

00:15:59.817 --> 00:16:01.004
<v Emily Blumenthal>But for you it was now or now.

00:16:01.144 --> 00:16:01.729
<v Aaron Luo>That's it for me.

00:16:01.729 --> 00:16:02.855
<v Aaron Luo>It felt right, you know.

00:16:02.855 --> 00:16:03.962
<v Aaron Luo>It felt that the timing was right.

00:16:03.982 --> 00:16:11.619
<v Emily Blumenthal>There's a lot of things in the family side of things that also were ready, and you obviously seemed to nice chunk of money to give you this buffer to start a business because you can't do it for.

00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:13.203
<v Aaron Luo>Not enough, but not enough.

00:16:13.203 --> 00:16:16.979
<v Aaron Luo>But yes, you know, it was planned to certain extent.

00:16:16.979 --> 00:16:18.087
<v Aaron Luo>I like to say it was planned for a long time.

00:16:18.087 --> 00:16:21.448
<v Aaron Luo>Reality probably was planned more like six months, and I knew I want to be in fashion.

00:16:21.448 --> 00:16:24.927
<v Aaron Luo>I knew I want to be in the handbag because of the leg up that my family has in the supply chain of the things.

00:16:24.927 --> 00:16:29.695
<v Aaron Luo>But I, again, was smart enough to know that I'm not a designer, right, I don't even know how to draw, you know.

00:16:29.695 --> 00:16:35.443
<v Aaron Luo>To be honest, you know, like it's, I think I'm a good merchandiser at this point, that's just as important, if not more, I think.

00:16:36.768 --> 00:16:37.309
<v Aaron Luo>I would agree.

00:16:37.309 --> 00:16:43.842
<v Aaron Luo>But you know, I said to really create a contemporary handbag brand and I've seen it from other brands that my parents either helped or invested in.

00:16:43.842 --> 00:16:56.150
<v Aaron Luo>So you know, I've seen a lot of kind of evolution of all the brands on the sidelines and I'm like this thing's never going to go anywhere without just a rock star designer Right and, interesting enough, so Carmen is also from Spain.

00:16:56.150 --> 00:17:03.399
<v Aaron Luo>So Carmen Chen Wu is my co founder and the spirit animal of our brand, the muse and the spirit animal, and she's the core of of Kara.

00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:04.544
<v Aaron Luo>You know, now I can say this.

00:17:05.247 --> 00:17:08.544
<v Emily Blumenthal>If you ever wanted to start a handbag brand and you didn't know where to start, this is for you.

00:17:08.544 --> 00:17:12.865
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00:17:12.865 --> 00:17:16.278
<v Emily Blumenthal>If you have a handbag brand and need strategy and direction, this is for you.

00:17:16.278 --> 00:17:22.605
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm Emily Blumenthal, handbag designer expert and handbag fairy godmother, and this is the handbag designer 101 masterclass.

00:17:22.605 --> 00:17:34.763
<v Emily Blumenthal>Over the next 10 classes, I will break down everything you need to know to make, manufacture and market a handbag brand, broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes.

00:17:35.105 --> 00:17:42.965
<v Emily Blumenthal>For the past 20 years, I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the handbag designer Bible, founded the handbag awards and created the only handbag designer podcast.

00:17:42.965 --> 00:17:47.808
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in depth course, from sketch to sample to sale.

00:17:47.808 --> 00:17:55.268
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00:17:55.268 --> 00:17:58.117
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00:17:58.117 --> 00:18:01.286
<v Emily Blumenthal>Join me, emily Blumenthal in the handbag designer 101 masterclass.

00:18:01.286 --> 00:18:10.142
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00:18:10.142 --> 00:18:14.894
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did you find to reconnect with her collector?

00:18:14.894 --> 00:18:16.140
<v Emily Blumenthal>And again, I know that.

00:18:16.140 --> 00:18:17.930
<v Emily Blumenthal>How many Chinese were there in Spain at that time?

00:18:17.930 --> 00:18:20.300
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know each other at the meetings, no, no no.

00:18:20.561 --> 00:18:23.071
<v Aaron Luo>So our families knew each other from the Spanish days, right.

00:18:23.071 --> 00:18:28.318
<v Aaron Luo>So my grandfather, like I mentioned before, he, was one of the early Chinese to establish himself in Spain and he was a lawyer.

00:18:28.318 --> 00:18:43.778
<v Aaron Luo>He was a lawyer by trade and he also happened to love the Spanish culture and the Spanish language and because of that he picked up Spanish very early on and, in translation, he essentially used his skills to help a lot of entrepreneurs in Spain to start Chinese restaurants or other businesses.

00:18:43.778 --> 00:18:53.121
<v Aaron Luo>You know, as you can imagine, if you move from China to Spain, even if you had funds to invest in, unless you know the local language or so, and so for you, you need a lawyer, basically on your side, to start.

00:18:53.161 --> 00:18:58.083
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know businesses and we also need to know how much of the Chinese food needs to be Chinese to sell.

00:18:58.083 --> 00:19:02.342
<v Emily Blumenthal>So, having been in Spain and studied in Sevilla and Asturica, they all have been all over.

00:19:02.342 --> 00:19:08.405
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like any Chinese restaurant you go in as a especially in as an American you're like, please let them have something that I can identify with.

00:19:08.405 --> 00:19:11.403
<v Emily Blumenthal>So understanding the sellability of a customer is like just important.

00:19:11.503 --> 00:19:12.226
<v Aaron Luo>That's right, because you know.

00:19:12.226 --> 00:19:15.526
<v Aaron Luo>You know a lot of dishes are actually quote unquote translated to Spanish pellets.

00:19:15.526 --> 00:19:17.373
<v Aaron Luo>Right, they're not Truly authentic.

00:19:17.373 --> 00:19:29.781
<v Aaron Luo>Now things has changed, but back then, right, you know, a spring roll is not a spring rolls that probably we're used to in the States or in China, right, which like a very thin cross, you know, a lot of juicy veggies inside, with a piece of meat in Spain's totally different, very thick cross, another very juicy.

00:19:29.781 --> 00:19:31.455
<v Aaron Luo>Anyways, it's chance like I would love to.

