PODCAST SHOWNOTES

Nicole Otchy: Today, I'm sitting down with my client, Lauren Linnane, the founder of PARLA, a custom clothing brand for women operating out of Milan. PARLA means “she speaks” in Italian. And as you'll hear, the ethos of Lauren's brand revolves entirely around a woman's right to express herself through her style. She was an accountant in Boston, who couldn't find a single blazer that felt like her, took a buyout from her corporate job, three years ago and moved to Milan to build the brand from the ground up. She didn't speak the language, she didn't know the supply chain, but today we're talking about what it actually takes to build a fashion brand from scratch, in Italy no less, why custom clothing for women is so hard to come by and what stylists need to know about partnering with a designer like Lauren.

Let's get into it. This is The Six Figure Personal Styling Podcast and I am Nicole Otchy. This is the show for personal stylists building world-class businesses and setting the standard in their industry. We're talking all things, profitable growth, thought leadership and real client transformations, because the best stylists don't just edit closets, they shape culture. I have Lauren with me today, welcome Lauren.

Lauren Linnane: Thank you for having me, I'm super excited to be here.

Nicole Otchy: All right, let's start off with how you got here. How did you become a designer, living in Italy?

Lauren Linnane: It's been quite the journey, I will say. I always had this dream of being a designer, when it came time to apply to college. My parents were like, no, pick something practical. So I went down this path of accounting and finance and very quickly, upon entering the corporate world, I realized this isn't for me. There's no way for the next 40 something years of my life that I'm meant to be sitting behind a computer screen dealing with spreadsheets and making other people money. And also you get an insight, working in corporate and when you have to deal with shareholders and executives, you just see the ugliness behind some business decisions and it's just like, I don't want to participate in this. So I thought, at the time, that I knew working for somebody else wasn't for me and that I wanted to pivot, or at least work for myself in some capacity. And then the more I got down this career path for 10 plus years, I started to realize, I lost touch with my creativity. So when I was in high school and college, I would have these sketchbooks. I was completely self-taught that I would keep on the side. I would hide them from people. I think one day I posted something to Instagram and my friends were like, you are Lauren the accountant, who is this person that has these sketchbooks? They are nothing to brag home about. My sketches are, because I'm self-taught, they need some refining. But I just always had this creative side and I figured, because I'm so good at the backend and running the finance side of the business and I know the inner workings, I could learn the creative piece and I could maybe build a business for myself. And one of my pain points when working in corporate, I couldn't find pieces. I love a blazer, but I couldn't find pieces that reflected my individuality. They're all kind of basic, they look the same, they're very uncomfortable. The fabric, I did not like the feel of the polyester, of a polyester lining on my skin, or anything like that. I started dabbling into how can I find a custom-made suit and we as women don't have many options. You can go to Zara and get something off the rack, the quality isn't going to be that great. Or you can go to a men's tailor and they will take a blazer, or a suit made for a man and adapt it to the female form, which again, your fabric selections are blue, gray, black, nothing that is really interesting, or has any personality, or that I thought reflected my personal style. So I started experimenting ways, how can I actually bring women the same options as men have? So for quite a while, I was doing both, my corporate job and then on the side was trying to get this brand off the ground. And then about three years ago, exactly, the company I was working for went through a restructuring. I took a nice exit package and I said, that's it. I'm moving to Milan and I'm going to start my brand. So three years later, I'm in Milan and here we are.

Nicole Otchy: So exciting. And your story, while I know the behind the scenes may not feel this way, it feels very much like a fairy tale of like, I moved to Milan and I started a fashion brand like Emily in Paris, but like for designing clothes. And I'd love for you to share a little bit about your decision to move to Italy. Did you feel like you had to do it, to do the kind of work and the quality you wanted? What was sort of the motivation to go to Italy, which there's a million reasons to go, but what was yours specifically?

