In this episode of Handbag Designer 101, we dive into the story of Clare Vivier, the founder behind the effortlessly cool handbag brand Clare V.—a name synonymous with California style and functional fashion. What began as a side hustle crafting chic laptop cases has grown into a nationwide brand with 14 retail locations and a cult following.
Clare shares how her business was born out of necessity in the early 2000s, when stylish laptop carriers were nowhere to be found. Sewing late into the night, she created pieces for herself and friends, eventually pivoting from tech accessories to versatile handbags that married utility with elegance.
💼 You’ll learn:
🧵 How a lack of fashionable laptop bags sparked a creative business
👶 Why Clare paused her business after becoming a mom—and how she reignited it
đź“Ť What passing a familiar LA factory taught her about timing and resilience
đź‘ś How transitioning from laptop cases to handbags unlocked scalability
đź‘Ą Why hiring a lean team changed everything for Clare V.'s growth
Clare also reveals how her first store came almost by accident—what started as a shared office with another designer evolved into a customer-facing retail space that launched the brand’s direct-to-consumer presence. From Silver Lake to Nolita, each store opening was a thoughtful step toward building community and expanding her vision.
Through trademark hurdles and industry shifts, Clare’s philosophy—“Don’t get caught up on things that aren’t actually a problem yet”—has guided her through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. Her story is a testament to the power of perseverance, personal style, and staying rooted in your "why."
🎧 Listen now to hear how Clare built Clare V. from the ground up—and why she believes creative businesses can scale without losing soul.
Our Guest: Clare Vivier is the founder and designer behind Clare V., a modern accessories brand known for its clean lines, vibrant colors, and French-meets-California aesthetic. A pioneer in combining fashion with function, Clare continues to lead her brand with integrity, independence, and a strong sense of purpose.
Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sure enough, we found a storefront space in Silver
Lake, on Mitchell Terena, twodoors up from Sunset Boulevard,
that we thought would just beour office.
We didn't even think of itbeing a store.
We thought this could be ouroffice space.
And then we were like, wait aminute, this has a storefront
bags and my bags at one third ofthe space.
(00:23):
We'll split it up so that onethird of the front of the store
will be our Vivienne Bentley iswhat we called it and the two
thirds will be our offices.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the
podcast, with your host, emilyBlumenthal, handbag industry
expert and the handbag fairygodmother.
Each week, we uncover thestories behind the handbags we
love, from the iconic brands andtop designers to the creativity
, craftsmanship and culture thatdefine the handbag world.
Whether you're a designer,collector or simply passionate
(00:55):
about handbags, this is yourfront row seat to it all.
Welcome.
Claire vivier, claire v, theclaire of all clairs, handbag
royalty.
Thank you so much for joiningus on handbag designer 101 the
podcast.
I think I'm more excited thanyou thank you, emily, I'm very
(01:18):
excited to be here really forsure, actually yeah, and this is
my, this is, this is Technologyfor the win, so I was fortunate
enough to have you as a guestin my entrepreneurship class at
(01:48):
FIT and I did know your story,but hearing it from you was even
more exciting.
So I have some inkling as toyou know the journey that took
you to the Claire V world.
But I just want to, becauseobviously my listeners most of
them weren't in my class, and ifso, good to have them back.
Just to go back.
(02:09):
You are LA based, you areCalifornia, that's who you are.
That is part of your originstory, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It definitely is.
I'm based in Los Angeles, eastside of Los Angeles, started the
business out of my home in EchoPark many years ago.
It's hard for me to say.
I say that the brand started in2008.
But really, as you know, thesedreams start before we say that
they actually start.
Because when you're startingyour business on your own, you
(02:39):
know, completely self-funded,and it's just this dream that
you have and desire and passion.
You don't really know if it'sgoing to turn into something.
So I had the dream and Istarted sewing bags and making
things before my son was born.
My son was born in 2003.
So you know, that's a good fiveyears before I say I started.
(03:05):
But yeah, I'm based in LosAngeles, I'm married to a French
guy and that's why you see alot of Frenchy phrases and
things and we have a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You're lucky because it definitely gave your brand
some zhuzh right.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, you know, it's like a writer you know, write
what you know.
I feel like I'm a designer andI design what I know, like
there's a lot of California inmy designs and I feel like
there's a lot of French as well.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, he got lucky with you, that's for sure.
I'll tell him.
Yeah, I listen.
If there's anyone who wantsinternal PR, I'm your girl
because I'm like super fan XXthis is.
I still can't get over thatthis has finally happened.
You said that you were sewinglong before your son was born.
What was that?
(03:55):
Like you know, growing up, wereyou a sewer as a child?
Were you the person who madetheir own clothes, or was that
just a hobby?
Because obviously most of uswho started our handbag brands
were doing something else andthen this was something that
percolated, and most of thedesigners with whom I've worked
(04:17):
kind of start their brand withblinders.
It's like something yearninginside them to say, okay, I have
to do this, I need to do this,I don't know how to do this, I'm
going to push forward and I'mgoing to make every mistake in
the book because I just don'tcare, because this is what I
need to do.
So I believe something likethat was your story-ish.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, I learned how to sew in grade school and we I
think my sister had a sewingmachine then later at home.
So I would sew at home and Iwould sew very easy things, you
know, like drawstring skirts andthings like that.
I didn't really I never learnedhow to make patterns and things
(04:58):
for clothing.
I would make t-shirt, dressesand stuff.
But when I started to make, Imust have had a really cheap
sewing machine and I juststarted making pockets for my
computer, for my laptop, becauseI was working with my husband
at the time in French television, in production for French
(05:20):
television.
And when I started to make thesepockets for my laptop, I
started to really feel like, oh,I'm really excited about this,
like this is something I reallylove, and I could see that other
people wanted them as well,like I was starting to make them
for my friends.
There weren't a lot of cutelaptop bags at the time.
So this was the first time thatI felt like, oh, this is
(05:45):
something I really love and itwas like I would stay up all
night sewing and I didn't Iwould didn't feel tired.
You know that first feeling oflike excitement and figuring out
patterns and figuring out howto sew things when you know when
you have to use your brain inthat way.
When you're sewing, you knowthings in reverse and things
that you're like.
(06:05):
Ok, how?
What is the pattern for this?
I mean, you definitely use yourbrain in a different way, and
it was very exciting to me.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
How did you come to pass, if you were working with
your husband, that you obviouslyneeded a bag to travel with?
That required putting yourlaptop in, because, if we go way
back to 2003 or before, that,like, laptops were heavy, so
obviously the bag that you werethinking had to be super sturdy.
(06:37):
So were you traveling a lot,and how did your friends see
said bag that you were, thatthey were like hey, I want that
one too, because obviously thebest marketing is wearing your
bag yourself.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, bags, laptops are heavy.
I had that blueberry Apple.
Remember the blueberryMacintosh, that one of those
first laptops.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
So I was making a case for that.
I remember that one had its ownlittle handle on it.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Because in Sex and the City.
Aiden said oh look, it's like apurse, it's got a handle.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So yeah, I know I know, I saw that recently and I
was like, oh my God, I had thatbad laptop.
That's the one that it startedwith.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
It's like a bowling ball.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah, and I had a laptop before that.
I still have that.
You know, the first Applelaptop that was like a little
brick.
Yeah, I had that in the 90sbecause when I moved to Paris, I
brought my laptop with me andyou couldn't get online with it.
We didn't have online, it wasjust basically a typing machine,
(07:41):
you know, and it was what I wasgoing to record my life on.
It was going, I wrote, you knowjust what I was doing in France
, and and then I would have tofind a printer to print things.
Oh my God, I know.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I know, and you convinced him to come to LA with
you throughout this wholeprocess.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh well, he was planning on coming to California
anyway.
He had gone to school inBerkeley and so he had friends
in Berkeley and yeah.
So we decided to come back tothe Bay Area together.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Wow.