00:19:31.537 --> 00:19:35.571
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, your next back should be like called a Spanish spring roll, because I think there's so much in that, right there.

00:19:35.571 --> 00:19:36.673
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's a whole story itself.

00:19:37.055 --> 00:19:45.430
<v Aaron Luo>Okay, so your grandfather, new Carmen's grandfather grandmother and, and you know, honestly, I just do a little research in the States and just stumbled upon Carmen.

00:19:45.430 --> 00:19:49.778
<v Aaron Luo>You know she's, of course, a CFDA awarded fashion designer, now top of the class in Parsons.

00:19:49.778 --> 00:19:54.016
<v Aaron Luo>You know one, numerous awards beforehand, and Happens to be Chinese from Valencia.

00:19:54.016 --> 00:19:54.679
<v Aaron Luo>You know which is it?

00:19:55.653 --> 00:19:57.690
<v Emily Blumenthal>So not so common not common at all.

00:19:58.030 --> 00:19:58.413
<v Aaron Luo>And what?

00:19:58.472 --> 00:20:02.125
<v Emily Blumenthal>you're just digging for designers and looking for someone who is Chinese, like how did you like?

00:20:02.406 --> 00:20:03.289
<v Aaron Luo>it was a combination of things.

00:20:03.289 --> 00:20:04.353
<v Aaron Luo>It was a little bit of that.

00:20:04.353 --> 00:20:10.589
<v Aaron Luo>It was a little bit of, you know, talking to my parents as far as you know what venues and what different areas I can, you know, kind of tap into and they brought up.

00:20:10.589 --> 00:20:13.280
<v Aaron Luo>Hey, you know, I think you know so-and-so's granddaughter.

00:20:13.280 --> 00:20:14.425
<v Aaron Luo>Actually it's in the state.

00:20:14.425 --> 00:20:15.289
<v Aaron Luo>It's just wild, right?

00:20:15.289 --> 00:20:16.933
<v Aaron Luo>Wow, you know, it's really fate.

00:20:17.193 --> 00:20:21.971
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's really a unicorn story in a sense that there's a staying in Yiddish or German, however you want to call it.

00:20:21.971 --> 00:20:25.981
<v Emily Blumenthal>Called the shirt and it is written like this was predetermined, predestined to happen.

00:20:26.250 --> 00:20:31.029
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, no, it really was, it was magic, and because you know how many times can you say that everything just fell into place.

00:20:31.029 --> 00:20:35.842
<v Aaron Luo>All I watch right is that I'm ready to start a brand hand back specifically contemporary.

00:20:35.842 --> 00:20:42.737
<v Aaron Luo>You know that then Carmen was ready to do a very similar kind of a jump right in terms of a career and when you reached out to her, was she like who are you?

00:20:42.797 --> 00:20:43.941
<v Emily Blumenthal>or my grandma told me you were calling.

00:20:43.970 --> 00:20:44.926
<v Aaron Luo>No, no, she didn't know.

00:20:44.926 --> 00:20:46.772
<v Aaron Luo>She didn't know it, but the introduction was that.

00:20:46.772 --> 00:20:48.338
<v Aaron Luo>Hey, you know, I think our grandparents know each other.

00:20:48.338 --> 00:20:49.663
<v Aaron Luo>Matter of fact, they did business together, right?

00:20:49.730 --> 00:20:50.903
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did you write her in Spanish or English?

00:20:51.166 --> 00:20:55.588
<v Aaron Luo>in English, it was in English, it was in English and we started just jelly right away.

00:20:55.588 --> 00:20:57.455
<v Aaron Luo>You know, it's like our backgrounds are so similar.

00:20:57.455 --> 00:21:01.349
<v Aaron Luo>We both have the same interests, you know, in terms of wanting to start a fashion brand.

00:21:01.349 --> 00:21:06.029
<v Aaron Luo>I love her design, static, I mean and I'm not saying this just because she's my you know business partner in co-founder of the brand.

00:21:06.029 --> 00:21:10.150
<v Aaron Luo>I think she's one of the most talented handbag designers that I've known and I've seen my fair share of them.

00:21:10.150 --> 00:21:16.111
<v Aaron Luo>We're gonna know what I see her drawing and thinking through concepts with her team and merchandise and conversations and all that they.

00:21:16.111 --> 00:21:20.089
<v Aaron Luo>Honestly, it's magic to see things coming out of in there, you know, when she's at work.

00:21:20.471 --> 00:21:21.396
<v Emily Blumenthal>Was that weird for your wife?

00:21:21.396 --> 00:21:24.029
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, you know, I think I think a little strange.

00:21:24.029 --> 00:21:25.921
<v Emily Blumenthal>We like, hey, I found this girl.

00:21:25.921 --> 00:21:27.569
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I spent all my time with her.

00:21:27.569 --> 00:21:31.326
<v Emily Blumenthal>We're gonna start a business and don't worry, I'm gonna tell everybody we're not together.

00:21:31.326 --> 00:21:34.383
<v Emily Blumenthal>So yeah, I mean honestly, because that's just the assumption.

00:21:34.703 --> 00:21:36.130
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, you know, and we got a lot of that right.

00:21:36.130 --> 00:21:39.125
<v Aaron Luo>It's that every to your point, everybody assumes that we're together, we're married and all that.

00:21:39.125 --> 00:21:39.849
<v Aaron Luo>I think you know.

00:21:39.849 --> 00:21:43.238
<v Aaron Luo>Obviously, transparency, it's very critical in any relationship, right?

00:21:43.238 --> 00:21:44.982
<v Aaron Luo>So being up front with that, I think it's important.

00:21:44.982 --> 00:21:50.501
<v Aaron Luo>I think you know, again, my wife and I'm sure she will kill me saying this my wife, it's a very confident woman.

00:21:50.501 --> 00:21:51.483
<v Aaron Luo>Okay, he's just fine.

00:21:51.483 --> 00:21:55.670
<v Aaron Luo>She is very confident in our marriage, in our relationship and herself, of course.

00:21:56.131 --> 00:22:03.970
<v Aaron Luo>And so you know I say this is somewhat of a fairytale because, carmen, I will be working on this brand and you know other ventures and so on, so forth, and other brands for the last 10 years together.

