We were lucky to catch up with Latasha McAlpine recently and have shared our conversation below.
Latasha, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
When it comes to shoes it started as an obsession I had as a child. No matter where I went I was always drawn to shoes but especially kid shoes lol. I was fascinated by how small they were and how their design often slightly varied from the adult design because there just wasn’t enough room to implement the full design on such a small model. I seriously thought like that as a kid. Fast forward many years and as I felt a pull toward designing and sewing shoes, I started with kid shoes. I stumbled across all these handmade shoes on ETSY and decided I would give it a try. The rest is history. I launched an ETSY store where I sold my handmade shoes for a few years, closed my ETSY shop and now I have a shoe line that is manufactured abroad and sold on my website. Because I have two brands, Valeria McAlpine and Run Toward Goliath, and have launched multiple products at this point, I have not launched anymore shoes recently. However, shoe design is still a great love of mine and I am still working to move forward and expand my shoe line, Valeria McAlpine.
Latasha, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
As I stated earlier, I have a shoe line, Valeria McAlpine. My shoe line is under my brand, Valeria McAlpine. Valeria McAlpine is a luxury fashion brand that includes shoes and fine jewelry. The fine jewelry portion of my brand, PM Valeria, is sold at New Black Wallstreet in the souvenir shop. The PM in PM Valeria stands for precious metals. All the jewelry I sell is either sterling silver or gold. Shameless plug, come out and shop with me on Saturdays, 11am-8pm! You can always expect great quality and good customer service.
My second brand, Run Toward Goliath (RTG), is an inspirational brand that includes RTG paraphernalia, a 31 day devotional journal and two animated coloring books. Each of these items are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Walmart.com. A quick google search for Run Toward Goliath by Latasha McAlpine will pull back the devotional and a coloring book while a google search for the Band Camp coloring book by Latasha McAlpine will pull back the other coloring book. The meaning of Run Toward Goliath generally means to face the difficult things in life head on and not to run from them. As David faced Goliath, so should we face our giants. I am launching one more item for the Run Toward Goliath brand before the end of 2022 and I’m very excited about it. I’ll be entering a different industry but I love trying my hand at new things. Be on the look out for launch announcements on my IG and Facebook pages.
Both my brands are extensions of who I am. I am a creative who loves fashion and who also loves God.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Thus far the most effective strategy I’ve learned for growing clientele is operate with integrity. Be a brand owner, manager, CEO, etc that does what he or she says they will do and who provides good quality goods and services. Using this strategy has helped me gain repeat customers who come looking for me, text me and bring others to shop with me over and over again. People appreciate honesty and good quality. So definitely remember that as you launch and grow your business.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
My shoes are manufactured abroad. The most important tips I can offer for choosing a manufacture are always, always, always ask for a sample and go through an website or venue where you know for sure you will be able to get a refund.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.valeriamcalpine.com
- Instagram: @valeriamcalpine_thebrand, @pmvaleriamcalpine and @runtowardgoliath
- Facebook: Tash McAlpine
Image Credits
Michael Moorer Photography