And then here you are, you'reworking with him which I'm sure
is already colorful between thepair of you and both of you
working and then this ideasparks and then, on a whim, you
decide to make this bag.
How did other people see thisbag to say, oh, I need to make
more?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
well, I just started making them for my friends, so I
think they saw them in person.
I see you were making them andgiving them away yeah, yeah, or
maybe they bought them for Idon't know not very much money,
you know, but you know, maybethey bought them for I don't
know not very much money, youknow but maybe cost of materials
or something.
I remember the thing that Iwould get really caught up in is
how was I going to turn thisinto a business, because laptops
(08:55):
are all different sizes, yep,and that was the thing that
really tripped me up, and thisis kind of something that I see
a lot of young entrepreneurs whoare starting their fashion
company or whatever companythey're starting.
They get really caught up onthings that aren't necessarily a
problem yet, but it seems likeit's going to be a huge issue.
(09:15):
And my thing was laptops Likehow on earth am I going to get
all of the new sizes, even if Iwant to stick just to Apple?
Even just Apple has all thedifferent sizes and I was like
maybe I can get advanced noticewhen they're going to change
size.
You know, just like you knowall these things that were not
an issue yet, you know, and itjust the advice that I give
(09:37):
people all the time is don't getcaught up on things that aren't
actually a problem yet.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Just put one foot in front of the other, keep doing
your thing, because you're goingto sort things out as you go
along.
And the thing that I sorted outwas that my laptop envelopes
could very easily just be aclutch and they could be a
handbag.
And the laptop envelopes neededa tote and the tote didn't need
(10:03):
to have sizes, because alldifferent you know there's a
tote for.
You know all different things.
So it very soon just becametotes and clutches and the
laptop envelope.
It became like an oversizedclutch basically and you could
put your laptop in it and therewas one size and then you know
if it fit.
If it didn't, didn't?
This is the only size we have.
But, yeah, turned out to not be.
(10:25):
It wasn't a laptop business,laptop envelope business.
You know it was.
It turned into a handbagbusiness.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
So I so appreciate you saying that.
Like you know, sometimes thebest ideas end up coming from
ways that people didn't evenrealize that how the product was
even being used, like oh, whoknew?
I guess this is what I'm doing.
You know you were doing this byyourself making the bags
yourself, sewing them, puttingthem together.
(10:54):
At what point, how far in didyou say to your husband okay, by
the way, I think I need to dothis more slash, full time slash
.
You know, was your son born atthat time and you were there
with the baby?
Or were you still just doingthis on your own and like, okay,
just kind of cobbling ittogether and like, oh well, I
guess I need some sales.
(11:15):
What do I do now?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, well, before my son was born, I had already
gone through the process offiguring out that I needed to
find production.
I needed to find a factory thatsewed bags, because this dream
of mine to make totes andclutches even just at the time,
oh, and I had a little crossbodybag called a mini sack and my
(11:46):
designs were definitelysurpassing my ability as a maker
.
So I knew that I needed to findsome kind of production in Los
Angeles and so I went on thissearch.
Not having not worked in thefashion industry at all and
having no experience withproduction or anything, I just
went downtown to the fabricdistrict and I went into all the
stores and I asked them if theyknew factories that worked on
(12:07):
bags.
And nobody really did.
And I went to all the you knowjust, it was really a door to
door, grassroots thing of likewhere do I buy zippers, where do
I buy D-rings, where do I buysnap hooks, where do I buy?
And I just sorted all this outand at some, at some source
along the way I think it was ahardware supplier they turned me
on to my first factory in LosAngeles and I met them before my
(12:31):
son was born.
It was very I think I probablyhad my son right before birth,
met them right before I had myson.
And this is just to tell youthat all of this really wasn't a
business yet.
It was really just this dreamof mine and I was like this is
something I would love to do.
I don't know if it's ever goingto work out, but I love it and
(12:51):
I believe in it.
I even believed in it back inthe day, but I just didn't know
how to make it work.
And then I had my son and thenI was a little, just kind of
overwhelmed.
I think is just the word ofbecoming a, and you know this is
going to be my life for thenext.
(13:24):
You know this is my life now.
So I think I just was kind oflike whiplash and didn't really
know how I would work on a bagbusiness dream of mine with a
young infant.
And I knew that even when I wasgoing to have to start thinking
about going back to work, thisdream of mine wasn't paying me
(13:45):
anything.
So there was no way that Icould pay for a babysitter, you
know, and have my husband workfor you know, pay for everything
, and my money would just go topay for a babysitter so I could
work on it.
So just it just did not, it didnot add up, like just math did
not work.
So I kind of put the wholedream on hold.
I just kind of was like, okay,well, I guess that's just it,
(14:09):
you know, and I guess I won't dothat.
And I remember driving past thatfactory one day and and really
like tears coming to my eyesbecause I was thinking like that
was really something, because Iwas thinking like that was
really something I believed inand that was really like I just
let that go, you know, and and Ikind of was feeling bad for
(14:30):
myself and bad for moms who lettheir dreams die when they
become a mom.
And like I think I realized thatbecause I had that very
emotional response to it, likeit might have been a calling,
like it might have beensomething that I should return
to.
And when Oscar was able to goto preschool when he was three,
half day preschool I decided togo back to that factory when he
(14:54):
was three and go back to themand say, hey, it's me, can we
pick this up again?
Can I make a few bags?
And I started up again andstarted a website and found a
friend of a friend who designedwebsites and started selling
bags on my website and reallyjust started with clutches and
kind of like a pared downversion of that envelope, that
(15:16):
laptop envelope.
So anyway, that's how I started.
I'm not sure I kind of got offtrack from your question.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
That's okay.
No, I mean, look, people don'tseem to realize how productive a
mom can be given a short windowwith a sleeping child.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
That is so true, I got so much done between the
hours of nine and 12.
You can't even imagine.
And then I also had the benefitof a neighbor who had two kids
of her own and I would alwaysoften I would pick up my son
from preschool and drop him offat her house.
So another way of getting freechild care.
(15:50):
And she was such a lovelyfriend and was happy to have
Oscar at her house.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Oh my God.
Yeah, it definitely definitelydoes take a village.
I so get that.
So it's amazing because aftergoing through that visceral
reaction of realizing like oh myGod, this is what I'm meant to
do, and then you have these likeexistential thoughts like okay,
if I'm only leading and livingone life, I can't not do this, I
(16:18):
need to do this.
So it's kind of like what youwere doing before wasn't so much
of a hobby as like trying tofigure it out.
And then the clarity and thepath just presents itself like
okay, he's gone.
I'm got.
Like the first day you drop himoff, you're like I'm back to
the factory.
Hey guys, let's do this the end.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, yes, it's really how it happened, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
It's crazy.
How are you able to decide?
You know, showing back up atthis factory Like, okay, did the
math math for you?
Were you like, okay, I need tosell this for X amount of price?
Or did you kind of just throwit together and hope for the
best?
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(18:30):
Because, there's this learningprocess.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
It was a real learning process, the thing that
this factory I always creditthem as being so helpful to me
at the beginning and reallyimperative for me as a starting
my business, which was that theydidn't hold me to giant
minimums.
You know, I didn't knowanything about minimums.
I learned very quickly, likewhat's going on here, I would
have to produce how many?
(18:52):
No, I can't do that, like Ican't pay for that many.
But I would go in and I wouldtell them my designs.
I think they really liked mebecause I knew how to sew and I
knew how to put things togetherand so it was.
It didn't feel to her, thefactory owner, it didn't feel
like I was just some rich kidwith a dream.
You know, a lot of people wantto start fashion companies.
(19:13):
When they're just, you know,just nothing against them.
Sometimes they become verysuccessful.
But I think she justappreciated that I knew how to
sew and then I knew a lot aboutthe way things are put together
and I was really passionateabout it and I would go downtown
buy leather, buy materials andoftentimes it would be kind of
remnants of things only by haveto buy a small bundle of leather
(19:38):
or whatever I was bringing in,and she would let me.
