We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessica Galindo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jessica , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I came up with the idea of my business a while before I even had a business. I was living in LA attending fashion school (FIDM) and waitressing. I really wanted to be a wardrobe stylist so I made myself business cards and passed them out during my shift. I ended up getting my first client who wanted help getting dressed for the ESPY awards, I shopped with her and we came up with a super cute look. When we put her look together it felt like something was missing… I knew she needed a statement bracelet, like a big, hot pink cuff on one arm to stand out. I remember looking at different shops and couldn’t find this statement piece I could so clearly envision. Being a creative, I had a painting studio set up in my LA apartment (I had become the house artist of the restaurant I worked at and was responsible for the art on the walls there- I approached my boss after having a vision of new art on the walls and asked if I could be the house artist … I presented to him a mock up of paintings for 4 5’x6’ paintings for the restaurant. I (with the help of a loan from my very supportive mom) would cover the cost of the paintings, I just wanted to be able to sell them in the space… and I did! When I served guests that sat in front of the art, I’d sell these giant pieces right off the wall. I was a budding entrepreneur even then.) So back to the bracelet… in my studio, I found a scrap piece of leather, painted it hot pink, added velcro to the ends and BAM, it was what I had envisioned in my head and was the perfect missing piece to my client’s look.
She loved the bracelet and asked if I could make more. I could and did and started selling them to friends and family… eventually, when I would have art shows (like art festivals where you pay a booth fee and set up your wares for the day) I would set up my paintings and started bring a small batch of painted leather statement bracelets (they mimicked my art- literally like wearable art) and they would sell! They’d cover my booth fee and so the next show I’d bring more and started expanding into rings, earrings other jewelry items I could make out of leather.
That said, that was in 2001 or so . In 2008 after having moved back to vegas in 2006) I decided to go full time with my art. I knew somehow some way I could do it… I had been a vendor at a ton of art shows to get my name out there and build a clientele. Every show I collected interested patron’s names, numbers and emails (whether they purchased from me or not) and then would notify them when and where I was showing next. The process of doing that was intuitive and it worked. Over time I built a little following (eventually I launched my social media pages for my business and had everyone follow me there – much easier to keep up with as a one-woman-show) and people continued to support, it was incredible- so when I went full time it wasn’t because I had a ton of money saved or had a contract in place for a big creative project- it was literal faith in my ability and my small database of support I had built up. Naiveté really did serve me, as it worked out and I was a full time creative with a business that continued to grow for the next 14 years. Leather ended up being a quicker sell than art and the entrpeneur in me knew that, so I eneded up offering my fine art paintings and murals on request ( my work was in commercial spaces and private residences)… and the leather work grew into a full accessories line of handbags (which turned out to be MY PASSION- I LOVE HANDBAGS) earrings, rings, scarves, belts, wallets and bowties and even some homewares ( I made a few baby mobiles a leather table runner, several gianct bowties for the steerhead at STITCHED ( a custom menswear boutique in Vegas). You name it, I figured out how to make it of leather. Over the course of my career I opened 4 different spaces: 2013 my first storefront was at The Downtown Container Park (closed that18 months later in 2014 to provide a more intimate experience to my clientele as so much of what I offered was CUSTOMIZED, so in 2015 I opened a private studio where clients could come by appointment to shop and design custom goods. Business continued to grow and in 2016 I moved out of the private studio and into a new fabulous Mall concept in Vegas- DOWNTOWN SUMMERLIN. I was given an opportunity to ‘pop-up’ shop for 90 days during the holiday season and if it went well, I’d be offered a larger space, it did and in Jan 2017, I upgrade to a large prime location space next to steve Madden. I was still a one woman show and off and on I had a staff that would help me. I was still handmaking everything ( I did train a few amazing gals on my staff to make some of the product so that helped with production) but I ended up burning out and in 2018 when my lease ended, I closed the DOWNTOWN Summerlin location. I took a year break ( I worked in another field, built out my website) and in 2019 I came back to Leather Couture and worked solely from home. I erected a store in a room in my house, manufactured out of my garage, and would fulfill orders from the site and see clients by appointment. I did this until closing my business in 2022 to move to LA.
To answer question 2: why did I think this would work? It was all very organic… my whole career was one step after the other. It was definitely work and required diligence to constantly pay attention to what people wanted while maintaining my vision. I naturally do that though, I like to monetize endeavors. When I made that first bracelet I didn’t see it as a business venture- I was there to help make this woman look super cool for her event. The vision of the bracelet came to me and after not being able to find anything like it.
I made it out of necessity. By default I beautify people, spaces, things (re: the restaurant i worked at and offering to change the paintings and bring in something more lively) Anyhow, when she lit up and responded the way she did asking for more, I had a gut feeling maybe others would respond that way too. And they did.
The need I was fulfilling was a hole in the market for interesting statement jewelry.
