Marina Larroudé on Disrupting Luxury Footwear (Without Going Broke)

Summary

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Networth and Chill with Your Rich BFF

Episode Title: Marina Larroudé on Disrupting Luxury Footwear (Without Going Broke)
Air Date: October 29, 2025
Host: Vivian Tu
Guest: Marina Larroudé, Co-founder of Larroudé

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Vivian Tu sits down with Marina Larroudé—former Teen Vogue fashion director, ex-Barneys VP, and, most importantly, co-founder of the luxury footwear brand Larroudé. The conversation dives deep into Marina’s bold leap into entrepreneurship (including risking her and her husband’s retirement savings), the challenges of disrupting the luxury footwear space, building a brand with social responsibility at its core, and no-nonsense advice for aspiring founders. The episode is both candid and practical, peppered with insights on industry economics, work-life boundaries, and the value of learning the ropes on someone else’s dime.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Taking the Leap—Financing a Footwear Dream

• Risking it All: Marina and her husband, Ricardo, invested their combined 401(k) savings (about $100,000) into launching Larroudé after both lost their jobs during the pandemic.
  • “We scraped our 401ks… we were unemployed and it was Covid and we were like, okay, we're going to do this.” — Marina (16:57)
• Bootstrap Mentality: The couple personally designed the website and took on multiple roles to minimize startup costs, emphasizing scrappiness and resourcefulness.
  • “I physically designed it on PowerPoint. We hired like a developer and we paid like $4,000 to build it.” — Marina (17:54)

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2. Industry Experience as a Foundation

• Decades of Learning: Marina’s background at style.com, Teen Vogue, and Barneys honed her skills in storytelling, operations, and consumer behavior.
  • Advice to Young Entrepreneurs: “Learn from the best first. Build your foundation first and then that is going to make you thrive… Don't open your own thing based on PowerPoint.” — Marina (06:49)
• Understanding the Customer: Insights from time spent on the retail floor directly influenced her product and price-point decisions.
  • “I spent a lot of time in the Barney shoe floor looking at women wanting to buy the pink boot, but then they're like, oh… it's too expensive. I'm going to buy the black one.” — Marina (07:44)

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3. Disrupting Luxury Footwear: Business Model & Brand Vision

• Warby Parker for Shoes:
  • Larroudé set out to be the “Warby Parker for shoes,” offering high-end construction at accessible prices via direct-to-consumer sales and vertical integration.
  • “The footwear market, it's so dormant… you either have a very high end footwear… or you had the ones that are manufactured in mass production.” — Marina (05:02)
• Cutting Out the Middlemen:
  • By forgoing traditional wholesale and agent-driven models, Larroudé can afford higher product quality and employee wages.
  • “There are like so many people in the middle with their hand out, right?… tripling the price every time that it goes. That's why we decided to be vertically integrated.” — Marina (11:50)
• Expanding Under One Umbrella:
  • Inspired by Luxottica, Larroudé partners with other creatives to offer capsule collections, keeping everything under the Larroudé brand.

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4. Marriage and Business—Navigating Co-Foundership as Spouses

• Intense but Trusting Partnership:
  • Marina and Ricardo divide roles (he’s CEO, she’s Creative Director) and maintain clear communication, even when feedback is blunt.
  • “He's the CEO and everyone knows… He's the boss at the office and then I'm the boss at the house.” — Marina (14:16)
  • On Conflict: “Sometimes he looks at me, 'your content suck.' And I'm like, oh, that's harsh… But at the end of the day, sometimes it is bad and he needs to give me feedback as he gives to anyone else in the company.” — Marina (15:30)

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5. Highs, Lows, and the Growth Journey

• Lowest Point:
  • “February of 2021, we sold $5,000 in the entire month. And I was like, how are we gonna pay your employees? Or, like, rent?” — Marina (20:31)
• Breakthrough Moment:
  • “We got a $3 million order from a wholesale… that day, I was like, what the fuck?” — Marina (21:37)
• Resilience: Success took patience—over a year and a half between the lowest month and the massive order.

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6. Social Responsibility and Ethical Manufacturing

• Manufacturing in Brazil:
  • Larroudé’s factories pay 30% better, provide health insurance, and offer employee perks, challenging industry norms.
  • “We're giving prosperity tomorrow. Like, what is. You're like, this is not my problem. Tell everybody else to pay.” — Marina (24:47)
• Impact on Community:
  • The company’s “dream factory” model led to local competitors complaining to the mayor’s office about their high wages.