I mean, I don't even know ifshe had any minimums, I want to
say like 10, maybe you know.
So I didn't have to invest ininventory too much.
You know, it all seemed verymanageable for, you know, the
small amount of money that Iwould have to put out, I would
(19:58):
sell, I would put back into it,buy more materials.
You know, it just became thisvery self-sustaining business.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
That's pretty early adopter-ish of you to rely so
heavily on D2C, and you knowvery much, so yeah.
It's the interesting thing.
Like you know, I used to dopartnerships with big brands.
Now they're calledcollaborations.
You know, like you were sellingto customers, that was B2C, now
(20:27):
it's called D2C.
So you know the evolution ofwhat we were doing.
Who knew that that's whatpeople should be doing?
I think that's where the arc wasgoing.
How did you deal with?
Okay, I need to also have thissold in other stores Because I
know when I was selling my bagsa billion years ago, like they
were, the stores were veryspecific.
Do not put your website on thehang tags because they thought
(20:50):
it might compete, Like they hadvery strict rules to make sure
that you would not conflict withtheir potential business for
them to be generous enough tocarry your product.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, I don't remember them telling me that.
I don't know if my website wason my tag, but I know it was on
an early version of my tags.
But I started off selling.
I walked down the street toMohawk General Store, which was
still around.
It's still in Silver Lake butat the time it was in Echo Park,
really right down the streetfrom my house.
And I remember walking by whenthey were opening the store,
(21:22):
like working on it, and I lookedin there and I was like what is
this?
Because Echo Park at the timedidn't have the best stores,
that didn't have a lot ofinteresting shopping.
So I could tell by their decorthat this was going to be
something interesting and I waslike, oh, this is good.
So as soon as they opened Iwent down and talked to the
owners, kevin and Bo, and I saidI have these clutches, laptop
(21:44):
clutches and you know these fewbags.
Would you be interested incarrying them?
And they said, sure, yeah,bring them in.
And then they were my firststore and that was a great store
because it was a cool store, soa lot of people from different
areas and different buyers fromother shops would go in there.
So the bags got great attention.
And then Stephen Allen in NewYork was my first store in New
(22:08):
York.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
He was the him and Verve.
Those two stores in New Yorkwere the ones that were back in
the day, the ones that dictatedyour success.
Those two stores carried youLike that was it.
You were in, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, because buyers from all over the world go into
those stores, and so that's howyou develop your wholesale
business.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
It's interesting because in the realm of D2C, so
many brands tend to forget newerbrands, tend to forget the
importance of boutique business.
And that boutique business isyour marketing, your paid
marketing, because althoughyou're not making the same
markup of selling it directly tothe customer, they're the ones
(22:52):
who will do your PR, do yourmarketing, will pay you up front
, will tell you the customerdidn't like this, this one
didn't work, swap it out.
Do you want to do somethingwith us?
So you know building thoserelationships.
You don't realize how valuablethey were to you until you're
like, you're able to reflect andsay, oh my God, I wouldn't have
been able to build this withoutthat first store.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yes, exactly, and I've run into different fashion
companies who some are onlydirect to consumer and some are
only wholesale, and I think, whywould you ever do either one of
those?
We need all of it.
We need you know, and I'm soglad that my brand started
organically like that, becauseit was so synergistic and it
really really was helpful, andhow the brand grew and just
(23:40):
became what we are today.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So so I mean this is.
I mean, this is so exciting.
This is like a one-on-one classon how to how to start a
handbag brand the right way.
How far in you doing this didyou realize like, okay, this is
my job, this is my business,I've made it, I'm a brand
Because for most people, it'seither getting office space or
(24:04):
it's hiring your second employee, not your first.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, that's funny.
I think those things weredefinitely important.
My first employee was prettyimportant, though.
My first employee was a womannamed Jocelyn Mason and she was
the friend of a friend and Ijust was.
(24:31):
It was a time when I kind of hadstopped working the other jobs
that I work, because I wouldalways I needed to do other
things to pay everything.
So I was always like propstyling or being an assistant on
sets, or I was working inproduction and like as a
coordinator, I hated that job somuch, working in production and
as a coordinator, I hated thatjob so much.
I was working, or with myhusband working in French
television, just always takingthese jobs that would take a
week or two, and every time Iwould do that I would feel like,
fuck, this just set me backfrom my dream of you, take one
(24:56):
step forward and two steps back,because I stopped working for
two or three weeks, and thenyou're like, okay, where was I
again?
Reach out to those editors,reach out to those you know.
So it got to this point where Iwas kind of turning down those
other jobs, and I was.
I just needed help.
I needed help shipping.
I needed to be two people.
I needed to be two places atonce, you know, because I was
(25:18):
running back and forth to thefactory, running downtown to get
more materials, I was needed tobe shipping, I needed to be
doing outreach, I needed to becustomer service.
So a friend of a friend said myfriend Jocelyn could do part
time.
So Jocelyn came in to work parttime this was when I was
working on my house and itturned out that Jocelyn very,
very quickly became full timeand we were just a team of two
(25:44):
and we became exponentially moreproductive.
It was amazing what that did.
So that's another thing that Ialways encourage young
entrepreneurs is when they'restarting something.
I was like, as soon as you canget some help and pay the person
, make sure you're paying themand see what you can get some
help because you need it Very, Idon't know.
At some help you know and paythe person, make sure you're
paying them and see what you canget some help because you need
(26:04):
it Very, I don't know.
At some point a friend of oursasked if their friend's daughter
from Belgium could come in andbe our intern and I was like
interns, why do I need an intern?
I don't.
I barely have a business, whywould I ever need an intern and
what am I going to do with her?
She came in, so she wastechnically the second employee
(26:25):
and she again same thinghappened, like then, the three
of us are running this businessand we were three like getting
so much stuff done and it wasjust like moving and shaking.
And that's when it felt like,okay, this could be something.
This is really you know turning.
But you know, I was stillworking on my house and I still
felt like you know, one day at atime, but yeah, that was a
(26:47):
great time, so much fun, and Ihad the gift of two really great
employees.
The other thing I had was, evenat that time, I very quickly
employed or contracted abookkeeper, and that's the other
thing I really advise youngbusiness people is to get paid
and to pay your bills, becausethat is something you know,
(27:08):
especially as a creative, youmight not be the best at and
it's hard to ask people formoney, especially your wholesale
accounts, because they havemore experience and they seem
intimidating and they, you know,you're even just so grateful to
be in their stores, you know,but sometimes they're not paying
you and so you have to goanswer them and it really sucks
and I didn't want to be theperson that did that.
(27:30):
So my bookkeeper would reach outand get you know, do accounts
receivable and make sure that wepaid all my factory at the
right time and my supplier.
So that was also extremelyimportant and the lesson that I
learned from that is just toreally know what you're good at
and what you're comfortable withand know what you're not good
(27:50):
at.
And I just knew that that kindof stuff gave me like that was a
thing that I didn't like to do,and so I'm happy a woman named
Elena was my bookkeeper.
So I'm happy a woman namedElena was my bookkeeper and that
was very, very helpful.
So it was like me, jocelynMathilde and Elena, and that was
the first team of Claire B,which at the time was Claire
Vivier.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Vivier, oh my God, and how soon after did you
realize?
Like okay, I think I need toopen up a freestanding store?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
That was in 2012.
Well, no, it was 2011.
That was a fun part of thestory is that I had a neighbor
named Catherine Bentley, a greatjewelry designer, very talented
Los Angeles designer.
She lived across the street.
That's the thing about livingin these great creative areas is
that we had this street with alot of creative, cool people on
it, and she lived across thestreet.
(28:40):
We chatted in the street one day, talking about our businesses,
saying we needed to get them outof our house.
They're kind of taking over ourhouse.
So we said, well, if we find anoffice space that we could
share, maybe we'll look intothat.