00:22:03.970 --> 00:22:07.509
<v Aaron Luo>We hardly ever fight and that's a question we get I get a lot of interviews from the press.

00:22:07.509 --> 00:22:09.486
<v Aaron Luo>Is that, you know, like, how is it like to have a co-founder?

00:22:09.486 --> 00:22:10.029
<v Aaron Luo>Right, and it's hard.

00:22:10.029 --> 00:22:15.416
<v Aaron Luo>It's hard, emily, and you've seen your fair share of startup brands Call funders, fight and they split up.

00:22:15.416 --> 00:22:24.567
<v Aaron Luo>Matter of fact, you know I'd read this somewhere not a long ago that I think over 50% of Brands, especially in retail fashion, that ends up, you know, dissolving or going away or being sold.

00:22:24.567 --> 00:22:29.230
<v Aaron Luo>Whatever it is, it's not because the brand could sustain, or it's because of differences between the co-founders, you know.

00:22:29.391 --> 00:22:30.816
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's a divorce like anything else.

00:22:30.977 --> 00:22:53.040
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, hard you know, start out kind of in this bubble and then, when interest, attention and growth, ego scale, you know there's always because you both can't be doing the exact same thing Like one person has to be designated to one and then designated to another and, you know, differences of opinions come, and then you have to come up very quickly with a way that you can determine what is more important to one person versus what is more like is this a 10 for you or 2 for you?

00:22:53.040 --> 00:22:55.085
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because if it's a 2 for me and it's then for you, we'll just go with that.

00:22:55.085 --> 00:22:55.710
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's it the end.

00:22:56.070 --> 00:23:06.410
<v Aaron Luo>Yep, 100%, very, very hard, and the fact that we work with each other for 10 years and build an amazing brand and building on the Second one as we speak, it's a miracle, honestly, and we reflect on our journey right from time to time.

00:23:06.410 --> 00:23:09.878
<v Aaron Luo>You know, we're so busy that we don't get a chance to really reflect too often, but a lot of it's based out of.

00:23:09.878 --> 00:23:12.699
<v Aaron Luo>But to your point earlier, right, the skill sets has to complement each other.

00:23:12.699 --> 00:23:18.690
<v Aaron Luo>Never, you know, conflict will contract with each other, right, and then you're gonna end up a situation where both of you want to make a call and and who's gonna make that call at the end?

00:23:18.690 --> 00:23:20.135
<v Aaron Luo>But they, right, and that's what the friction happens.

00:23:20.451 --> 00:23:27.162
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did you go from Carmen Chen Wu and being like, hey, girl, we're gonna call it after you because you're the talent to hey, I think it's time to pit it and let's call it something else.

00:23:27.673 --> 00:23:29.066
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, I think it was a combination of things.

00:23:29.066 --> 00:23:39.443
<v Aaron Luo>In the early days, I think you know Carmen, when we started Kara or we started working together, before even landed the name of Kara, you know there was Carmen Chen Wu, her namesake brand and CCW, or Carmen.

00:23:39.664 --> 00:23:40.807
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, ccw came after right.

00:23:42.051 --> 00:23:48.272
<v Aaron Luo>And I think at one point we both came to conclusion more Carmen than me, because I actually was totally okay with just continue calling, you know, carmen Chen Wu or CCW.

00:23:48.272 --> 00:23:49.997
<v Aaron Luo>I think it's a great name.

00:23:49.997 --> 00:23:52.752
<v Aaron Luo>It's a great name and even the short of it it's wonderful.

00:23:52.752 --> 00:23:55.809
<v Aaron Luo>I think you know she did not want to create a brand, a namesake brand.

00:23:55.809 --> 00:23:56.894
<v Aaron Luo>I think that's her vision.

00:23:56.894 --> 00:23:57.615
<v Aaron Luo>Right is that?

00:23:57.615 --> 00:24:03.199
<v Aaron Luo>You know, the brand should sustain itself without a designer and again, there's plenty of brands out there that you know.

00:24:03.199 --> 00:24:08.742
<v Aaron Luo>Even after the brand was sold right and the designers no longer involved, when you want more as a figure, they continue to be very successful.

00:24:08.809 --> 00:24:10.061
<v Aaron Luo>That's, that's great, and I'm not saying that's.

00:24:10.061 --> 00:24:10.829
<v Aaron Luo>That cannot be the case.

00:24:10.829 --> 00:24:19.442
<v Aaron Luo>But for her, she won the brand that is not necessarily always tied to her persona to certain extent, even though she is the spirit of the movie on the brand and you know the nucleus of the brand for the last decade.

00:24:19.442 --> 00:24:23.280
<v Aaron Luo>She won the brand that basically can last forever, even though we both are not here, right?

00:24:23.280 --> 00:24:27.681
<v Aaron Luo>So, kara, I don't know if you know this, it's a combination of her name and my name together.

00:24:27.990 --> 00:24:31.413
<v Aaron Luo>I did, of course I did of course I did, aaron, so you probably know this.

00:24:31.413 --> 00:24:42.022
<v Aaron Luo>But for those who don't know, one of the things that we really pride ourselves, you know, in Kara specifically, was that, beyond or besides being, you know, just a beautiful product, right in terms of design and the materials that we use, it's extremely functional.

00:24:42.291 --> 00:24:47.719
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's a very functional handbag, you know very different Aesthetic product and so forth from Carmen Shenmue was easy.

00:24:47.719 --> 00:24:50.564
<v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, that was very fashion driven, not that there's alright, but this was very.

00:24:50.564 --> 00:24:59.226
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, the lane was very crowded where you were to Kara and, if I'm not mistaken, you yourself were also on a reality show for a minute Trying to get money like honey, funny, I know.

00:24:59.226 --> 00:25:03.769
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, story, yeah, yeah, everything in the closet and they weren't very kind to you also, which really pissed me off.

00:25:03.769 --> 00:25:07.961
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, like I know his vision and I know the people who were the on the other side like, well, do you get it?

00:25:07.961 --> 00:25:08.792
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm like he gets it.

00:25:08.792 --> 00:25:09.536
<v Emily Blumenthal>Watch the space.

00:25:09.536 --> 00:25:13.724
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, no, I mean being an early adopter into at leisure for a handbag.

00:25:13.724 --> 00:25:14.710
<v Emily Blumenthal>You're up against a lot.

