Modern Fashion: Léa Daaboul of Léa The Label On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today
An Interview With Candice Georgiadice
There is so much pressure for designers to launch their greatest collection season after season. It’s always challenging being a slower and emerging brand in a fast-moving industry. As the brand evolves it’s a priority to take a step back, slow down and stay true to yourself to maintain the ethos of the brand and allow room for creativity and inspiration. We believe in quality over quantity.
Many in the fashion industry have been making huge pivots in their business models. Many have turned away from the fast fashion trend. Many have been focusing on fashion that also makes a social impact. Many have turned to sustainable and ethical sourcing. Many have turned to hi tech manufacturing. Many have turned to subscription models. What are the other trends that we will see in the fashion industry? What does it take to lead a successful fashion brand today?
In our series called, “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand Today” we are talking to successful leaders of fashion brands who can talk about the Future of Fashion and the 5 things it takes to lead a successful fashion brand in our “new normal.”
As a part of this series I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Léa Daaboul, of Léa The Label.
Founded by Léa Daaboul, with a deep-rooted connection to the wonders of the ocean, influenced by the holistic beach culture of wellbeing and wide visions of sustainability, it was surrounded by the harmonious energy of the sea where Léa the Label was born. Travel, nature, architecture and interiors helped fuse their passions of wellness and design to create minimalistic chic swimwear designed in harmony with the planet.
Léa the Label exudes an ethereal sense of understated elegance by offering timeless collections designed with intention.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”? Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
Growing up during my childhood between the Mediterranean and the West and brought up in an entrepreneurial family, travel plays a dominant role in my inspiration from the design process to shooting our campaigns. I am inspired by my travels and experiences having lived around the world with an appreciation for culture, art, style and yoga, as I have also been an instructor for many years now, something I am very passionate about, all of which have played a part in the birth of the brand. We currently manufacture responsibly in Bali, one of my preferred serene islands to unwind and recharge, a place where the yoga, beach culture and sustainable visions are widely common.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
During my university years in Paris, I worked and interned in tradeshows and showrooms representing multiple brands. It was a proud moment to be back in Paris this summer and represent my own brand for the first time after all these years.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Passion — I strongly believe that passion is the definition of success. It’s about absolutely loving what you do and enjoying the journey instead of only the result and this will be the motivation every day to naturally succeed as it is almost manifested in a way.
Perseverance — Perseverance takes practice as it is challenging to build confidence in such a competitive industry. It’s important to take in criticism, learn from the failures and not give up, which brings me to my next character trait: Consistency.
Consistency — Consistency is key especially for a fashion brand. It’s the only way consumers will really get to know what your brand ethos is all about and begin to connect with you on a personal level season after season.
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story of how that was relevant to you in your life?
I will keep this as simple as possible as I am strong believer in manifestation for anything you desire in life.
“If you can envision it and believe it, you can have it”
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Do you see any fascinating developments emerging over the next few years in the fashion industry that you are excited about? Can you tell us about that?
Absolutely, many brands are now making the conscious effort to shift to more sustainable fabrics and packaging especially in the swim industry as the supply of eco-friendly fabrics is available now more than ever.
Can you share how your brand is helping to bring goodness to the world?
Fashion is growing rapidly, and new collections are created weekly, while this inexpensively increases brand profits, the amount of waste is substantial. Our concept is more focused on supporting the slow fashion movement with minimal and timeless collections and avoiding fast-fashion and mass production to allow more time for creativity and construction. We want to focus more on ethical fashion using the highest luxury eco-friendly Italian fabrics for a reasonable price and offer staple and unique pieces to ensure our consumers that their swimwear is still durable and in style seasons on end. These timeless designs can also be worn from day to night, beach to resort and mix and matched from season to season. While taking a more positive approach on sustainability, we focus on less waste, environmental concerns and help reduce toxic working conditions. We also love to support small family businesses; our recent eco-conscious resort collection is atelier made locally. Most of our packaging is also made in Lebanon to give back to our community of origin. We also have recently created a gift with purchase with natural soaps made by local artisans in Lebanon, you can see more details in the following link; https://leathelabel.com/blogs/blog/lea-soap-an-exclusive-wellness-gift-to-celebrate-you-this-holiday Léa the Label is not just a swim and resort brand it’s a lifestyle. (More answers in question 8)
Can you share with our readers about the ethical standards you use when you choose where to source materials?
In an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, we created all of our Léa the Label premium swimwear with the highest luxe eco-friendly Italian fabrics in collaboration with ECONYL®
Reducing global warming impact by using ECONYL® regenerated nylon. ECONYL® yarns are regenerated endless times preserving the same quality and improving the elasticity and efficacy of the fabrics essentially making our swimwear last for reasons on end.
All our swims are sustainable and created from post and pre-consumer waste. Our resort ready to wear and sarongs are created from natural, biodegradable and certified organic fabrics.
Fast fashion has an advantage, that it is affordable for most people, but it also has the drawback that it does not last very long and is therefore not very sustainable. What are your thoughts about this? How does your company address this question?
There is so much pressure for designers to launch their greatest collection season after season. It’s always challenging being a slower and emerging brand in a fast-moving industry. As the brand evolves it’s a priority to take a step back, slow down and stay true to yourself to maintain the ethos of the brand and allow room for creativity and inspiration. We believe in quality over quantity.
Thank you for all that. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion Brand”. Please share a story or example for each.
-Passion
-Mentorship
-Leadership
-Supportive team
-Innovation
Every industry constantly evolves and seeks improvement. How do you think the fashion industry can improve itself? Can you give an example?
Sustainable visions and supply are more common now and they are available to help brands and consumers make small changes that could improve their carbon footprint. I also believe that everyone in the industry should have brand awareness and do proper research about who they dive into business with, whether they are suppliers, photographers, pr agencies etc. to make sure they are supporting original businesses as many brands are being copied by companies focused on fast fashion.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I wouldn’t start a new movement; however, I would strongly continue supporting existing organizations and collective movements in regards to cleaning up our oceans that currently still lack awareness and education.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
We are available online on www.leathelabel.com and you can keep up to date with us regularly on social media @lea_thelabel
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Modern Fashion: Léa Daaboul of Léa The Label On The 5 Things You Need To Lead a Successful Fashion… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.