Lauren Linnane: Ironically enough, when I worked in corporate, one of the companies I worked for was based in Milan. So I was working in Boston, born and raised there. And then company headquarters was here and that's where my boss and the team was based out of. So three, four times a year, I would come to Milan specifically. And I became familiar with the city and really enjoyed it actually. When you come here for a business trip, especially if you're here for a couple of weeks, which I would come three, four times a year for two to four weeks at a time, you see the city through a different lens. It's not from a tourist perspective, it's through kind of that everyday lifestyle. So I did have this personal desire to come here selfishly, but really with my brand, I wanted “made in Italy”. So I was doing a lot of research on the fashion supply chain, which I had no experience in. I'd never even worked retail at any point in my life. So it was really important to understand and study that supply chain. And for me, sustainability and transparency in the supply chain and producing quality materials, making sure everything is ethically made and made well. I really wanted… Italy was the country that could provide all of those aspects. And so I did try, you know, those years, where I was working in corporate and trying to get this brand off the ground, I was trying to manage the supply chain from the US. Now granted this was pandemic time, so everything was just really challenging, but it was really difficult to build those relationships with the suppliers. And originally I was thinking of doing like ready to wear, where I would design a collection every season and come up with a new collection and people could purchase it. But I really wanted to offer the level of customizations and bespoke suits for women. And really in order to do that, I needed to be here. I needed to meet the artisans. I needed to take lessons from a woman in her sixties, who's been doing this for 40, 45 years and have her yell at me in Italian that my work is awful, you know, because I'm a beginner, of course, in comparison to her, my stitching isn't as great. So luckily she makes my clothes, I just design them. But yeah, I'm sure there is a way that it could have been done from the US, but to really deliver it to the caliber that I want, it's a necessity to be here.

Nicole Otchy: Tell me, tell the audience a little bit about what it has been like in those three years. Like, did you go there? Do you know how to speak Italian? How far had you gotten in producing clothes in the past? Like, was this from scratch completely? Or, you know, give us an idea of what you're walking into when you moved to Italy.

Lauren Linnane: It's been trial by fire, I would say. So in the beginning, I moved here with some supplier connections, but they were more focused on the ready to wear side. And really that was challenging. I would get recommendations to these manufacturers, they would take my order and then a bigger brand would come in, and then they just ghost me. So they couldn't deliver on the quality, and every time I would say, well, I actually want to do something more intricate, more detail-oriented, proper tailoring and not just manufacturing, like mass production. They would say, oh, it's not possible, it's not possible, it's not possible. When in reality, there are a lot of cultural differences, I would say. So moving here, I didn't speak Italian that well. I had very limited vocabulary. And so while I'm building my business, I'm also learning the language at the same time. So now I'm able to communicate in a more proficient manner, but in the beginning, it was really challenging. And I did have someone who was able to translate for me in the beginning. But now I've built these relationships with new fabric suppliers and new tailors, who can really deliver the custom intricate work that I want. But it took a while to build those relationships, because in the US, it's easy. You can just simply send an email and people will jump on a call with you. Italians don't really like emails in general. So you have to have a conversation with someone, who might know somebody, who might know somebody, who can give you that introduction. And then you have to get to know them and you have to have coffee, and you have to kind of do the things that it's really just that relationship building before you can even go to them with an ask of, hey, let's work together. It's a lot of beating around the bush. So building this, it's not only finding the contacts, but building the relationship to actually convince them to work with you, because they don't really trust you in the beginning. I don't know how to explain it. There's a different culture when it comes to work here. And so it has been challenging. There have been very frustrating days as well. I would say it took me probably a year and a half to feel, to two years, to feel really confident in making sure that I had the right partners to be able to execute this the level that I wanted to. So it hasn't always been smooth sailing. A lot of tears as well. Some bad samples were made from those early, early suppliers and a lot of money was spent also in that time as well. So building a business in general, I think is very expensive, but then to also manage living expenses and all of that, trying to rebuild my life here with friends, a community and a support system. It was a lot at once that I was a bit naive, I think, in the beginning on how easy I thought this was going to be.