I was excited about this idea based on a gut feeling- I made something from my heart and someone genuinely responded to it… this continued to happen in my business until the day I closed. The only way I can explain it is CONNECTION. It’s like this outward manifestation of an idea that I made, that someone loves and buys, when that happens it’s like an invisible string that binds us. When I had my stores, I could tell the people that would appreciate my work. It wasnt for everyoe, but the people that got it, we were like a club, I called us JG Babes. We had a common bond .
My clients were amazing and loyal til the end… I think because the product came from such an authentic place, it touched them in an authentic way. And aesthetically it fulfilled the need of interesting, beautiful products that was accessible and made them feel as unique as they are. Lastly, this happened with my hats too. I launched a capsule collection of embellished vegan hats in October 2022… it was more of a passion project and the clients that loved them bought them right away, in several styles. That’s how my clients collected my work, they’d own like 20+ pieces. It was wild. several clients had at least 40+ pieces of mine, one client showed me her collection -she displayed all her pieces beautifully in her closet, I got to see it in person and was so honored.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I had always loved fashion snad dressup and makeup and playing in my room by myself sketching outfits on an etch-e-sketch. My career in fashion really took off when I made a wearable art piece for a client (see previous story)…
I think I solved the problem of unique, functional, statement pieces. My clients were a part of something, that was so magical about Leather Couture, it was the ultimate connector, when you had a piece of LC, you were a part of something. I hope to recreate it again someday soon.
What set me apart from other brands is how insanely personal the brand was. EVERY piece was laboriously made by hand. With leather I hand selected. I did a ton of custom work. People like one-off items, there A LOT of energy in handmade goods… That was what I loved the MOST about what I did, is that it connected to me to other people like me. It’s like we had this unspoken language, me and the JG babes, they were the same type of person as me. Just beautiful.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Hmmm… I think the best example of what illustrates my resilience is that I literally sold handmade goods for nearly 14 years, non-stop. There wasn’t a piece I didn’t have my energy in. Even if a portion of production was outsourced, I still chose the leather, or the paint or some aspect. (and when I say outsourced I mean made by an apprentice). It was incredibly intentional. And I think that sort of intention binds one to the work. It fed me and energized me. I’m introverted and the time periods when I had stores and was open to the public during the day, after hours, after the shop closed, I’d take stock of what sold and spend hours at the workbench (that was in my store) replenishing my inventory- It was the process of putting myself back together, alone time getting lost in the art of making. During the day I would feel so fragmented giving my energy out to all my clients.
I used to make bracelets that had words stamped into them, I’d choose themes I was personally working on and stamp the bracelets with them. I’d stamp words like: INTENTION, GRATITUDE, HARMONY, BALANCE, HAPPY, etc.. if you were aware, you could tell what was going on in my world by the work I put out.
Anyhow, I think the duration of man hours I put into my business illustrates my resilience. Owning a business is no joke. And manufacturing was only a sidebar. During the day when the shop was open I’d be maintaining the website, social media, clients and running the back end of the business.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Yes! The great pivot… I think THAT IS the qualifying factor of whether you’ll make it as an entrpreneur, how willing are you willing to be? And, without losing your intention/vision.
I pivoted ALL,THE,TIME. It’s a necessity. Try a product, it flops, pivot… I had the luxury of being hands-on with my clients day-to-day, I’d study how they responded to the products. How the wore it, and from there I’d make adjustments to the products- longer or shorter handbags straps, bigger or smaller cuffs…. I was very off the cuff with my designs- I didnt study trrends, and still dont… I want my work to always be TIMELESS. I think this is a mark of good design. When something is timeless (and some of my work was even genderless)… back to pivoting:
I started with fine art paintings (which can be a hard sell- worth it when it does sell but I’m impatient)… So I started with art, and when the bracelets sold out and paid my booth fee, I made more for the next show, plus rings… PIVOT. I still offered fine art and had it avail at every show, but big pieces were avail on commission only, along with the leather accessories, I began doing tiny pieces of art and art prints so people that loved the big paintings could take home something, and it kept my business alive. PIVOT.
2020… wooowee, this was a scary time… how the hell was I going to feed myself. I lived on social media that year. Id pop on in the morning and offered DEALS on the day… offering a batch of products that had special pricing for that day. I modified designs so I could produce with less bandwidth and so a marked down pricepoint was feasible. Earrings ended up TAKING OFF. they were around $18 a pair I think and every day I’d make like 10-20 new ones and let my followers know that those were the deal of the day… clients kept regularly buying from me. I launched an appointment system where they could book a time to come by through insta (this was before it was as easy as it was now), and I also offered PORCH PICKUP…. So at your scheduled time, I’d put your package outside for you. It warms my heart to think of it now, I think it gave people a little sense of normalcy and hope… and of course earrings were the thing that took off, the only way we all could communicate was through ZOOM and FACETIME and A SCREEN, so any accessories from the neckup made sense. PIVOT.
Owning a business and staying relevant is a constant exercise in pivoting I was very lucky to be able to pivot quickly as I controlled all manufacturing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LeatherCouture.com
- Instagram: LeatherCouture
Image Credits
Angelina Galindo (Photographer of me at workbench in black apron)