Meet Luis Castaner

We were lucky to catch up with Luis Castaner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Luis, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is one of the most important qualities to have for achieving any type of success. I think I learned what it meant from seeing my parents and grandparents struggles. I’m a Cuban Spanish immigrant. My family had to struggle through several social/political struggles and civil wars. Their struggle to survive, and start again and again in different countries, and finally thrive has always been inspiring to me.

In my case, I’ve had to overcome many challenges, stops and starts, in order to build my designer bags business. While relying on my finance career experience to open and manage a small company, I had no designer training nor experience in this type of endeavor. I’ve had to learn the design trade by trial and error. I think most designers have the opposite path, while they are creative innately, they struggle building a business and thinking financially.

As part of the process, I’ve made many costly mistakes and had to scratch everything and start again. Finding quality sample makers to work with had us looking in China, New York and Los Angeles for people I could rely on to manufacture a quality product. And believe me, early on, many took advantage of my inexperience. Our initial designs where clumsy, bulky and the leather used would break easily. This required multiple re designs and search for better materials.

The first product, our original backpack was made in China. The samples took months to make and the first order was too expensive given the large minimums required to manufacture abroad. The product wasn’t selling on our website once it was received and stored in my garage. I spent years trying to go through the inventory. Luckily, eventually, a celebrity was shown carrying our laptop backpack in People magazine and I sold out. I tried to place a new order but the factory had closed for business by then. I lost over a hundred clients on a wait list for a product that I couldn’t fulfill anymore. This situation required a new search and a fresh start that took months, if not years. The next search for sample makers took me to New York, where after several attempts to partner with different designer groups, were a waste of time and money. Finally I met some amazing fashion industry people here in my home town of Los Angeles and progress started. They’ve been key to help me advance the product to designer quality. I’m glad I kept trying and trying until I found the support I have today.

In addition, being self funded adds significant money struggles and limitations. Having a demanding full time job, leaves you with little time and energy to focus on your “side hustle” business. I still struggle with this every day. Covid had a silver lining for me. All the extra time I spent at home, I dedicated to broaden the product line significantly and build an amazing new website.

When building a small business from scratch. you have to expect setbacks and disillusionment, creating emotional struggles and feelings of failure. But you try again! Every setback can make you stronger and you’ve learned the lessons you need for the future. Keep going, recoup, reset and try again! Every next iteration of the product has gotten better and better. I’m confident my resilience is one of the key qualities that help me succeed in this endeavor.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

A few years ago, I started a creative project that would eventually become my side hustle and my passion, Together with my original business partner, we founded a startup called Luis Steven bags. We specialize in designer quality leather bags for work and travel, including unisex laptop backpacks and women’s work totes. In addition to providing great functionality, the designs are beautifully crafted in Italian leather and a plush suede interior lining. They are made in Los Angeles by experienced local artisans.

Recently, I expanded the line to carry fashionable women’s and men’s cross body bags. These smaller bags can be combined with your work bag to make a great pair. The backpacks and crossbodies provide a great “hands free” option for commuters. In the era of hybrid home and office work, Luis Steven is a great option. Currently, I’m adding beautiful leather briefcases and computer sleeves to the line.

I’m excited to announce that in addition to our website, we are now partnering with a retail store, Flying Solo, in the center of Manhattan to carry our product as part of their multi-brand offering. I even had my first designer show in Southampton this summer.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

First of all, resilience, keep trying! You can keep improving every time that you fail and start again with a fresh perspective.

Secondly, start small, especially in a retail business where you are introducing a new product to the market . Make sure you test out the market and the product before you start committing a lot of your available funds to inventory.

Third, surround yourself with people that help you, encourage you, know a lot more than you and are willing to teach you. Make sure they are honest people and have the right skill sets you need. Test them out before you commit large funds to them.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

The main obstacle I’m facing now is growing the business. It’s a new world of social media and direct to consumer marketing. A significant amount of funds is needed to provide the adequate marketing spend to draw in clients, especially in higher retail price points. In addition, finding multi brand retail stores and boutiques to carry your brand is difficult as it’s a “big brand” world.

I’m currently partnering with a multi brand retail store in NY which also does social media and PR for their brands. I’m searching for a marketing company who can build on social media campaigns to stimulate direct to consumer sales. I’m finally starting to work with a group that acts as a sales rep to place you into larger stores. Hopefully this combination of efforts will get me where I need to go for growth.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.luissteven.com
• Instagram: @luisstevenbags
• Facebook: Luis Steven
• Other: Tik Tok : @luisstevenbags

Image Credits

Photographer: Ana Ochoa