Sure enough, we found astorefront space in Silver Lake
on Mitchell Torrena, two doorsup from Sunset Boulevard, that
(29:02):
we thought would just be ouroffice.
We didn't even think of itbeing a store.
We thought this could be ouroffice space and then we were
like, wait a minute, this has astorefront.
Why don't we sell your jewelryand bags and my bags at one
third of the space?
We'll split it up so that onethird of the front of the store
will be our Vivienne Bentley iswhat we called it and the two
(29:24):
thirds will be our offices.
And as soon as we did that, itwas extremely successful.
Again, I think this was a reallyfun time in Silver Lake Echo
Park area of Los Angeles,because there wasn't a lot of
shopping but there were so manypeople that lived there, that
were creative and had a lot ofdisposable income.
I suppose it's like, you know,people working people, basically
(29:46):
that wanted to shop in theirneighborhood.
So we did, we did really wellthat first year and it became
very evident that I needed tomove out of that space as soon
as possible because we were kindof taking over the back with.
Bags are a lot bigger, take outmore space than jewelry does.
So the space at the cornerbecame available and again,
(30:06):
we're so naive, you know I wasthinking, well, ok, I'm just
going to take over that cornerspace as my office.
I'll keep the store with you,vivian, and really that's what I
thought I was going to do andit's so dim with it.
Thought I was going to do andit's so dim with it.
I mean, this is it's like it'sa corner space on corner of
(30:26):
Sunset Boulevard and Mitchelland Terena and it has, you know,
full windows on both sides.
So I was, I had to cover up thewindows because you know it's
just white paper, because I wasusing it as an office.
Very quickly I was like hold up, this needs to be my own store.
It's a beautiful store space.
I need to find another spacefor my office and make this the
(30:51):
first Claire Vivier store.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Oh, my God, that's amazing.
Is that wild?
Like who knew yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Who knew?
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Was it weird to break up with Catherine no, no, we're
still friends.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I mean that it was very natural, yeah it was like
okay, my bags are bigger.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
I think I need a bigger yeah and she was happy.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
She.
She created her own store therefor a while, called Dream
Collective, which was a funadventure for her as well oh, oh
, my God.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
So now you have a store, you have like a what a
five-year-old child.
This is it You're doing this.
How are you able to?
Well, this is 12.
How old would he have been?
Like seven, something like that?
Yeah, so how are you able todetermine the trajectory from
(31:41):
there?
I mean, I've spoken to a lot ofdesigners who were really hot
that time because that was trulyI mean.
People say it, but I know it, Iwas there, I lived it.
But that was, as far as I'mconcerned, the first real
historical rise of theindependent designer.
Like that time a lot of brandscame up.
(32:03):
Prior to that it was reallyjust big brands.
And then this time everybodywas kind of a lot of women were
starting these very DNA specificbrands.
So people had money, peoplewere shopping.
Bendel's was open, you know.
Barney's was still open.
There were a lot of the storesthat were buying product like
(32:23):
this.
And then the market because ourjob is as business owners,
designers and so forth.
You have to roll with thepunches.
You have to see where themarket's going.
You have to see how people areshopping differently.
How are you able to navigatewhat's next?
Because you know if you were togo from there all the way to
the pandemic, I'm sure thebusiness went really high.
(32:45):
Then it went down, then it wenthigh and then the pandemic hit
and then you know it's likepivot pivot, pivot, pivot.
You got to be light on yourfeet, especially when you're
making a product that you knowit's limited with how many one
customer can specifically buyyeah.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
So I think that there's a lot of elements, a lot
of ingredients that go into asuccessful business, or, you
know, a business that you cankeep going, and I think it's a
lot of tenacity, it's gooddesign, it's you know, some
smart marketing.
There is a certain amount ofluck that happens.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Right place, right time.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Right place, right time kind of magic.
I do think that being in myneighborhood and having that
corner of Sunset andMitchell-Torino was pretty
fortunate because it's LosAngeles.
You know, new York and LosAngeles are, you know, are two
big cosmopolitan cities that wehave in this country, of course,
along with others, but you knowtwo of the main ones, and I
(33:47):
think I was just extremelyfortunate to get that space
because it did really well.
It became very apparent that Icould open a store in New York
very quickly, soon thereafter,because I knew where my web
sales were coming from and myweb sales sales it was doing
really well at Stephen Allen andprobably some other stores in
New York at the time.
So one year later opened up mysecond store in New York in
(34:11):
Nolita on Elizabeth Street.
So 2012, I opened Silver Lakes.
2013 opened Nolita and it's soballsy, yeah.
And then we just kind of openedup a store a year for, you know,
14 years.
So now we have 14 stores, but Imean I've been doing it longer
(34:32):
than 14 years, but really that'show it was for the first.
You know it sounds crazy 13years or so.
And then the last year 2024 and2025, we did not open new
stores 2026, we have two planned.
In any case, I think what Iwanted to say is you know, there
(34:55):
are all these ingredients to gointo making a brand, but I
think you just have to you know,notice what is successful, and
what I noticed what wassuccessful is the stores.
So the stores were working forme and what products were
working.
And, yeah, I also think that Imean we can get into this later,
(35:16):
but I think another elementthat was extremely helpful to me
is partners.
I had some, I took on somebusiness partners along the way,
and that was extremely helpful.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Oh, my God, claire, I mean this is insane.
I feel like we need to do apart one and part two.
I think, if you're up for that,because there's so much, you
know that and I don't want tohold you captive because this is
just so it's just so excitingto hear because you are still
(35:44):
here, your stores are still here, your product is very much
still here.
You've weathered so much.
Even a brand rename which mostpeople can't get away with.
You know to go from Claireirevivier, which is who you are,
and then have roger vivier comeafter you and then say you can't
(36:06):
use your own name and then yousay, screw it, I'm not going to
deal with any of this legalstuff, because the legal costs
and ramifications will supersedeme fighting for my name.
So screw it, I'll just changeit to cla Claire V and other
people will still find you andyou know like that in itself is
like that's risk.
Maybe it's because you're fromCalifornia that it doesn't seem
(36:29):
like anything rattles you,because you are a very chill
person.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I must say I think California suits me, but I do
credit the chill list to be frommy family.
I think my dad was extremelychill and, uh, I don't know.
I think it's part of my mexicanheritage or something, I don't
know.
I attribute it to my father'sside of the family.
It has been a um, real boon, areal asset to be calm, to have a
(37:01):
calm-ish demeanor throughoutall of this, because I think it
I don't know makes for a niceworkplace.
I think it makes for, you know.
So there's no screaming oryelling at my workplace and we
don't take I always kind of keepthinking things in perspective.
We're very fortunate to beworking in fashion.
(37:21):
You know, what we do is theonly thing we're doing is trying
to bring joy to people andtrying to bring things that
allow people to expressthemselves and feel good about
what they're wearing.
That is important work, butit's not curing cancer and it's
not, you know, keeping peopleout of jail, and it's not all of
the very.
You know, keeping people out ofjail and it's not all of the
(37:41):
very, you know, educating people, all the things that I find to
be very tough and nobleprofessions.
I feel like, you know, we'refortunate to be in this business
.
So let's keep things inperspective and keep it light
and keep you know treatingpeople well.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
My God, claire, I want to.
I'm going to hold you.
I'm going to hold you to it.
Now that I've made this mutualdecision that we're going to
have a part two, I would be sohappy to Emily.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Are you kidding me?
This is again.
I'm very honored that you wantto talk to me.
This is our business.
I'm so just you know, I don'tknow just touch that you, the
business resonates with you andthat you want me to be on your
show.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Oh my God.
Well, while people hear thispart one, how can people find
you follow you?
Because we're obviously gonnahave more to come, because I
obviously can't hold you captivefor the two hours I need to
hear the life.
That's Claire, Claire V.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
I know we should do another out.
We will.
We'll put it on the calendarvery soon.