00:25:14.710 --> 00:25:22.676
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like being a pioneer is good, but it's also you want to be the first, the fastest and the best, but then the flip side of that is like you're the one paving the way, which is almost just as problematic.

00:25:22.836 --> 00:25:23.318
<v Aaron Luo>It was hard.

00:25:23.318 --> 00:25:24.083
<v Aaron Luo>It was hard.

00:25:24.083 --> 00:25:28.941
<v Aaron Luo>We got slapped left and right in the early days, you know it's so, yeah, if we were in project runway or spin-off, I think of the project.

00:25:28.961 --> 00:25:31.369
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, it's project entrepreneur or something like that something.

00:25:31.590 --> 00:25:34.083
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, yeah, you're right, I think it was probably kind of put a great memory, emily.

00:25:34.083 --> 00:25:36.394
<v Aaron Luo>Um, go there, it's all there, aaron, it's all there.

00:25:36.394 --> 00:25:36.958
<v Aaron Luo>How do you do it?

00:25:36.958 --> 00:25:40.076
<v Aaron Luo>So, yeah, it was fun, you know we, of course, I can go on forever.

00:25:40.076 --> 00:25:40.819
<v Aaron Luo>About funding, by the way.

00:25:40.819 --> 00:25:55.315
<v Aaron Luo>Okay, you know, in terms, I think funding it's a very slipping slope when it comes to fashion brands and you know we were involved in the number of, you know, accelerators, you know, and pre venture funding organizations in the early days and I got a very Inside look into venture funding.

00:25:55.315 --> 00:25:58.323
<v Aaron Luo>Of course, my finance background, you know, I was fortunate enough because I was with GE.

00:25:58.323 --> 00:26:01.299
<v Aaron Luo>I was fortunate to see so many different pictures and deals coming through my desk.

00:26:01.299 --> 00:26:06.979
<v Aaron Luo>Hey, I gotta tell you, like you know, I don't say I'm 100% disagreeing, but I think venture funding and fashion brands doesn't really work.

00:26:06.979 --> 00:26:08.733
<v Aaron Luo>That's not really working, you know, in the early days.

00:26:10.773 --> 00:26:12.220
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, it's you know I don't.

00:26:12.220 --> 00:26:13.605
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's the wrong industry.

00:26:13.605 --> 00:26:14.630
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like doing it for food.

00:26:14.630 --> 00:26:18.799
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's the fashion is too quick, the trends move too fast, the customer is too fickle.

00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:20.202
<v Emily Blumenthal>You get stuck with inventory.

00:26:20.202 --> 00:26:22.789
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's a plus on the balance sheet, but it's truly a minus.

00:26:22.789 --> 00:26:27.471
<v Emily Blumenthal>You know, your fashion is you're driving the car off the lot and hoping for the best that it doesn't lose value as soon as it Leaves the store.

00:26:27.471 --> 00:26:34.009
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, yeah, it's funny that you, going in with a finance background, assume that that's the road, but it's not, and I see that that's a learning curve on your part.

00:26:34.009 --> 00:26:35.490
<v Emily Blumenthal>You had no choice but to get it backwards.

00:26:35.644 --> 00:26:37.963
<v Aaron Luo>And you're going to realize, we started the brand in 2013, 2014,.

00:26:37.963 --> 00:26:43.556
<v Aaron Luo>Right, and part of the reason why we wanted to start Kara specifically was that we saw great DTC brands that came before us.

00:26:43.556 --> 00:26:53.372
<v Aaron Luo>You got a digital native back then on the digital first, later on DTC I think the terms keep changing, but we saw some great brands coming before us Bonobos and Everlane and Dollar Street.

00:26:53.865 --> 00:26:54.749
<v Emily Blumenthal>Kuyana and all those.

00:26:55.150 --> 00:26:55.551
<v Aaron Luo>Exactly.

00:26:55.551 --> 00:27:01.931
<v Aaron Luo>And, what's interesting, kuyana might be a slightly different story, kind of the same Ish, ish, but you know other voices, right?

00:27:01.931 --> 00:27:04.733
<v Aaron Luo>All those brands, like when we start looking into the founding story.

00:27:04.884 --> 00:27:07.472
<v Emily Blumenthal>We'll dump it at other voices now, so yeah, well, that's the thing.

00:27:07.532 --> 00:27:08.435
<v Aaron Luo>That's exactly the point, right?

00:27:08.435 --> 00:27:09.387
<v Aaron Luo>Is that a lot of them.

00:27:09.387 --> 00:27:10.633
<v Aaron Luo>They were great marketers.

00:27:10.633 --> 00:27:14.236
<v Aaron Luo>There was so much to learn when it comes to branding and marketing, right, I mean, think about Bonobos.

00:27:14.236 --> 00:27:17.153
<v Aaron Luo>When Andy Dunn started the brand with Brian, the concept was different.

00:27:17.153 --> 00:27:17.693
<v Aaron Luo>It really was.

00:27:17.693 --> 00:27:21.074
<v Aaron Luo>It just means that right it's that you buy a product, it's directly coming to you.

00:27:21.074 --> 00:27:23.349
<v Aaron Luo>Not that DTC didn't exist before, of course, the concept was always there.

00:27:23.349 --> 00:27:29.390
<v Aaron Luo>But he really leveraged tech, right, and then cheap advertising through Instagram and Facebook to really get the story out, and it was a great business model.

00:27:29.390 --> 00:27:41.134
<v Aaron Luo>But one thing we realized was that, when it comes to the product, eh, you know, it's like it's not bad I'm not trashing any brands but it was like, eh, great, and we're just like OK, and, by the way, I wanted to love Bonobos and just picking Andy for a minute, right.

00:27:41.265 --> 00:27:46.972
<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, as a men's brand, like that was a space that no one hits us, so I guess that, and their marketing was genius Great marketing.

00:27:46.992 --> 00:27:57.108
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yes, I mean, I've been professoring long before they started and when I start coming up it's like wow, look at this white space that they hit that they really can't get pushed back because no one's doing it much like you know, kara, in that regard.

00:27:57.108 --> 00:28:00.325
<v Emily Blumenthal>But you're so spot on that the product doesn't fit the narrative.