Nicole Otchy: But I think, do you think that like we wouldn't do things if we knew the truth of it all in life in general?

Lauren Linnane: A hundred percent. I would probably still be in, back in Massachusetts if I knew what the journey would be like.

Nicole Otchy: Yeah, as someone that had a bit of a front row seat to pieces of this journey, I can say like you got up every day and dealt with things in a foreign country, in a foreign language that people wouldn't even do an eighth of, in the place they were born, in their native tongue. So like, not only are you doing a hard thing, which is building a clothing brand, which in and of itself, I think is a very difficult thing right now. But you also were so committed to the experience you went there and built the relationships before you could even get clothing made. That is, it's mind boggling to me, Lauren. It is so cool to watch.

Lauren Linnane: Thank you. I appreciate that.

Nicole Otchy: So when you looked back, you had mentioned to me that at first, when you started on this journey, you thought maybe you wanted to be a personal stylist. And then you said, maybe not. Tell us a little bit about your thinking in that period of time and why it felt like that was maybe not the right thing for you.

Lauren Linnane: I was really inspired. I worked with a personal stylist here in Milan. So on one of my business trips, I came to Milan. I was here for a couple of weeks and I wanted to do an experience. I wanted to go around to… I wanted to book a personal shopper, who was also a personal stylist. And I found this experience on Airbnb and I was really inspired by that experience, her level of detail. So she did my body type and seasonal color analysis before we even went shopping. She had all these deliverables for me. And so then when she brought me to these stores, which were very unique to Milan, it was a completely different experience. And immediately I was able to spot, these are not my color palettes, so I'm just going to ignore this whole section here. And it saved me time and I got pieces that I loved. So it was very much inspired by that amazing experience that I had. And I have such admiration for that work, because when clothing is mass produced, we don't need to buy more. We just need to know the right pieces for ourselves. And I figured that had a nice synergy with what I was trying to do, which is custom suiting for women. So we're going to make something that is crafted to your silhouette. You get to select your color palette and you get to select your fabrics in whatever colors or patterns which you would like. So it's this custom work that I thought it complimented personal styling. And because it took so long to get the proper supply chain in place, I figured it could be a nice bridge, where I could offer personal styling services. And then when I launched my brand, it could be to my existing clients. And I also thought that the clients that are probably going to invest in personal styling services, would most likely be interested in custom clothing, which also isn't the case. Because now I listen to your podcast all the time, even though, again, I'm a designer and I don't have the skillset of a stylist. There are areas where they overlap really nicely. And so listening to your podcast and listening to all the different aspects that come with personal styling and the packages that are offered, not all of those overlap with the custom clothing component. And so I really had to ask myself, am I doing this, because I'm really passionate about personal styling, or am I doing it, because it's just kind of a bridge, which will lead me into what I actually want to do? And I had to be honest with myself. I respect stylists and the work that they do. It's just, I'm not cut out for it.

Nicole Otchy: Yeah, and one of the things that was interesting, when you came to me is, one of the areas of overlap and a lot of people listen to my podcast that are not stylists, but are creative entrepreneurs, designers, graphic designers, clothing designers, is because there's a lot of overlap between the client experience they want and the way that it is discussed in the styling world, at least in my world. And so one of the things we did a lot of work together on was the client experience and walking through what that would look like, because it is personal and there's a lot of high touch points. So what was it that you wanted to create and what was it that you learned through that process?