Well, you can find me atclairevcom and you can go to any
one of our 14 stores.
We have four in LA, newportBeach, Montecito, two in San
Francisco, seattle, chicago,washington DC and Georgetown,
(39:00):
and Nolita, brooklyn, brooklynand Amagansett.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Oh, well, done for knowing all of them.
Good for you.
It's like trying to rememberchildren's names.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
I often forget one.
It's often Montecito that Iforget.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Ironically still in California, and anybody who
doesn't already know God forbid,already know God forbid.
It's Claire, without an IC-L-A-R-E with a giant V for
Vivier and FYI.
You were always the first.
You will always be the first tome.
Claire, thank you so much forjoining us.
(39:35):
We will absolutely have youback.
Thank you, emily.
Thanks for listening.
Don't forget to rate and reviewand follow us on every single
platform at Handbag Designer.
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
Sure enough, we found a storefront space in Silver
Lake, on Mitchell Terena, twodoors up from Sunset Boulevard,
that we thought would just beour office.
We didn't even think of itbeing a store.
We thought this could be ouroffice space.
And then we were like, wait aminute, this has a storefront
bags and my bags at one third ofthe space.
(00:23):
We'll split it up so that onethird of the front of the store
will be our Vivienne Bentley iswhat we called it and the two
thirds will be our offices.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hi and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the
podcast, with your host, emilyBlumenthal, handbag industry
expert and the handbag fairygodmother.
Each week, we uncover thestories behind the handbags we
love, from the iconic brands andtop designers to the creativity
, craftsmanship and culture thatdefine the handbag world.
Whether you're a designer,collector or simply passionate
(00:55):
about handbags, this is yourfront row seat to it all.
Welcome.
Claire vivier, claire v, theclaire of all clairs, handbag
royalty.
Thank you so much for joiningus on handbag designer 101 the
podcast.
I think I'm more excited thanyou thank you, emily, I'm very
(01:18):
excited to be here really forsure, actually yeah, and this is
my, this is, this is Technologyfor the win, so I was fortunate
enough to have you as a guestin my entrepreneurship class at
(01:48):
FIT and I did know your story,but hearing it from you was even
more exciting.
So I have some inkling as toyou know the journey that took
you to the Claire V world.
But I just want to, becauseobviously my listeners most of
them weren't in my class, and ifso, good to have them back.
Just to go back.
(02:09):
You are LA based, you areCalifornia, that's who you are.
That is part of your originstory, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
It definitely is.
I'm based in Los Angeles, eastside of Los Angeles, started the
business out of my home in EchoPark many years ago.
It's hard for me to say.
I say that the brand started in2008.
But really, as you know, thesedreams start before we say that
they actually start.
Because when you're startingyour business on your own, you
(02:39):
know, completely self-funded,and it's just this dream that
you have and desire and passion.
You don't really know if it'sgoing to turn into something.
So I had the dream and Istarted sewing bags and making
things before my son was born.
My son was born in 2003.
So you know, that's a good fiveyears before I say I started.
(03:05):
But yeah, I'm based in LosAngeles, I'm married to a French
guy and that's why you see alot of Frenchy phrases and
things and we have a lot of them.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
You're lucky because it definitely gave your brand
some zhuzh right.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, you know, it's like a writer you know, write
what you know.
I feel like I'm a designer andI design what I know, like
there's a lot of California inmy designs and I feel like
there's a lot of French as well.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, he got lucky with you, that's for sure.
I'll tell him.
Yeah, I listen.
If there's anyone who wantsinternal PR, I'm your girl
because I'm like super fan XXthis is.
I still can't get over thatthis has finally happened.
You said that you were sewinglong before your son was born.
What was that?
(03:55):
Like you know, growing up, wereyou a sewer as a child?
Were you the person who madetheir own clothes, or was that
just a hobby?
Because obviously most of uswho started our handbag brands
were doing something else andthen this was something that
percolated, and most of thedesigners with whom I've worked
(04:17):
kind of start their brand withblinders.
It's like something yearninginside them to say, okay, I have
to do this, I need to do this,I don't know how to do this, I'm
going to push forward and I'mgoing to make every mistake in
the book because I just don'tcare, because this is what I
need to do.
So I believe something likethat was your story-ish.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, I learned how to sew in grade school and we I
think my sister had a sewingmachine then later at home.
So I would sew at home and Iwould sew very easy things, you
know, like drawstring skirts andthings like that.
I didn't really I never learnedhow to make patterns and things
(04:58):
for clothing.
I would make t-shirt, dressesand stuff.
But when I started to make, Imust have had a really cheap
sewing machine and I juststarted making pockets for my
computer, for my laptop, becauseI was working with my husband
at the time in French television, in production for French
(05:20):
television.
And when I started to make thesepockets for my laptop, I
started to really feel like, oh,I'm really excited about this,
like this is something I reallylove, and I could see that other
people wanted them as well,like I was starting to make them
for my friends.
There weren't a lot of cutelaptop bags at the time.
So this was the first time thatI felt like, oh, this is
(05:45):
something I really love and itwas like I would stay up all
night sewing and I didn't Iwould didn't feel tired.
You know that first feeling oflike excitement and figuring out
patterns and figuring out howto sew things when you know when
you have to use your brain inthat way.
When you're sewing, you knowthings in reverse and things
that you're like.
(06:05):
Ok, how?
What is the pattern for this?
I mean, you definitely use yourbrain in a different way, and
it was very exciting to me.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
How did you come to pass, if you were working with
your husband, that you obviouslyneeded a bag to travel with?
That required putting yourlaptop in, because, if we go way
back to 2003 or before, that,like, laptops were heavy, so
obviously the bag that you werethinking had to be super sturdy.
(06:37):
So were you traveling a lot,and how did your friends see
said bag that you were, thatthey were like hey, I want that
one too, because obviously thebest marketing is wearing your
bag yourself.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, bags, laptops are heavy.
I had that blueberry Apple.
Remember the blueberryMacintosh, that one of those
first laptops.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
So I was making a case for that.
I remember that one had its ownlittle handle on it.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Because in Sex and the City.
Aiden said oh look, it's like apurse, it's got a handle.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
So yeah, I know I know, I saw that recently and I
was like, oh my God, I had thatbad laptop.
That's the one that it startedwith.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
It's like a bowling ball.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah, and I had a laptop before that.
I still have that.
You know, the first Applelaptop that was like a little
brick.
Yeah, I had that in the 90sbecause when I moved to Paris, I
brought my laptop with me andyou couldn't get online with it.
We didn't have online, it wasjust basically a typing machine,
(07:41):
you know, and it was what I wasgoing to record my life on.
It was going, I wrote, you knowjust what I was doing in France
, and and then I would have tofind a printer to print things.
Oh my God, I know.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I know, and you convinced him to come to LA with
you throughout this wholeprocess.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Oh well, he was planning on coming to California
anyway.
He had gone to school inBerkeley and so he had friends
in Berkeley and yeah.
So we decided to come back tothe Bay Area together.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Wow.
And then here you are, you'reworking with him which I'm sure
is already colorful between thepair of you and both of you
working and then this ideasparks and then, on a whim, you
decide to make this bag.
How did other people see thisbag to say, oh, I need to make
more?
Speaker 1 (08:34):
well, I just started making them for my friends, so I
think they saw them in person.
I see you were making them andgiving them away yeah, yeah, or
maybe they bought them for Idon't know not very much money,
you know, but you know, maybethey bought them for I don't
know not very much money, youknow but maybe cost of materials
or something.
I remember the thing that Iwould get really caught up in is
how was I going to turn thisinto a business, because laptops
(08:55):
are all different sizes, yep,and that was the thing that
really tripped me up, and thisis kind of something that I see
a lot of young entrepreneurs whoare starting their fashion
company or whatever companythey're starting.
They get really caught up onthings that aren't necessarily a
problem yet, but it seems likeit's going to be a huge issue.