00:28:00.325 --> 00:28:05.450
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like the narrative can only get you to a certain point because you need the product to make it all the way around the basis and you talked about LTV right.

00:28:05.505 --> 00:28:07.191
<v Aaron Luo>So you know lifetime value of the customer.

00:28:07.191 --> 00:28:14.391
<v Aaron Luo>You know if your product gets eh but your marketing is really good, you will get probably a cheap acquisition to acquire the customer right your first time acquiring the customer.

00:28:14.391 --> 00:28:21.374
<v Aaron Luo>Might be cheap because of the store, you tell, but when you think about the lifetime and the repeatability of the customer, that comes from branding, that comes from product, product Exactly.

00:28:21.484 --> 00:28:22.188
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's your 80-20.

00:28:22.670 --> 00:28:22.951
<v Aaron Luo>That's right.

00:28:22.951 --> 00:28:32.272
<v Aaron Luo>And it's interesting because their whole pitch back then was that, hey, I can lose a little bit of money with, you know, first time acquisition of the customer, because I'm betting on the fact they're going to come back later on.

00:28:32.272 --> 00:28:36.333
<v Aaron Luo>So my LTV ultimately it's very high, even though my acquisition cost is very high in the early days.

00:28:36.333 --> 00:28:36.493
<v Aaron Luo>Right.

00:28:36.493 --> 00:28:40.867
<v Aaron Luo>And again, if your product gets not superior, honestly that equation is going to fail and I saw that.

00:28:40.867 --> 00:28:46.586
<v Aaron Luo>I saw that and, by the way, you know not to say that I'm not the force I would see in the future, but the reality is that a lot of this brand ends up actually failing.

00:28:46.586 --> 00:28:50.650
<v Aaron Luo>Right, and I can say that because some of it ended up failing because that thesis is wrong.

00:28:50.650 --> 00:28:51.653
<v Aaron Luo>That thesis is totally wrong.

00:28:51.653 --> 00:28:52.828
<v Aaron Luo>You cannot lose, you know.

00:28:52.868 --> 00:28:56.073
<v Aaron Luo>Even Casper, you know that they were saying that, ok, we don't have LTV, you know.

00:28:56.073 --> 00:29:00.151
<v Aaron Luo>So I'm OK with a little bit more, paying a little bit more in acquisition, first because my margins are so high.

00:29:00.151 --> 00:29:01.911
<v Aaron Luo>It ends up, you know, not working out.

00:29:01.911 --> 00:29:03.404
<v Aaron Luo>And then, of course, you know that's a different story for another day.

00:29:03.404 --> 00:29:08.551
<v Aaron Luo>But anyways, to answer your question in terms of how we thought about this, we said look, we have a super talented design team.

00:29:08.551 --> 00:29:10.692
<v Aaron Luo>Right Back then it was just one designer, but you know we have a team.

00:29:10.692 --> 00:29:12.873
<v Aaron Luo>But you know Carmen is a rock star.

00:29:12.873 --> 00:29:27.744
<v Aaron Luo>So what if we learn everything we know about DTC, the four mothers and four fathers that came before us right in terms of narrative, storytelling, branding and so on and so forth, but flipped the equation a little bit and really let the product actually shine and we were fortunate enough to actually, you know, kind of really identify a spot that nobody were really doing it right.

00:29:28.267 --> 00:29:31.451
<v Emily Blumenthal>How did you the pair of you being like at leisure let's do a bag for that.

00:29:31.451 --> 00:29:33.092
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because how did that happen?

00:29:33.092 --> 00:29:38.171
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because, ultimately, after doing a fashion brand that did OK, it didn't like it's not carrot level.

00:29:38.171 --> 00:29:38.948
<v Emily Blumenthal>But how were you like?

00:29:38.948 --> 00:29:40.373
<v Emily Blumenthal>I think this is our lane to go in?

00:29:40.744 --> 00:29:43.354
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, and that was an interesting kind of how we landed on the concept.

00:29:43.354 --> 00:29:46.128
<v Aaron Luo>So we actually didn't even want it to be associated early days with at leisure.

00:29:46.128 --> 00:29:48.231
<v Aaron Luo>You know it was a little bit of a fad back then.

00:29:48.231 --> 00:29:50.869
<v Aaron Luo>You know everybody was like you know, is this here to stay?

00:29:50.869 --> 00:29:51.708
<v Aaron Luo>Is this, you know?

00:29:51.708 --> 00:29:54.327
<v Aaron Luo>And then I got to interview early days like, well, what do you think about leisure?

00:29:54.327 --> 00:29:56.695
<v Aaron Luo>And I'm like I'm not, I'm not, yeah, I'm like I have no idea.

00:29:56.765 --> 00:29:59.909
<v Aaron Luo>But one thing I can tell you is that healthy living it's here to stay, right.

00:29:59.909 --> 00:30:21.194
<v Aaron Luo>So when we started looking at data both Carmen and I are super data oriented we started realizing A that people's lifestyle starts to change, right, and people are working out a lot more, being a lot more health conscious and, you know, for being in a metro area like New York, people are constantly on the go right, and we see so many customers, or just consumers in general, with two or three bags on the street.

00:30:21.194 --> 00:30:24.431
<v Aaron Luo>I mean, you see, right, oh yeah, one for the gym, one for the office, one for going out.

00:30:25.113 --> 00:30:28.932
<v Emily Blumenthal>And we're like I love when people stay to date at night back, because you and I both know that that does not exist.

00:30:29.065 --> 00:30:29.708
<v Aaron Luo>No, it doesn't.

00:30:29.708 --> 00:30:32.512
<v Aaron Luo>So we said what if we give her a bag?

00:30:32.512 --> 00:30:43.531
<v Aaron Luo>And back then you know one of our early partnerships that we had with Equinox, right, so we kind of leveraged them or used their customers almost like model customer to a certain extent, like if we were going to service an Equinox customer, right, what kind of bag would she need?

00:30:43.531 --> 00:30:44.588
<v Aaron Luo>What she's going to wear?

00:30:44.588 --> 00:30:50.712
<v Aaron Luo>Again, fast fashion sorry, fast company and a few other editorials called us the brand that invented the atheleteer handbag.

