Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Angela Zdrale. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Angela thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Despite personal style, every single tall woman struggles to find the clothing she wants to wear and that fit her properly. At Liv Tall, my mission is to give tall women fashion choices. I am 6’1″ and have struggled my entire life to find the clothes that I really wanted to wear. I would often sacrifice fashion for function, sizing up in clothes for extra length, or wearing a garment that was uncomfortable because I couldn’t find something else to wear. I love fashion and spent my entire career working for brands like kate spade, Tory Burch and Saks Fifth Avenue. During Covid I was laid off and decided that I was no longer going to try to fit into clothes that were not made for my body, but rather make clothes that fit my tall frame and help tall women just like me.

Angela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am the founder of a clothing line for tall women, called Liv Tall. At 6’1″ I know firsthand how difficult it is to find clothing that fits a tall frame properly. I grew up always loving fashion. I was always playing dress up, changing outfits multiple times a day as a little girl and ultimately chose fashion as my career path. I worked for over 15 years in the industry working as a store manager, and also in fashion marketing. Despite being surrounded by clothing every day I would often have to compromise on fit or style in order to find something that would fit me. Every tall woman has the same struggle, no matter what she is searching for, and it can be exhausting. I had a successful career but when covid hit I was laid off from my marketing position. For as long as I can remember I always had business ideas and dreamt of venturing on my own and once I found myself at a crossroads in my career, I decided it was time to build this brand. With the support of my husband, I immediately started working on Liv Tall and launched in the summer of 2021. Not only am I most proud of the fact that I have created and built this brand on my own, but I make my clothing in the USA, furthermore in my home state of Arizona. I have been able to be more hands on with the production process and have better insight into the way my clothing gets made. What also sets me apart is that I focus on quality materials and making clothing that will last, are versatile and makes a tall woman feel great!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Before I became an entrepreneur I worked in retail and for almost 10 years I was a store manager. As a leader I learned and lived by one very important rule- you cannot do it all and hire people who are experts and can help you in the areas that you are not the expert in. As I started Liv Tall, which is an online business, I knew the importance of social media and also that it is not my strength. From the start I hired a social media manager to help me navigate and create an authentic audience online. We work together and she is able to bring my vision to life and incorporate her expertise. I am still very hands on and interact with my audience on a daily basis, but it has been instrumental to have that expert help me launch my social media presence. My advice is that social media has to be a priority and either you can do it yourself or perhaps you hire someone. Lastly, while social media is a critical piece it is not the only piece, you also need to focus on other marketing areas so don’t rely 100% on social media to drive your business.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Owning a business tests your resilience every single day. It tests how much you really want to succeed, and how much you care about your mission. Over two years in and I have self-funded 100% of my business. Clothing manufacturing is extremely expensive and a complex world to navigate with so many variables to consider. During my first year of business, I was developing a suit and had sourced a fabric from a supplier that was categorized as suiting material. I sampled it and was working through the product development process when we noticed that it shrunk when heat was applied. So, I found out that it had a shrink rate and when you are making clothing for tall women, your clothes cannot shrink! I decided that I would pre-shrink the material before production and send it out for that which is an added cost. We moved through product development, and I ordered the material for production which was the highest cost I had encountered so far in my business, sent it out to be pre-shrunk and in the meantime, I was wearing a few of the samples to test it out. I was loving the fabric but didn’t notice something that was happening to it as I was wearing it. One day I pulled out a sample to put on and noticed a fatal flaw in the material- it was pulling and there were dozens of tiny “runs” in the material similar to tights or nylons when they get a run. There was no way I could sell that material to my customers, especially for an item like a suit that needs to be durable. I was stuck with the material and out nearly $10k after those costs and product development. That was the first time I saw how easy it was for businesses to go under and how much I still had to learn and be smart about product development. There are SO many things I do differently now in the product development stage and in product testing. Thankfully I was able to recover from that loss not only financially but emotionally as well. It reminded me how hard this road is going to be but also had badly I wanted to continue and carry on this brand.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.livtall.com
• Instagram: @liv_tall
• Facebook: Liv Tall
• Youtube: @livtall8091

Image Credits
Rachel Fischer Visuals, Lauren Peachie, Lauren Conati Photography