(09:15):
And my thing was laptops Likehow on earth am I going to get
all of the new sizes, even if Iwant to stick just to Apple?
Even just Apple has all thedifferent sizes and I was like
maybe I can get advanced noticewhen they're going to change
size.
You know, just like you knowall these things that were not
an issue yet, you know, and itjust the advice that I give
(09:37):
people all the time is don't getcaught up on things that aren't
actually a problem yet.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Just put one foot in front of the other, keep doing
your thing, because you're goingto sort things out as you go
along.
And the thing that I sorted outwas that my laptop envelopes
could very easily just be aclutch and they could be a
handbag.
And the laptop envelopes neededa tote and the tote didn't need
(10:03):
to have sizes, because alldifferent you know there's a
tote for.
You know all different things.
So it very soon just becametotes and clutches and the
laptop envelope.
It became like an oversizedclutch basically and you could
put your laptop in it and therewas one size and then you know
if it fit.
If it didn't, didn't?
This is the only size we have.
But, yeah, turned out to not be.
(10:25):
It wasn't a laptop business,laptop envelope business.
You know it was.
It turned into a handbagbusiness.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
So I so appreciate you saying that.
Like you know, sometimes thebest ideas end up coming from
ways that people didn't evenrealize that how the product was
even being used, like oh, whoknew?
I guess this is what I'm doing.
You know you were doing this byyourself making the bags
yourself, sewing them, puttingthem together.
(10:54):
At what point, how far in didyou say to your husband okay, by
the way, I think I need to dothis more slash, full time slash
.
You know, was your son born atthat time and you were there
with the baby?
Or were you still just doingthis on your own and like, okay,
just kind of cobbling ittogether and like, oh well, I
guess I need some sales.
(11:15):
What do I do now?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, well, before my son was born, I had already
gone through the process offiguring out that I needed to
find production.
I needed to find a factory thatsewed bags, because this dream
of mine to make totes andclutches even just at the time,
oh, and I had a little crossbodybag called a mini sack and my
(11:46):
designs were definitelysurpassing my ability as a maker
.
So I knew that I needed to findsome kind of production in Los
Angeles and so I went on thissearch.
Not having not worked in thefashion industry at all and
having no experience withproduction or anything, I just
went downtown to the fabricdistrict and I went into all the
stores and I asked them if theyknew factories that worked on
(12:07):
bags.
And nobody really did.
And I went to all the you knowjust, it was really a door to
door, grassroots thing of likewhere do I buy zippers, where do
I buy D-rings, where do I buysnap hooks, where do I buy?
And I just sorted all this outand at some, at some source
along the way I think it was ahardware supplier they turned me
on to my first factory in LosAngeles and I met them before my
(12:31):
son was born.
It was very I think I probablyhad my son right before birth,
met them right before I had myson.
And this is just to tell youthat all of this really wasn't a
business yet.
It was really just this dreamof mine and I was like this is
something I would love to do.
I don't know if it's ever goingto work out, but I love it and
(12:51):
I believe in it.
I even believed in it back inthe day, but I just didn't know
how to make it work.
And then I had my son and thenI was a little, just kind of
overwhelmed.
I think is just the word ofbecoming a, and you know this is
going to be my life for thenext.
(13:24):
You know this is my life now.
So I think I just was kind oflike whiplash and didn't really
know how I would work on a bagbusiness dream of mine with a
young infant.
And I knew that even when I wasgoing to have to start thinking
about going back to work, thisdream of mine wasn't paying me
(13:45):
anything.
So there was no way that Icould pay for a babysitter, you
know, and have my husband workfor you know, pay for everything
, and my money would just go topay for a babysitter so I could
work on it.
So just it just did not, it didnot add up, like just math did
not work.
So I kind of put the wholedream on hold.
I just kind of was like, okay,well, I guess that's just it,
(14:09):
you know, and I guess I won't dothat.
And I remember driving past thatfactory one day and and really
like tears coming to my eyesbecause I was thinking like that
was really something, because Iwas thinking like that was
really something I believed inand that was really like I just
let that go, you know, and and Ikind of was feeling bad for
(14:30):
myself and bad for moms who lettheir dreams die when they
become a mom.
And like I think I realized thatbecause I had that very
emotional response to it, likeit might have been a calling,
like it might have beensomething that I should return
to.
And when Oscar was able to goto preschool when he was three,
half day preschool I decided togo back to that factory when he
(14:54):
was three and go back to themand say, hey, it's me, can we
pick this up again?
Can I make a few bags?
And I started up again andstarted a website and found a
friend of a friend who designedwebsites and started selling
bags on my website and reallyjust started with clutches and
kind of like a pared downversion of that envelope, that
(15:16):
laptop envelope.
So anyway, that's how I started.
I'm not sure I kind of got offtrack from your question.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
That's okay.
No, I mean, look, people don'tseem to realize how productive a
mom can be given a short windowwith a sleeping child.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
That is so true, I got so much done between the
hours of nine and 12.
You can't even imagine.
And then I also had the benefitof a neighbor who had two kids
of her own and I would alwaysoften I would pick up my son
from preschool and drop him offat her house.
So another way of getting freechild care.
(15:50):
And she was such a lovelyfriend and was happy to have
Oscar at her house.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Oh my God.
Yeah, it definitely definitelydoes take a village.
I so get that.
So it's amazing because aftergoing through that visceral
reaction of realizing like oh myGod, this is what I'm meant to
do, and then you have these likeexistential thoughts like okay,
if I'm only leading and livingone life, I can't not do this, I
(16:18):
need to do this.
So it's kind of like what youwere doing before wasn't so much
of a hobby as like trying tofigure it out.
And then the clarity and thepath just presents itself like
okay, he's gone.
I'm got.
Like the first day you drop himoff, you're like I'm back to
the factory.
Hey guys, let's do this the end.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah, yes, it's really how it happened, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
It's crazy.
How are you able to decide?
You know, showing back up atthis factory Like, okay, did the
math math for you?
Were you like, okay, I need tosell this for X amount of price?
Or did you kind of just throwit together and hope for the
best?
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(18:30):
Because, there's this learningprocess.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
It was a real learning process, the thing that
this factory I always creditthem as being so helpful to me
at the beginning and reallyimperative for me as a starting
my business, which was that theydidn't hold me to giant
minimums.
You know, I didn't knowanything about minimums.
I learned very quickly, likewhat's going on here, I would
have to produce how many?
(18:52):
No, I can't do that, like Ican't pay for that many.
But I would go in and I wouldtell them my designs.
I think they really liked mebecause I knew how to sew and I
knew how to put things togetherand so it was.
It didn't feel to her, thefactory owner, it didn't feel
like I was just some rich kidwith a dream.
You know, a lot of people wantto start fashion companies.
(19:13):
When they're just, you know,just nothing against them.
Sometimes they become verysuccessful.
But I think she justappreciated that I knew how to
sew and then I knew a lot aboutthe way things are put together
and I was really passionateabout it and I would go downtown
buy leather, buy materials andoftentimes it would be kind of
remnants of things only by haveto buy a small bundle of leather
(19:38):
or whatever I was bringing in,and she would let me.
I mean, I don't even know ifshe had any minimums, I want to
say like 10, maybe you know.
So I didn't have to invest ininventory too much.
You know, it all seemed verymanageable for, you know, the
small amount of money that Iwould have to put out, I would
(19:58):
sell, I would put back into it,buy more materials.
You know, it just became thisvery self-sustaining business.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
That's pretty early adopter-ish of you to rely so
heavily on D2C, and you knowvery much, so yeah.
It's the interesting thing.
Like you know, I used to dopartnerships with big brands.
Now they're calledcollaborations.
You know, like you were sellingto customers, that was B2C, now
(20:27):
it's called D2C.
So you know the evolution ofwhat we were doing.
Who knew that that's whatpeople should be doing?
I think that's where the arc wasgoing.
How did you deal with?