00:30:50.712 --> 00:30:52.509
<v Aaron Luo>I didn't coin that term but I take it.

00:30:52.509 --> 00:30:53.472
<v Aaron Luo>You know, own it, own it.

00:30:53.553 --> 00:30:57.368
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, listen, people call me a fairy godmother and you could be called much worse.

00:30:57.368 --> 00:30:58.933
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, oh yeah, that's right, that's how.

00:30:58.973 --> 00:30:59.375
<v Aaron Luo>I see it.

00:30:59.375 --> 00:31:01.045
<v Aaron Luo>So you know, we're like you know what, let's just run with it.

00:31:01.045 --> 00:31:15.512
<v Aaron Luo>But that was the genesis of the brand is that we felt that look to your point earlier too there's so many great handbag brands out there, so many, right from luxury all the way down to contemporary and we just felt that if you value proposition to convince a customer to buy a product, it's because I can do it better or might as a prettier.

00:31:15.512 --> 00:31:18.134
<v Aaron Luo>That's a very hard proposition to convince other people.

00:31:18.134 --> 00:31:20.330
<v Aaron Luo>It takes a lot of dollars to see it on a celebrity.

00:31:20.330 --> 00:31:22.016
<v Aaron Luo>It just takes a long journey, my God forget it.

00:31:22.224 --> 00:31:26.772
<v Emily Blumenthal>And the interesting thing, this aspiration of influencer, creator, whatever you want to call it, gifting it to people.

00:31:26.772 --> 00:31:40.590
<v Emily Blumenthal>That comes at such a cost because the ROI for that nine times out of 10 is so low and people don't even realize that Like 100%, you know, back in the day you gift it to a stylist, hope that the celebrity wears it, then hope it shows up in a weekly or people's style watch RIP almost all of them in print.

00:31:40.590 --> 00:31:51.133
<v Emily Blumenthal>And now it's like you need the validation of your customer, being a brand with fans and really catering to their personal needs and identifying that through your site and building that community, because without that community you have no brands 100%.

00:31:51.184 --> 00:31:53.730
<v Aaron Luo>You have to have that first party data in order for you to actually be an assistant brand.

00:31:53.730 --> 00:31:55.770
<v Aaron Luo>Without that, you are the mercy of others.

00:31:55.770 --> 00:31:58.412
<v Aaron Luo>To you are the will in terms of how you tell a story.

00:31:58.412 --> 00:32:12.234
<v Aaron Luo>So, yes, that was kind of the genesis behind the brand in the early days, where we said look, I think there is a space where we know that we want to be contemporary, we want to be aspirational, but we want to make our product a lot more functional, and for us functionality means first and foremost material science.

00:32:12.234 --> 00:32:16.455
<v Aaron Luo>So we invest a lot of R&D into developing and using different nylons.

00:32:16.455 --> 00:32:18.412
<v Aaron Luo>Nylon is probably one of the key fabrics that we use.

00:32:18.744 --> 00:32:20.932
<v Emily Blumenthal>Is the production done so through your family's factories?

00:32:20.932 --> 00:32:31.170
<v Emily Blumenthal>No anymore, they used to be, but still a lot of great connections that we have Was that hard to move away, internally being like, hey guys, we can't do this anymore because this does not fit our model.

00:32:31.705 --> 00:32:35.913
<v Aaron Luo>No, it wasn't necessarily fitting our model, it was just because the price point honestly didn't.

00:32:36.645 --> 00:32:38.211
<v Emily Blumenthal>Because you were more expensive than what they were doing.

00:32:38.330 --> 00:32:38.932
<v Aaron Luo>We just got bigger.

00:32:38.932 --> 00:32:43.769
<v Aaron Luo>We got bigger and the volume just got to a certain point that we can get a lot more economy of scale with larger factories.

00:32:43.769 --> 00:32:47.648
<v Aaron Luo>My family factory is still I wish they probably mid-size Again large factory.

00:32:47.648 --> 00:32:49.095
<v Aaron Luo>There's bad ones and there's gray ones.

00:32:49.095 --> 00:32:55.131
<v Aaron Luo>The really gray ones are the ones that respects and values design and quality but still gives you the economy of scale.

00:32:55.131 --> 00:32:57.834
<v Aaron Luo>So that's what we're looking for in the supply chain side, the production side of things.

00:32:57.884 --> 00:33:03.410
<v Aaron Luo>But yeah, so back to what I was saying functionality from very early on and we're still very much leaning on those pillars is material science.

00:33:03.410 --> 00:33:10.816
<v Aaron Luo>You have to make sure that you use an exquisite product that's durable, that's light, that feels silky and buttery and with a touch.

00:33:10.816 --> 00:33:13.452
<v Aaron Luo>All that comes with R&D investments 100%.

00:33:13.452 --> 00:33:16.489
<v Aaron Luo>We also invest heavily in different ways that you can carry the product.

00:33:16.489 --> 00:33:20.452
<v Aaron Luo>When it comes to design, multi-strap system it's one of the key design features that we always rely on.

00:33:20.984 --> 00:33:25.188
<v Aaron Luo>When it comes to pockets, a lot of people are like the more the merrier and we disagree when it comes to pockets.

00:33:25.188 --> 00:33:35.768
<v Aaron Luo>We feel like pockets needs to be designed thoughtfully and has to have a purpose 100%, sticking in few pockets just because everybody else is doing it, or because we feel like just give some compartment for the user.

00:33:35.768 --> 00:33:36.530
<v Aaron Luo>That's not right.

00:33:36.530 --> 00:33:40.571
<v Aaron Luo>And so we spend a lot of time researching, working with our ambassadors.

00:33:40.571 --> 00:33:50.849
<v Aaron Luo>We have a pretty decent-sized ambassador program at this point, not only to help us tell the story in terms of the brand and, of course, carry our products, but also their feedback is very about what we want to go through to decide To identify what's missing, to identify what we need.

00:33:50.931 --> 00:33:51.551
<v Emily Blumenthal>oh, this didn't work.

00:33:51.551 --> 00:33:52.094
<v Emily Blumenthal>I would like this.

00:33:52.094 --> 00:33:52.755
<v Emily Blumenthal>Can you do that?

00:33:53.096 --> 00:33:55.170
<v Aaron Luo>Yep, and again, we don't always listen to our customers, right?

