Real Mom: Duchess & Lion

I about lost my mind when I first laid eyes on Duchess & Lion! Real Mom, Stacie Lucas is the talent behind this gorgeous line of children’s fashion. Her passion is inspiring and her dedication to create unique, quality pieces is admirable. Please welcome this weeks Real Mom..Duchess & Lion. 

| Goldie in her Duchess & Lion Dress |

 Tell us a little about D&L:

Duchess and Lion was officially first founded in April of 2013, but rebranded and became Duchess and Lion, LLC in August of 2014. Often, when people ask how I got to the point where I am, and how I have seen the success of a growing business, they don’t realize that I had a failed business first. I first started a kids clothing company with a partner, and it was a short lived experience, that seemed destine to fail from the start. There was a lot I didn’t know about business or the kids fashion world, things were rushed, and personalities weren’t the best fit. But out of that, came so many learning experiences, both positive and negative, that have helped guide me on the path of building the Duchess and Lion brand. In its inception, I made a promise to myself to let this business grow organically (no loans, no investors, no outside money). In the beginning that meant investing 200 dollars on fabric (I had invested a SIGNIFICANT amount of personal money into the first business) and never put another dollar from our families meager budget into the company again. So that meant I was sewing my own designs, patterning, sourcing, answering emails, etc. It was a true one woman (and one super supportive husband) show. I started as a made-to-order shop on ETSY because I couldn’t risk financially developing product that didn’t sell. I picked up steam quickly, at the grace of some un-expectant blog features, magazine covers, etc. which allowed me to hire a seamstress and keep an inventory. And we haven’t looked back. Our company is now comprised of 3 partners (both of the other two being men!), a contract production team of 10 woman, a family run manufacture in LA, and an executive assistant/marketing manager. We now keep regular inventory, of small lot products (usually we only produce between 100-500 of each design) and are planning the launch of our first FULL collection of about 50 pieces, including in it 3 mini collections, for the S/S ’15 season. It is all pretty exciting, and yet I am constantly so overwhelmed with the support of so many that make it happen.

Personally, my education background is in Teaching. Before my daughter Addie (3.5) was born, I worked as an Education Specialist in a highly talented arts high school out of Oakland. I loved my work there, but I was struggling with not being with my daughter as much as I would have liked, and lets face it, I have never been cut out for a 9-5’er. When Addie was born she was extremely long and skinny, and didn’t fit into ANYTHING. So I decided to take out a sewing machine I had been given at my wedding 5 years earlier and sew her some clothes. I am completely self taught, and let me tell you, those early pieces were bad! The first leggings I made, I didn’t know you needed to put the ‘foot’ of the machine down so it was a looped mess and I couldn’t figure out how anyone could ever sew a straight line. Thankfully, my neighbor rescued me from myself, and gave me a 10 minute lesson and from there, I took off, with a little (read: A LOT) of help from trusty youtube. In the early days, it was simple designs, and I spent more time playing with fabric choices, but I soon realized what I really loved was in the patterning process and trying to come up with the new looks.

I have always considered myself an untrained artist. I tried to convince my parents to let me study art in College (read: expensive private university), but when my dad asked me what I planned to due with my art degree, and I answered “I don’t know, paint people on the street” he quickly informed me that if he was to continue to support my education, I would need to find a different major. That is where I landed in teaching…I mean, you got the summers off! Then, my husband and I got married 2 weeks after college graduation and we needed jobs BAD. So I stuck the course and started into teaching, and kind of let my dreams of being an artist go. It is one of my bigger regrets in life, but somehow, I fell right back where I started. Presumably, right where I was meant to be.

 What’s the first thing you do in the morning?

My mornings start MUCH earlier than I care for them to. Being that I often work late into the night, 5:30 rolls around real quick. Drew (my one year old boy) wakes up around 5:30/6:00 right as my husband is leaving for work. So he normally drops him in bed with me and we spend the next 1.5 hours ‘pretending’ to sleep which involves, wrestling each other, tickling, fake sleeping, and grabbing him as he tried to jump off the edge of the bed. It is very RELAXING! At some point during that time, I sneak out to make a cup of coffee (black and strong!) and start my 4 cup a day habit there. As much as I grumble about it, I do truly value these early mornings. As the second child, I never had the initial time with Drew to just BE with him. So this is his time. I try and leave my phone off, keep the lights low, and find joy in his laughter and energy….and drink my coffee.

Top 3 must-have beauty items:

Ok. I am low maintenance. So here they are:
Dry shampoo (I only wash my hair 1-2x/week). Seriously, I don’t have time, and I have the limpest, most boring head of freshly washed hair. The day I wash is my least favorite hair day of the week.
Palmers Coco butter Formula Stick: Its my go to in my purse, For my lips, and my face in the winter when it gets uber dry. I lather that baby on. Because my mom said it is good for you and she looks damn good for 57.
A White t-Shirt: Is that a beauty item. I don’t know but I wear one everyday. My current faves in rotation are my Rag and Bone Tee, My Free People Tee (for casual days—because of course, there are dressy white tee’s and casual white tees) and my JCrew Linen White Tee. Wash and repeat.

 Where do you see D&L in 3 years:

The growth of Duchess and Lion, LLC has been rapid to this point, and yet it has, true to my initial promise to myself, remained organic. Each big decision we make is driven analysis of both successes and failures to see. So while we have goals for where to be in 3 years, we also don’t really know what it will look like. I currently have two small children and although they have a part-time nanny for when I have to work (2 days a week) and when I travel (1-2 times a month), I am not really willing to give up anymore of my time with them currently. However, in 3 years they will both be in school and I will have more workable hours in a week. Some of the small things we are working towards is expanding our size range. Where as we have primarily done 12m -4 yrs, in our inaugural seasons, we will for the first time in the spring move from newborn (limited) to a size 6/7 girls. Other things that are in the ‘plans’ for 3 years is a more permanent office space and retail space. We are excited to see growth as we go, and keep with the natural feeling of what works best for us.

XXO

Lisa & Stacie