Okay, I need to also have thissold in other stores Because I
know when I was selling my bagsa billion years ago, like they
were, the stores were veryspecific.
Do not put your website on thehang tags because they thought
(20:50):
it might compete, Like they hadvery strict rules to make sure
that you would not conflict withtheir potential business for
them to be generous enough tocarry your product.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, I don't remember them telling me that.
I don't know if my website wason my tag, but I know it was on
an early version of my tags.
But I started off selling.
I walked down the street toMohawk General Store, which was
still around.
It's still in Silver Lake butat the time it was in Echo Park,
really right down the streetfrom my house.
And I remember walking by whenthey were opening the store,
(21:22):
like working on it, and I lookedin there and I was like what is
this?
Because Echo Park at the timedidn't have the best stores,
that didn't have a lot ofinteresting shopping.
So I could tell by their decorthat this was going to be
something interesting and I waslike, oh, this is good.
So as soon as they opened Iwent down and talked to the
owners, kevin and Bo, and I saidI have these clutches, laptop
(21:44):
clutches and you know these fewbags.
Would you be interested incarrying them?
And they said, sure, yeah,bring them in.
And then they were my firststore and that was a great store
because it was a cool store, soa lot of people from different
areas and different buyers fromother shops would go in there.
So the bags got great attention.
And then Stephen Allen in NewYork was my first store in New
(22:08):
York.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
He was the him and Verve.
Those two stores in New Yorkwere the ones that were back in
the day, the ones that dictatedyour success.
Those two stores carried youLike that was it.
You were in, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, because buyers from all over the world go into
those stores, and so that's howyou develop your wholesale
business.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
It's interesting because in the realm of D2C, so
many brands tend to forget newerbrands, tend to forget the
importance of boutique business.
And that boutique business isyour marketing, your paid
marketing, because althoughyou're not making the same
markup of selling it directly tothe customer, they're the ones
(22:52):
who will do your PR, do yourmarketing, will pay you up front
, will tell you the customerdidn't like this, this one
didn't work, swap it out.
Do you want to do somethingwith us?
So you know building thoserelationships.
You don't realize how valuablethey were to you until you're
like, you're able to reflect andsay, oh my God, I wouldn't have
been able to build this withoutthat first store.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yes, exactly, and I've run into different fashion
companies who some are onlydirect to consumer and some are
only wholesale, and I think, whywould you ever do either one of
those?
We need all of it.
We need you know, and I'm soglad that my brand started
organically like that, becauseit was so synergistic and it
really really was helpful, andhow the brand grew and just
(23:40):
became what we are today.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So so I mean this is.
I mean, this is so exciting.
This is like a one-on-one classon how to how to start a
handbag brand the right way.
How far in you doing this didyou realize like, okay, this is
my job, this is my business,I've made it, I'm a brand
Because for most people, it'seither getting office space or
(24:04):
it's hiring your second employee, not your first.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, that's funny.
I think those things weredefinitely important.
My first employee was prettyimportant, though.
My first employee was a womannamed Jocelyn Mason and she was
the friend of a friend and Ijust was.
(24:31):
It was a time when I kind of hadstopped working the other jobs
that I work, because I wouldalways I needed to do other
things to pay everything.
So I was always like propstyling or being an assistant on
sets, or I was working inproduction and like as a
coordinator, I hated that job somuch, working in production and
as a coordinator, I hated thatjob so much.
I was working, or with myhusband working in French
television, just always takingthese jobs that would take a
week or two, and every time Iwould do that I would feel like,
fuck, this just set me backfrom my dream of you, take one
(24:56):
step forward and two steps back,because I stopped working for
two or three weeks, and thenyou're like, okay, where was I
again?
Reach out to those editors,reach out to those you know.
So it got to this point where Iwas kind of turning down those
other jobs, and I was.
I just needed help.
I needed help shipping.
I needed to be two people.
I needed to be two places atonce, you know, because I was
(25:18):
running back and forth to thefactory, running downtown to get
more materials, I was needed tobe shipping, I needed to be
doing outreach, I needed to becustomer service.
So a friend of a friend said myfriend Jocelyn could do part
time.
So Jocelyn came in to work parttime this was when I was
working on my house and itturned out that Jocelyn very,
very quickly became full timeand we were just a team of two
(25:44):
and we became exponentially moreproductive.
It was amazing what that did.
So that's another thing that Ialways encourage young
entrepreneurs is when they'restarting something.
I was like, as soon as you canget some help and pay the person
, make sure you're paying themand see what you can get some
help because you need it Very, Idon't know.
At some help you know and paythe person, make sure you're
paying them and see what you canget some help because you need
(26:04):
it Very, I don't know.
At some point a friend of oursasked if their friend's daughter
from Belgium could come in andbe our intern and I was like
interns, why do I need an intern?
I don't.
I barely have a business, whywould I ever need an intern and
what am I going to do with her?
She came in, so she wastechnically the second employee
(26:25):
and she again same thinghappened, like then, the three
of us are running this businessand we were three like getting
so much stuff done and it wasjust like moving and shaking.
And that's when it felt like,okay, this could be something.
This is really you know turning.
But you know, I was stillworking on my house and I still
felt like you know, one day at atime, but yeah, that was a
(26:47):
great time, so much fun, and Ihad the gift of two really great
employees.
The other thing I had was, evenat that time, I very quickly
employed or contracted abookkeeper, and that's the other
thing I really advise youngbusiness people is to get paid
and to pay your bills, becausethat is something you know,
(27:08):
especially as a creative, youmight not be the best at and
it's hard to ask people formoney, especially your wholesale
accounts, because they havemore experience and they seem
intimidating and they, you know,you're even just so grateful to
be in their stores, you know,but sometimes they're not paying
you and so you have to goanswer them and it really sucks
and I didn't want to be theperson that did that.
(27:30):
So my bookkeeper would reach outand get you know, do accounts
receivable and make sure that wepaid all my factory at the
right time and my supplier.
So that was also extremelyimportant and the lesson that I
learned from that is just toreally know what you're good at
and what you're comfortable withand know what you're not good
(27:50):
at.
And I just knew that that kindof stuff gave me like that was a
thing that I didn't like to do,and so I'm happy a woman named
Elena was my bookkeeper.
So I'm happy a woman namedElena was my bookkeeper and that
was very, very helpful.
So it was like me, jocelynMathilde and Elena, and that was
the first team of Claire B,which at the time was Claire
Vivier.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Vivier, oh my God, and how soon after did you
realize?
Like okay, I think I need toopen up a freestanding store?
Speaker 1 (28:19):
That was in 2012.
Well, no, it was 2011.
That was a fun part of thestory is that I had a neighbor
named Catherine Bentley, a greatjewelry designer, very talented
Los Angeles designer.
She lived across the street.
That's the thing about livingin these great creative areas is
that we had this street with alot of creative, cool people on
it, and she lived across thestreet.
(28:40):
We chatted in the street one day, talking about our businesses,
saying we needed to get them outof our house.
They're kind of taking over ourhouse.
So we said, well, if we find anoffice space that we could
share, maybe we'll look intothat.
Sure enough, we found astorefront space in Silver Lake
on Mitchell Torrena, two doorsup from Sunset Boulevard, that
(29:02):
we thought would just be ouroffice.
We didn't even think of itbeing a store.
We thought this could be ouroffice space and then we were
like, wait a minute, this has astorefront.
Why don't we sell your jewelryand bags and my bags at one
third of the space?
We'll split it up so that onethird of the front of the store
will be our Vivienne Bentley iswhat we called it and the two
(29:24):
thirds will be our offices.
And as soon as we did that, itwas extremely successful.
Again, I think this was a reallyfun time in Silver Lake Echo
Park area of Los Angeles,because there wasn't a lot of
shopping but there were so manypeople that lived there, that
were creative and had a lot ofdisposable income.
I suppose it's like, you know,people working people, basically
(29:46):
that wanted to shop in theirneighborhood.
