How Marina Larroudé Built a Multi-Million Dollar Shoe Brand During the Pandemic

In this episode, Bora sits down with Marina Larroudé, founder of the luxury footwear brand Larroudé. She shares her remarkable journey from being the VP of Fashion at Barneys to launching her own successful shoe brand during the pandemic. For brand builders and entrepreneurs, this episode is packed with invaluable insights on:

- The reality of bootstrapping a luxury brand: Learn how Marina and her husband launched their shoe brand with just $4,000 for their website, operating from their dining room for two years to save costs

- Manufacturing insights: Discover how they navigated shoe production without prior manufacturing experience, and how they evolved to owning their own factory

- Market positioning strategy: Understanding the white space in the $300-350 luxury shoe market that bigger retailers claimed "shouldn't exist"

- Marketing on a budget: How they leveraged industry relationships, built their first campaign with traded services, and grew through authentic influencer partnerships without paying for endorsements

- Rapid market adaptation: Learn how they pivoted their inventory strategy when post-pandemic "revenge shopping" completely changed customer preferences

- Data-driven decision making: Their approach to balancing creative instincts with analytical insights for product development and marketing

- Operational scaling: Current challenges and solutions in managing rapid growth, including hiring 200 people for manufacturing

- Future innovations: Their expansion into sneakers and how they're using AI to enhance their creative processes

Whether you're planning to launch a fashion brand or scaling an existing business, Marina's candid insights about bootstrapping, manufacturing, marketing, and scaling a luxury brand provide a masterclass in entrepreneurship. This episode is especially valuable for founders who want to understand how to build a premium brand without massive capital investment.