Lauren Linnane: The whole essence of my brand is to allow the woman's body language to speak volumes. So I believe that nothing speaks louder than the body language of a woman who is dressed for her presence and her proportion. And I think a way to achieve that is through customer bespoke clothing. And so I want her to feel as if she's getting a piece that is one of one. So even though it's my original design and another client may have that jacket, because it's crafted to your proportions, it's going to look completely different than the jacket that the other client purchased. In addition, you get to select the fabrics and the colorways and even the smallest details such as the buttons. So in order to provide that level of individuality and that service, it's truly crafted around the woman and her lifestyle. And I don't think there's a brand out there that does that to this degree. Yes, women can go to, some of the luxury brands offer some custom pieces, but at a significantly higher price point because the brand is behind it. Or like I said, you can go to a men's tailor, but again, they're specialized in making suits for men, which come at a completely different silhouette than the female form. And so if you have a client that has different body proportions, there's no standard way to produce a suit. And you need to actually combine different techniques, such as true tailoring to make the blazer, but also dressmaking, because you need to have it be like formed to the silhouette of the person. And really, I don't know of any brand that does this at an accessible point.

Nicole Otchy: And the idea that, walk us through a little bit of what it looks like to work with you. So somebody reaches out to you, they find your social media, your website and they're like, oh my gosh, I can have custom clothes. What does it look like from there?

Lauren Linnane: It depends if she's in Milan or if she's not in Milan. So if she's not in Milan, just send us an email and we can get on a quick call, where I can introduce myself and really understand what it is she's trying to make. So if she's in need of a suit, I already have existing, I've created an archival collection, which I continue to add. So every three months I design a new three piece suit, where if she likes all three pieces, she can get all three pieces, or if she wants the jacket from this suit and pants from another, she's also able to do that. So I would walk her through the process. But also if she is looking for a custom 10 piece foundational wardrobe, that is a slightly different process, where I would understand what she's looking for. And then I would actually get to work with presenting her sketches and we can make iterations.

Nicole Otchy: So that would be custom designs as well, not just custom to your shape and size. So there's two, you're saying there's two elements of custom. There's custom design and then customized to your body. And then there is an existing set of designs that you can then customize to you.

Lauren Linnane: Yes, exactly. Internally, I refer to it as, I have the suit client and the wardrobe client. So the suit client, she's wearing suits every day. She's building a business, a career, maybe she's a C-suite executive, a corporate attorney. She wears suits all the time and she has a need for suits. So she can select from our existing archived collection and select the pieces which she likes and everything's designed to be mixed and matched. So if she just wants a jacket, she can get the jacket. If she wants a full three-piece suit, that's also possible. And then the wardrobe client is someone that is looking for everything is truly, truly custom. Maybe she wants a couple of pieces. I use 10 as just an example, because that is… the 10-piece foundational wardrobe is kind of the pricing package that I've come up with. But if she wants just a couple of pieces that are truly custom, based on her lifestyle or an event that she has coming up, then that is a slightly different process, where I'm sketching for you, you're getting the custom designs, we're going through every detail together. And then from there, I would schedule the first fitting, which is about a 90-minute appointment, where again, they can try on the archived pieces and this has to be done in person to get an idea of what her fit, silhouette, what she likes, what she doesn't like. Because in person, she may see something from my lookbook online, but when she puts it on her body, she may not see the vision take shape and I can also make recommendations from that perspective as well. So it's about a 90-minute fitting. She can try on my existing pieces. I would also present the custom designs and we would go over the details together. So I have all of the fabric books, which are so many different options at this point and she can select the fabrics and what she likes, as well as, like I said, custom details such as buttons, embroidery, if she's having a shirt made, which color she would prefer, all those minor details. And of course, the key element of that is I would take her measurements as well, so we can get to work on the sample making. And then we would schedule at a later point in time, another 30-minute fitting, where I would come in with canvas mock-ups of the samples. So before we cut into the fabric, we test the fit and everything where we make alterations to the fit before we cut into the final fabric. So that's about a 30-minute appointment, where the client would try on the canvas pieces. If you want something elongated, if we need to make adjustments to the shoulder, to the wrists, the bodice, if you want a longer jacket, et cetera, we would take into account and make alterations there. And then we would get to work, make the final pieces and then we would have one final fitting with the finished product, just to see how happy you are with everything.