So we did, we did really wellthat first year and it became
very evident that I needed tomove out of that space as soon
as possible because we were kindof taking over the back with.
Bags are a lot bigger, take outmore space than jewelry does.
So the space at the cornerbecame available and again,
(30:06):
we're so naive, you know I wasthinking, well, ok, I'm just
going to take over that cornerspace as my office.
I'll keep the store with you,vivian, and really that's what I
thought I was going to do andit's so dim with it.
Thought I was going to do andit's so dim with it.
I mean, this is it's like it'sa corner space on corner of
(30:26):
Sunset Boulevard and Mitchelland Terena and it has, you know,
full windows on both sides.
So I was, I had to cover up thewindows because you know it's
just white paper, because I wasusing it as an office.
Very quickly I was like hold up, this needs to be my own store.
It's a beautiful store space.
I need to find another spacefor my office and make this the
(30:51):
first Claire Vivier store.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Oh, my God, that's amazing.
Is that wild?
Like who knew yeah.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
Who knew?
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Was it weird to break up with Catherine no, no, we're
still friends.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
I mean that it was very natural, yeah it was like
okay, my bags are bigger.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
I think I need a bigger yeah and she was happy.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
She.
She created her own store therefor a while, called Dream
Collective, which was a funadventure for her as well oh, oh
, my God.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
So now you have a store, you have like a what a
five-year-old child.
This is it You're doing this.
How are you able to?
Well, this is 12.
How old would he have been?
Like seven, something like that?
Yeah, so how are you able todetermine the trajectory from
(31:41):
there?
I mean, I've spoken to a lot ofdesigners who were really hot
that time because that was trulyI mean.
People say it, but I know it, Iwas there, I lived it.
But that was, as far as I'mconcerned, the first real
historical rise of theindependent designer.
Like that time a lot of brandscame up.
(32:03):
Prior to that it was reallyjust big brands.
And then this time everybodywas kind of a lot of women were
starting these very DNA specificbrands.
So people had money, peoplewere shopping.
Bendel's was open, you know.
Barney's was still open.
There were a lot of the storesthat were buying product like
(32:23):
this.
And then the market because ourjob is as business owners,
designers and so forth.
You have to roll with thepunches.
You have to see where themarket's going.
You have to see how people areshopping differently.
How are you able to navigatewhat's next?
Because you know if you were togo from there all the way to
the pandemic, I'm sure thebusiness went really high.
(32:45):
Then it went down, then it wenthigh and then the pandemic hit
and then you know it's likepivot pivot, pivot, pivot.
You got to be light on yourfeet, especially when you're
making a product that you knowit's limited with how many one
customer can specifically buyyeah.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
So I think that there's a lot of elements, a lot
of ingredients that go into asuccessful business, or, you
know, a business that you cankeep going, and I think it's a
lot of tenacity, it's gooddesign, it's you know, some
smart marketing.
There is a certain amount ofluck that happens.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Right place, right time.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Right place, right time kind of magic.
I do think that being in myneighborhood and having that
corner of Sunset andMitchell-Torino was pretty
fortunate because it's LosAngeles.
You know, new York and LosAngeles are, you know, are two
big cosmopolitan cities that wehave in this country, of course,
along with others, but you knowtwo of the main ones, and I
(33:47):
think I was just extremelyfortunate to get that space
because it did really well.
It became very apparent that Icould open a store in New York
very quickly, soon thereafter,because I knew where my web
sales were coming from and myweb sales sales it was doing
really well at Stephen Allen andprobably some other stores in
New York at the time.
So one year later opened up mysecond store in New York in
(34:11):
Nolita on Elizabeth Street.
So 2012, I opened Silver Lakes.
2013 opened Nolita and it's soballsy, yeah.
And then we just kind of openedup a store a year for, you know,
14 years.
So now we have 14 stores, but Imean I've been doing it longer
(34:32):
than 14 years, but really that'show it was for the first.
You know it sounds crazy 13years or so.
And then the last year 2024 and2025, we did not open new
stores 2026, we have two planned.
In any case, I think what Iwanted to say is you know, there
(34:55):
are all these ingredients to gointo making a brand, but I
think you just have to you know,notice what is successful, and
what I noticed what wassuccessful is the stores.
So the stores were working forme and what products were
working.
And, yeah, I also think that Imean we can get into this later,
(35:16):
but I think another elementthat was extremely helpful to me
is partners.
I had some, I took on somebusiness partners along the way,
and that was extremely helpful.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Oh, my God, claire, I mean this is insane.
I feel like we need to do apart one and part two.
I think, if you're up for that,because there's so much, you
know that and I don't want tohold you captive because this is
just so it's just so excitingto hear because you are still
(35:44):
here, your stores are still here, your product is very much
still here.
You've weathered so much.
Even a brand rename which mostpeople can't get away with.
You know to go from Claireirevivier, which is who you are,
and then have roger vivier comeafter you and then say you can't
(36:06):
use your own name and then yousay, screw it, I'm not going to
deal with any of this legalstuff, because the legal costs
and ramifications will supersedeme fighting for my name.
So screw it, I'll just changeit to cla Claire V and other
people will still find you andyou know like that in itself is
like that's risk.
Maybe it's because you're fromCalifornia that it doesn't seem
(36:29):
like anything rattles you,because you are a very chill
person.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
I must say I think California suits me, but I do
credit the chill list to be frommy family.
I think my dad was extremelychill and, uh, I don't know.
I think it's part of my mexicanheritage or something, I don't
know.
I attribute it to my father'sside of the family.
It has been a um, real boon, areal asset to be calm, to have a
(37:01):
calm-ish demeanor throughoutall of this, because I think it
I don't know makes for a niceworkplace.
I think it makes for, you know.
So there's no screaming oryelling at my workplace and we
don't take I always kind of keepthinking things in perspective.
We're very fortunate to beworking in fashion.
(37:21):
You know, what we do is theonly thing we're doing is trying
to bring joy to people andtrying to bring things that
allow people to expressthemselves and feel good about
what they're wearing.
That is important work, butit's not curing cancer and it's
not, you know, keeping peopleout of jail, and it's not all of
the very.
You know, keeping people out ofjail and it's not all of the
(37:41):
very, you know, educating people, all the things that I find to
be very tough and nobleprofessions.
I feel like, you know, we'refortunate to be in this business
.
So let's keep things inperspective and keep it light
and keep you know treatingpeople well.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
My God, claire, I want to.
I'm going to hold you.
I'm going to hold you to it.
Now that I've made this mutualdecision that we're going to
have a part two, I would be sohappy to Emily.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Are you kidding me?
This is again.
I'm very honored that you wantto talk to me.
This is our business.
I'm so just you know, I don'tknow just touch that you, the
business resonates with you andthat you want me to be on your
show.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Oh my God.
Well, while people hear thispart one, how can people find
you follow you?
Because we're obviously gonnahave more to come, because I
obviously can't hold you captivefor the two hours I need to
hear the life.
That's Claire, Claire V.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
I know we should do another out.
We will.
We'll put it on the calendarvery soon.
Well, you can find me atclairevcom and you can go to any
one of our 14 stores.
We have four in LA, newportBeach, Montecito, two in San
Francisco, seattle, chicago,washington DC and Georgetown,
(39:00):
and Nolita, brooklyn, brooklynand Amagansett.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Oh, well, done for knowing all of them.
Good for you.
It's like trying to rememberchildren's names.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
I often forget one.
It's often Montecito that Iforget.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
Ironically still in California, and anybody who
doesn't already know God forbid,already know God forbid.
It's Claire, without an IC-L-A-R-E with a giant V for
Vivier and FYI.
You were always the first.
You will always be the first tome.
Claire, thank you so much forjoining us.
(39:35):
We will absolutely have youback.
Thank you, emily.
Thanks for listening.
Don't forget to rate and reviewand follow us on every single
platform at Handbag Designer.
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
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