00:33:55.190 --> 00:33:57.536
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, because that's to the extent Like I want it yellow.

00:33:57.536 --> 00:33:59.347
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's why yellow doesn't sell, or whatever.

00:33:59.347 --> 00:34:00.711
<v Emily Blumenthal>Something like that, Exactly yeah.

00:34:00.911 --> 00:34:01.171
<v Aaron Luo>Exactly.

00:34:01.171 --> 00:34:07.461
<v Aaron Luo>I'd like to say always that in our downtown, the great designers, at the end of the day, are the ones who will tell you something that you need before you know you may need it Right.

00:34:07.461 --> 00:34:11.298
<v Aaron Luo>So asking your consumers to always help you design, it's a one-day-to-point.

00:34:11.614 --> 00:34:15.681
<v Emily Blumenthal>Whenever I see people doing this help design our bag and I'm like, oh honey, bunny, that's the wrong way to go.

00:34:15.681 --> 00:34:21.481
<v Emily Blumenthal>Or whenever I see a new brand saying it's bespoke, it's like, ah, you bought too many materials, you don't know how to do this, you don't know how to scale.

00:34:21.481 --> 00:34:27.619
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like red flags to me that I think a lot of customers are a lot more savvy than what you think they are when you're trying to sell them something.

00:34:27.619 --> 00:34:28.382
<v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, 100%.

00:34:28.775 --> 00:34:29.840
<v Aaron Luo>I mean just to quickly talk to that point.

00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:39.201
<v Aaron Luo>Customers are more savvy than ever, especially with Gen Z and much more than before and, of course, with all the return policies that most brands have.

00:34:39.201 --> 00:34:44.579
<v Aaron Luo>If you are BSE your customers through marketing, worst case scenario they will actually not even return the product and don't ever buy it from you again.

00:34:44.579 --> 00:34:48.119
<v Aaron Luo>Best case scenario is they come back, tell you why they didn't like the product and perhaps exchange for something.

00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:54.822
<v Aaron Luo>So point is that I think to your point, you can't fool a customer these days, not anymore in terms of, and I don't think you ever could in the past.

00:34:55.215 --> 00:34:57.657
<v Emily Blumenthal>But now, with the way that people can communicate, no way forget it.

00:34:57.657 --> 00:35:02.315
<v Emily Blumenthal>You can't go on bad review, that's there for life, like just go in anywhere 100%, karin.

00:35:02.315 --> 00:35:04.744
<v Emily Blumenthal>I would love to know where Cara is going.

00:35:04.744 --> 00:35:07.942
<v Emily Blumenthal>Ricardo famous wrap all this into one big bow.

00:35:07.942 --> 00:35:08.985
<v Emily Blumenthal>What's to come?

00:35:08.985 --> 00:35:09.565
<v Emily Blumenthal>Where are we now?

00:35:09.994 --> 00:35:14.362
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, so Karin and I have been working with each other for a decade, but you know, cara, it's been around probably for eight years.

00:35:14.362 --> 00:35:16.438
<v Aaron Luo>You know seven or eight years, I think, for us.

00:35:16.438 --> 00:35:17.643
<v Aaron Luo>You know we're ready to scale.

00:35:17.643 --> 00:35:20.740
<v Aaron Luo>You know it's very funny because a lot of people want to scale early and that's you know.

00:35:20.740 --> 00:35:26.000
<v Aaron Luo>Back to my point about VCs before, because as soon as you start the mistake, as soon as you start taking external funding, you'll obligated to your investors.

00:35:26.074 --> 00:35:32.280
<v Aaron Luo>You'll have visionary duty to your investors to actually grow for them and for yourself, but for them also because they're on the same boat as you and that's prone to make mistakes to your point.

00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:36.184
<v Aaron Luo>So we took a really cautious baby steps in our early journey.

00:35:36.184 --> 00:35:39.000
<v Aaron Luo>I think you know the brand is a point where our supply chain is robust.

00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:40.038
<v Aaron Luo>Our team, you know.

00:35:40.038 --> 00:35:43.663
<v Aaron Luo>We finally are the point where we feel like we have a right size team to help us scale.

00:35:43.663 --> 00:35:47.659
<v Aaron Luo>So I think you can expect us to grow significantly, I think in the next three to four years.

00:35:47.659 --> 00:35:51.224
<v Aaron Luo>I don't know if we ever going to expand beyond accessories.

00:35:51.224 --> 00:35:56.822
<v Aaron Luo>You know, I think we want to say we, carmen and myself, but Carmen believes in the value of being specialist in something right.

00:35:56.835 --> 00:35:57.557
<v Emily Blumenthal>The best at something.

00:35:57.918 --> 00:36:04.623
<v Aaron Luo>Exactly so when people think about, oh, functional travel bag or functional baby bag or functional pet bag or sports bag, feel a bag.

00:36:04.623 --> 00:36:05.266
<v Aaron Luo>Exactly.

00:36:05.266 --> 00:36:10.061
<v Aaron Luo>Go to the back brand that specializes, versus go to a quote unquote lifestyle brand.

00:36:10.101 --> 00:36:14.161
<v Emily Blumenthal>Right yeah, which is like a lot of everything, but it's like, yeah, still a bag, so that's where you're good at.

00:36:14.382 --> 00:36:15.023
<v Aaron Luo>So that's that you know.

00:36:15.023 --> 00:36:16.668
<v Aaron Luo>I think you know we started sticking to Brand Cobra, kind of famous.

00:36:16.668 --> 00:36:19.516
<v Aaron Luo>We're bringing Spanish charcuterie to the States Very different brand, honestly.

00:36:19.516 --> 00:36:23.322
<v Aaron Luo>They started, as you know, a passion project because our loft is spaying and because we just got frustrated.

00:36:23.322 --> 00:36:25.619
<v Aaron Luo>They'll be able to find good charcuterie in the States or in Spain.

00:36:25.619 --> 00:36:29.559
<v Aaron Luo>So you know, if you haven't seen the website, we have a great swag, you know.

00:36:29.559 --> 00:36:38.221
<v Aaron Luo>So part of kind of the, you know the we joke around and share the part of the in the tangible benefits that comes with Mercado Famous is that we actually can bring really great hoodies from some of the luxury factories that we know.