Nicole Otchy: So after all this amazing bespoke experience happens, how does the client get the suit? How does that work? Do they come to you? Do you go to them?

Lauren Linnane: Either or. So clients are welcome to come to Milan and when they're in Milan, I can travel to their hotel or I can travel to them, wherever they are in the States, or any other country. So at the moment, we're happy to accommodate wherever she is in the world.

Nicole Otchy: Amazing. So when you were starting this whole process of this clothing brand, what is it that we need to know, as women in sort of the fashion world, about why it is so hard to get bespoke clothing, when the reality is that most women are spending the most amount of money on clothing. If you look at the consumer spending charts, why is it so hard for women to get custom?

Lauren Linnane: It's really difficult to execute. Very, very difficult to execute. And it all comes down to cost. So brands want to put in the least amount of work possible to deliver something with the highest possible margin. So in order for them to reduce their costs, they're going to reduce the time it takes to make something that is constructed properly, because the more intricate something is made, the longer time it will take them. In addition, depending on how it's constructed, all of our pieces have an extra two centimeters of fabric at all of the seams. And so the jacket, you can't see it. The jacket in which I'm wearing, we have at least six seams in this jacket at all points. So that's an extra 12 centimeters of fabric that it can change with my body over time. That comes at a cost, when you're mass producing items. And so it's incredibly expensive to do. And also tailoring and dressmaking is a dying trade. So a lot of people are not trained with this intricate level of detail. So between an expiring workforce that is not well-trained, or doesn't have the skillset, plus trying to mitigate costs, it's unfortunately not very common.

Nicole Otchy: Yeah, it's one of those things that when I was a stylist, I had so many clients that wanted custom for blouses, because of the gapping in front. And I think that there are people that have never even gone to a tailor, until they've worked with a stylist. I think that's shocking. Have you found that people have been surprised, when you've shared your story, your vision, the business? Have people been surprised that you do custom? Are they like, yeah, but what else do you do? Because there's sort of like this expectation that like, well, that's not custom for women. Who's buying custom clothing?

Lauren Linnane: Yes, yes. I get mixed responses. Some are, a lot of people will say not that many women are wearing suits, or they will say, if a woman is going to invest in a custom suit, it's not really beneficial for her, because usually, someone used the analogy, men can wear the same suit five days in a row and change out the shirt and the tie and it looks like they're wearing a completely different outfit. Whereas a woman, if she wears one suit, she's only going to wear that once per week and she has to change her outfit for the remaining four days of the work week, for example. So they're like, it doesn't make sense for a woman to invest in a custom suit. And I was like, this is so wrong and also feeding into consumerism. And then people will also get very surprised with, when I tell them I do custom, they love everything in which I'm saying. They're like, yes, I can never find something custom. I love this idea. They're very supportive of it, but they expect you to be able to deliver a custom piece for the same price that they would find something on Amazon or, right, fast fashion. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, because they're just looking at the finished piece. They're not appreciating, even though they appreciate the narrative, they don't really appreciate the time and material.

Nicole Otchy: Because every single piece is custom made by hand by an artisan. I mean, that's just crazy. And the fact that you have a brand that has extra seaming in there so that the garment can change and adapt to the client's size changes with life means that that's an investment for a long time. That's going to save them money later, but people don't see that upfront.

Lauren Linnane: Exactly. They also, they love the idea of natural materials as well. So I make sure that all of the designs are made with natural fabric, because they are the most durable on the market. So it's truly something that's going to be in your wardrobe for at least 20 years. And people just wrapping their mind around that can be a bit challenging.

Nicole Otchy: Yeah, there are a lot of elements of building this brand that was interesting of how counter-cultural it was, in terms of what you stand for and the fact that you really walk the talk to a point of, just like we talked about at the beginning of the show, how hard it was to go to Italy and have to create these relationships. And I'm curious as you're now up and going and we're ready to rock and roll, if you will, what have been the sort of experiences of marketing it? Are you finding that in Italy, people are much more understanding of what you're up to, or have you found that the American market has been hungry for this? What are you seeing as you're in sort of like two worlds, as an American living in Italy, building this product, in terms of how people are responding?

