We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natasha LaGrande. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natasha below.

Natasha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’ve had a love for fashion since a young age. I began drawing clothing designs in college but being a full-time collegiate athlete left me with little time to pursue my clothing passion. Fast forward years later to 2017. I sat back and analyzed how people were following trends, reaching for images of themselves that weren’t natural, and chasing dreams that did not belong to them to simply “appear” a certain way to others. It was sad to think about because everyone is amazing in their own right. At this moment, La Grande Empire was born.

La Grande Empire is all about the Style and Essence of YOU! We want everyone to be MEthentic (ME-thentic), which is being UNAPOLOGETICALLY YOU at all times, no matter what or who. As a company, our desire and goal is for our La Grande Empire Family to live in their truths at all stages of life while genuinely embracing and loving themselves privately and publicly. Focusing on and staying true to this way of life is why La Grande Empire is where we are today.

Natasha, 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?

In French, La Grande means, “The Great.” La Grande Empire is a clothing family that is here to Celebrate the style and essence of YOU! Although we may not be able to control everything that happens at any given moment, we have the authority to control our mindset and perception. We regulate the Excellence of our own Greatness!

There’s been a climate of people following the trends, fads, and sounds of others, which has resulted in a shortage of individuality. La Grande Empire allows our consumer family to feel confident about their abilities, what they’re wearing, and the direction they’re heading in life. We strive to embrace individuality and Greatness within day to day situations.

I am most proud of the perseverance of our company! Starting out in this industry is not an easy feat but we have battled and steered the course to be where we are today. Don’t get me wrong; we have a lot further to go. We recognize where we are today, the blessings it took to get here, and we wholeheartedly appreciate and celebrate today’s successes. We’re set apart from other brands because we are only about being MEthentic (ME-thentic)! You may be wondering what exactly is being MEthentic (ME-thentic)?

Being MEthentic (ME-thentic) is…
Showing Up & Staying True,
Everyday, in every way,
No matter what or who!
Disrupting the norm, creating your own status quo,
shattering standards, and acting as your own audience.
You are more than original, you’re unprecedented!
You’re a step above authentic,
You ARE MEthentic!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Yes, we are actively in a state of pivot. In January of this year, we sat back, analyzed where we were as a business, where we wanted to be and what it would take to get there. In doing so, we made the extremely tough decision to temporarily shut down our business. What made the decision particularly difficult is the fact that we were gaining the consistent traction we had been looking to gain for a few years. Although we were riding the wave in the right direction, I know that eventually we would not being able to maintain the proper form and technique to steer us properly and we would crash.

Our goal is to deliver a level of excellence that we operate in, while also being able to elevate accordingly and properly scale. Not only did we shut down at the beginning of the year but we have given ourselves the proper amount of time and will relaunch A YEAR LATER! WOAH. We have a small loyal base that has been patiently waiting and we will not disappoint.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Starting an apparel line can be very pricy in the beginning. Due to that fact, while saving up initial capital, we chose the route of dropshipping. Dropshipping is when you utilize a third party print supplier to maintain inventory and print items on demand when orders are made. Therefore, there are no upfront costs to the business such as purchasing or housing inventory, paying for printing upfront, packing, etc. The way this looks is that we would go onto the dropshippers website, create designs of certain items on their site, post them to our website for sale, and when orders came in the dropshipper would pull the item from their inventory, print the item, and ship it to our customers for us. Many of other companies start the route of preorders which is great as well. Dropshipping allowed us to save the profits to advance our procedures in the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lagrandeempire.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/lagrandeempireapparel
• Facebook: facebook.com/lagrandeempireapparel