00:36:38.340 --> 00:36:40.882
<v Emily Blumenthal>So so there's your, there's your opportunity to lifestyle.

00:36:41.054 --> 00:36:42.822
<v Aaron Luo>Maybe, maybe you know, use that as a platform.

00:36:42.974 --> 00:36:46.657
<v Emily Blumenthal>Listen, if I'm gonna get homeowner attorney, so I want to see it on a hoodie at the end.

00:36:46.657 --> 00:36:47.940
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, that's it, I agree.

00:36:47.940 --> 00:36:48.742
<v Emily Blumenthal>Okay, I agree.

00:36:48.862 --> 00:36:49.963
<v Aaron Luo>So we're gonna continue growing that brand.

00:36:49.963 --> 00:36:51.005
<v Aaron Luo>I think it's getting a lot of love.

00:36:51.005 --> 00:36:53.190
<v Aaron Luo>You know, I think we've paid a lot of attention to branding and design.

00:36:53.190 --> 00:36:58.219
<v Aaron Luo>The product comes from an organic farm with a hundred year old recipe that treats the pig the right way.

00:36:58.219 --> 00:36:59.260
<v Aaron Luo>We would never use the word kill.

00:36:59.260 --> 00:37:03.255
<v Aaron Luo>We always use the word sacrifice, because we're sacrificing the animal for the consumption of humans.

00:37:03.255 --> 00:37:06.960
<v Aaron Luo>So, very excited about the brand, you'll see us growing there and you know we're starting to help others.

00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:11.001
<v Aaron Luo>You know, help other brands to maneuver through maybe some challenges they have.

00:37:11.001 --> 00:37:14.260
<v Aaron Luo>You know I don't want to say that we are, you know, starting to give back because we're not there yet.

00:37:14.260 --> 00:37:18.358
<v Aaron Luo>But I think you know we mix more investments where we see those things happen and we see a fit.

00:37:18.358 --> 00:37:20.201
<v Aaron Luo>So we'll be doing sound of that as well along the way.

00:37:20.201 --> 00:37:23.344
<v Aaron Luo>But we primarily is blow out, cara.

00:37:23.344 --> 00:37:27.682
<v Aaron Luo>You know, in terms of, I feel like we're at the point where you know the tipping point where you've been growing, growing, growing.

00:37:27.934 --> 00:37:29.922
<v Aaron Luo>I remember I was not alone going to a conference in Miami.

00:37:29.922 --> 00:37:33.440
<v Aaron Luo>You know I was in the room full of, you know, ladies, and you know, cara, it's a woman's brand.

00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:40.322
<v Aaron Luo>You know what service meant, and I was telling the story of Cara, everybody's kind of listening to me and at the end of my spiel I guess that why haven't I heard about this brand before?

00:37:40.322 --> 00:37:41.840
<v Aaron Luo>Like you're just speaking my ear, you know.

00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:43.902
<v Aaron Luo>Like I did this and that's the trade off, right?

00:37:43.902 --> 00:37:50.804
<v Aaron Luo>That's a trade off, not over advertising or marketing your product, you know, because we didn't want to spend all the dollars, right.

00:37:50.824 --> 00:37:51.346
<v Emily Blumenthal>In that function.

00:37:51.346 --> 00:37:52.297
<v Emily Blumenthal>That is a trade off.

00:37:52.317 --> 00:37:53.561
<v Aaron Luo>That's right, 100%, that's right.

00:37:53.561 --> 00:37:59.420
<v Aaron Luo>So you know now that we are at the point where we feel like financially we can tell the bigger story or to a wider audience.

00:37:59.420 --> 00:38:00.820
<v Aaron Luo>You're going to see a lot of us, hopefully.

00:38:01.175 --> 00:38:02.099
<v Emily Blumenthal>Man, I am here for it.

00:38:02.099 --> 00:38:03.298
<v Emily Blumenthal>Aaron, how do we follow you?

00:38:03.298 --> 00:38:03.960
<v Emily Blumenthal>Learn more.

00:38:04.282 --> 00:38:07.539
<v Aaron Luo>Yeah, so you can find Cara at Caraco, so it's C-A-R-A-Aco.

00:38:07.539 --> 00:38:09.400
<v Aaron Luo>You can also follow us on Instagram.

00:38:09.400 --> 00:38:10.197
<v Aaron Luo>Instagram, you know.

00:38:10.197 --> 00:38:12.280
<v Aaron Luo>It's primarily the platform we use, together with TikTok.

00:38:12.280 --> 00:38:16.280
<v Aaron Luo>I think we are getting a better at TikTok, but when it comes to social media, I think Instagram is the best place to find us.

00:38:16.280 --> 00:38:18.001
<v Aaron Luo>You can find us at Cara Sport that's their handle.

00:38:18.001 --> 00:38:26.782
<v Aaron Luo>And then, for those of you who are aficionados and lovers of meats, and Spanish meats specifically, you can find Mercado at MercadoFamouscom, and then same way on Instagram.

00:38:26.782 --> 00:38:27.858
<v Aaron Luo>The handle is MercadoFamous.

00:38:28.255 --> 00:38:29.501
<v Emily Blumenthal>Love it, love it, love it, love it, love it.

00:38:29.501 --> 00:38:31.463
<v Emily Blumenthal>I am here for the meats and here for the bags.

00:38:31.463 --> 00:38:34.561
<v Emily Blumenthal>Aaron, thank you so much for joining us with Handbag Designer 101.

00:38:34.561 --> 00:38:36.619
<v Emily Blumenthal>Man we are following eating wearing.

00:38:36.619 --> 00:38:37.382
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so much.

00:38:37.623 --> 00:38:38.284
<v Aaron Luo>Thank you for having me.

00:38:38.284 --> 00:38:40.362
<v Aaron Luo>It's been a fun conversation and, yeah, thanks again.

00:38:42.161 --> 00:38:42.762
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks for listening.

00:38:42.762 --> 00:38:46.762
<v Emily Blumenthal>Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at Handbag Designer.

00:38:46.762 --> 00:38:47.364
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks so much.

00:38:47.364 --> 00:38:49.900
<v Emily Blumenthal>See you next time.