Lauren Linnane: The exciting thing about Milan is Milan is a very international city. And so the archetype of the woman that comes here for these experiences, she's very eager for this, because it's really exciting. She's getting a front row seat and a hand in designing her own pieces. So people love it. The challenging piece with that at the same time is, this client is very busy. She's running her own business. She might have kids. She's traveling all over the world. She's a friend. She's killing it in her career. She's doing all of the things as we all are all the time. And so marketing to her is not through an email list, or posting on social media. It is developing relationships with people that have access to her or putting myself in those kind of international crowds. So it has been very fun, but it's also, it's focused on the relationship building, which is exactly how I built the business, in the first place. And it was silly of me to think that I could build the business with that foundation on the supply chain piece, thinking that I could occupy, or implement traditional marketing channels, when in reality, I have to adopt that same approach in the marketing as well.

Nicole Otchy: I think that it's also true in the personal styling industry and I think that it's something that people miss is that like, yeah, social media is helpful, but it's usually a secondary check. It is not always the main way of going about creating a truly amazing client base. Are there examples that stand out? Yes, but for the majority of people, that's not how it works. And what was so interesting about your business model and the business model that I'm usually looking at, as someone that's held it for a lot of brands over the years, is that it was such high crossover, because there is such high trust. So anytime you're in a high trust market, in your case, because the investment and also just the personalization, you're going to find that that old school way of creating relationships to build a brand, like it cannot be outdone by social media. Which is I think for some people scary, but I think for you, it was really a good feeling, because you were like, oh good, I don't like, you're not like, I love social media, I want to be on social media all the time. Like you did it if you had to, but you are a great relationship builder. And so the whole brand just like makes sense and always I feel like from that angle.

Lauren Linnane: Thank you. I appreciate you saying that. I appreciate you saying that. Yeah, it's also trial and error though. It's, you think maybe stylists, especially if they're launching their business as well, you hear all this advice of pre-marketing before you officially launch or go live. And you think, okay, I have all these metrics, I have to come up with the content calendar and I have to do all of these things. And I'm not saying that I could certainly step up my game a little bit more to raise brand awareness, but you put all this extra pressure on yourself, which isn't necessarily helpful. And my first sales, again, came through very organic ways and they were the easiest sales I've ever had. So this is all to say, you don't have to block off, this is how at least I interpreted working, a block off time in my calendar. All right, today I'm going to focus on content creation and batch content creation and scheduling all of these things and all of these posts, which does have a place.

Nicole Otchy: It does.

Lauren Linnane: But at the same time, I could cut that in half and then I could go to an art gallery opening for the evening and that fulfills the marketing quota, because I'm there as my best self, in my own suit, it's a conversation starter and stylists can do the same thing. I'm sure personal stylists, they have great style themselves. They can put themselves in situations at an event. Easiest conversation starter is when someone comes up to you and compliments your outfit. And from there, the conversation just easily flows. Oh, what do you do? I'm a stylist, I'm a designer, I'm a whatever.

Nicole Otchy: And I think you're a very savvy founder, because you knew the finance piece, like you came in the opposite for most people, where stylists come in knowing the creative side and then they have to fill in the business part. And I think your point is good, but it's also that like, that's a scaling problem. It's not that you don't have, I mean, to be clear, Lauren has social media for the brand. It's not that, it's that it's a scaling issue. It's like, you're going to be more likely at a high ticket item to get those things. When you're booked out for two years, then you got a social media team, right? Like that's how this works, but it's not like one or the other. And so it's interesting you said that example at the art museum, because honestly she yelled, she gave you guys a great idea for getting clients because it's true, it is the same. So if you're talking to a stylist listening who really thought as many of the stylists I work with do, that they wanted to have a fashion brand, or become a designer, what would you tell them about the process and what would you share as early stage advice?

