We recently connected with Lulu Olguin and have shared our conversation below.

Lulu, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?

I feel so blessed with all the support I’ve received from my friends and family. And for all the people that have been supporting me during this journey with Bandida Brand.

In my case, when I told my friends and family about Bandida Brand they just showed me their love and support. before I even asked.
And I feel so lucky about that.

I think is very important to have people in your life that supports you and care about you. And it’s also important that If someone is supporting you in any way, be thankful and always remember who was there for you.

I’m thankful for all the people that I’ve meet in this journey, for my friends and family. All the Artists that have collaborated with me, the people who have invited to be part of theirs projects. And People who like and wear Bandida Brand…
All of them have supported me in so many ways, and I really appreciate that. Thank you all!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Lulu Olguin, artist and owner of Bandida Brand, a Streetwear Fashion clothing line based in Los Angeles, California.

Bandida Brand is a collection of very exclusive and limited pieces that are One of a Kind. Including hand-painted leather and denim jackets, pants, graphic tees, hoodies and hats. Pieces that are unisex for men, women and kids.
Everything is reworked, designed and or hand painted by me. Every piece is very special and unique. And most of the jackets are 1 of 1 so nobody else would have the same piece. And that’s the special and best part of Bandida Brand.

Bandida Brand is available at Rock Etiquette store located at. Melrose Fashion District in Los Angeles. There you will find some of my collection of tees with chains and hand painted vegan leather jackets.

I’m currently accepting requests for hand painted jackets.

To order, you can send me a DM on Instagram account @bandidabrand.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

At first it was just an idea and It took me time to bring it to life. At the beginning I did not want to invest too much money or time, I just wanted to see the response so I started with only 5 pieces, all custom jackets, and I thought if I don’t sell them I will keep them for myself but I have to try.

And I had a very good response and the first pieces were sold out.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

After the first pieces sold out I decided to introduce more stuff in my brand, like T-shirts, pants, etc, and started to look for a place where to sell my stuff and I found one Market in Hollywood.

This Market was every Sunday.
First time was good ! I sold out all the T-shirts.
So I continued going to the market every Sunday, for about one year. Waking up at 6am to load my car with all my clothes, racks and tent, and paying for my spot, to be there from 9am to 4pm.
Sometimes not making one single sale feeling exhausted and thinking on quitting.

But also, it was in those moments when I realized that I love what I am doing.
And here I am. Sometimes feeling exhausted and not selling one single thing, but doing what I love to do and not quitting, haha!

I miss the market. Being there meeting other artists and vendors, and promoting Bandida Brand in person was fun, and I would definitely like to do it again.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: bandidabrand
• Facebook: Bandida Brand

Image Credits
Photographer : Oscar Del Aguila IG @imagerybyoscar www.imagerybyoscar.com