Lauren Linnane: When I first started my brand, the piece of advice I was given at the beginning is something that I think of all the time. It was from a woman called, her name is Nicole Giordano. She said, decide what type of life you want and then design your business model around the quality of life you want. Because when it comes to fashion brands, you can have something that is easily scalable where you're mass producing something. But when you get to a certain level, you're no longer designing and you're no longer doing the craft. You're actually in more administrative meetings. So if you want to be creating and designing and doing all of that every day, you're not going to have a brand, where you're mass producing things. It's going to be smaller scale. And so understanding what type of lifestyle you want and then designing your business model around that I thought was incredibly helpful.

Nicole Otchy: Yeah, and an accurate view of the way that the business works, that the industry is. If you want to be like a big name, if you want to be Ralph Lauren, at some stage of it, you are going to not be sketching everything yourself. But it's okay to not want that too.

Lauren Linnane: Yeah, exactly. And I would also say, I have a friend, she... One of my friends that I met here in Milan, she's now an independent designer as well, but she spent seven years as a designer working for one of the biggest luxury brands in Italy. And from a design perspective as well, once you get to that level, even the designers are not creative, because you have the finance team actually over them saying, here's your budget for the fabric. And she was like, okay, I want to spend nine Euro per meter of fabric. And they're like, no, your budget is seven, which seven Euro per meter. And you wouldn't think that's that big of a difference. But again, when you're mass producing something, it's a lot. And then the quality of the fabric, even at that margin of a very small price difference is a world apart. And it dictates the type of design, or some of the pieces that you're constructing, because you have to take into account the type of fabric when constructing the garment because it impacts the final fit. So when you get to a certain level, it stops being creative. But I think with all business models, once you scale to a certain level, it no longer becomes about the operations, it becomes about the backend.

Nicole Otchy: Yes, you're absolutely right. And we could talk forever about that. But I think that's really, really good advice for anyone listening, whether or not they want a fashion brand. It is true in any business that you need to choose the life you want, or else you'll wake up one day and be like, I'm not really sure if this was the plan. So I want to end this interview the way I do all of them, which is what are you most excited about, in your business, or just in your fabulous life in Milan in the near future?

Lauren Linnane: I'm really excited this summer, I'm going to be doing more trunk shows. So casing my pieces and my collections in different cities outside of Milan. So I'm very excited to meet, to travel to the international clientele, to introduce the brand and the pieces to her, which I'm super excited about. And also there's nothing better than an Italian summer.

Nicole Otchy: So there really isn't, as an Italian, there really isn't. What cities are you going to be in for trunk shows? Let us know.

Lauren Linnane: Boston, New York, San Francisco and I'm working on something in London. So we will see.

Nicole Otchy: Okay, ooh, I'm excited. Keep me posted. I'll definitely share that so that stylists in the community can come hang out and meet you. And if a stylist is interested in working with you for custom suiting for one of their female clients, how can they best get in touch with you?

Lauren Linnane: We just launched a stylist referral program. So you can either send us a DM on Instagram at parlathelabel, or you can send me an email directly, which is lauren@parlaapparel.com.

Nicole Otchy: And we'll have all of that in the show notes as well. Lauren, thank you so much for hanging out with me today and for sharing your story. I know so many stylists are going to find it very inspiring and fascinating to hear about the other side of the clothing world. Thanks for being here.

Lauren Linnane: Thank you so much for having me.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me. It turns out that social proof is actually pretty important. So if you could help me out, I'd so appreciate it. If you just had a quick free moment and could leave me a rating, a review on the podcast app, that would be killer. And even better, if you wanted to share this episode on Instagram and tag me, that would totally make my day. And it would bring so much more awareness to the podcast and would help other stylists, just like you, who are looking to build a lucrative styling business, because the better each of us does, the better all of us do.

Thanks for hanging out with me and I'll chat with you next time.