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7. Money Mindset Shift as an Entrepreneur

• Pressure of Payroll:
  • The responsibility of “working for” their 550 employees is a powerful motivator.
  • “We are working for them. We need to make this right so everyone can go home… You gotta make payroll. And that's so scary.” — Marina (27:54)
• Personal Wealth:
  • All resources are reinvested into the business; diversification takes a backseat during the growth phase.

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8. Practical Footwear Shopping and Industry Prognosis

• Shoe Shopping Advice:
  • “Put it on and see how it fits. If it's tight, if you cannot walk, return it.” — Marina (30:40)
  • Focus on the width at the ball of the foot, memory foam insoles, and actual feel, not just looks.
• Industry Concerns:
  • Predicts more “bad products” in the market as brands cut corners due to tariffs and cost pressures.
  • “Everyone's going to start cutting costs everywhere. That they can and then ultimately it's going to end up in the product… we're gonna see very bad products out there.” — Marina (39:41)

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9. Lightning Round—Memorable Rapid-Fire Q&A

• Best Financial Decision:
  • “Script my 401k and put into the business. Taking that risk.” (35:36)
• Worst Financial Decision:
  • Accepting a $250k return from a wholesaler on the promise of a new order that didn’t materialize. (35:45)
• Biggest Lesson:
  • “You gotta work. You have to put the work. There's no magic.” (36:13)
• Money Advice to Younger Self:
  • “Ask for more money… ask for the promotion. I always work[ed] extremely hard and I was okay with the lower pay at fashion. Not that I was okay. I was too afraid to ask.” (36:27)
• Dream Job If Not Larroudé:
  • Still a founder—entrepreneurship is in Marina’s DNA. (37:24)
• Favorite Shoe for a Desert Island:
  • “Milan raffia sandals… so appropriate for the beach, but it's also so appropriate for going out.” (38:26)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Learn from somebody else's dime… You open your own thing, don't get out of school and open. Unless you are like a genius… be doing that work first.” — Marina (29:25)
• “For work. You gotta work, and then you ask for the promotion. Ask for the promotion, but ask for money.” — Marina (37:10)
• “If your product's really good, no matter when you're going to sell them, and I really believe in our product… it's the same quality as all the high end designer brands, but then there's a third of the price.” — Marina (32:39)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Risking Their 401(k)/Bootstrap beginnings – 00:00, 16:57
• Biggest High/Low in Business – 20:31 (Low), 21:37 (High)
• Employee Impact & Ethical Manufacturing – 23:10–25:45
• Money Mindset as a Founder – 27:24
• Industry Advice & Footwear Construction Tips – 30:12, 30:40
• Lightning Round – 35:26
• Larroudé’s Long-Term Vision & Industry Forecast – 38:54, 39:37

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Conclusion

This episode is a masterclass in resilient entrepreneurship, the complexities and ethics of fashion manufacturing, and the no-filter reality of starting (and scaling) a luxury brand from scratch. Listeners walk away with both inspiration and hard-earned truths, whether they dream of running a business, obsess over quality shoes, or just love hearing from someone who’s walked the walk—literally and figuratively.

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Transcript

[Marina Larude]

Ricardo and I, we scrape our 401ks.

[Vivian Tu]

You scrape from your 401ks?

[Marina Larude]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

That's a lot of faith. That's your retirement money.

[Marina Larude]

We worked for others for 20 people, like 40 years combined. And then all of a sudden came the pandemic and we lost our jobs. And we're like, this is on us.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

I think February of 2021, we sold $5,000 in the entire month. And I was like, shit, how are we gonna pay your employees? Or like, rent?

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

How is this gonna make foreign.

[Vivian Tu]

What's up, rich friends? And welcome back to another episode of Net Worth and Chill with me, your host, Vivian Tu, AKA your rich bff and your favorite Wall street girly. Like all other New York City gals out there, I do love a pair of shoes. My collection isn't quite enough to rival a Carrie Bradshaw, but truly, I do have a closet full of them. People. People ask me all the time where I get them, and honestly, most of the time they're from some luxury brand that cost me way too much money. But here's the thing. Just because you can afford a $900 pair of shoes doesn't mean you should have to all the time or that you'd even want to spend that kind of money on every single pair. And up until pretty recently, if you wanted truly luxurious, well made footwear, you had two options. You could either break the bank at a high end boutique or settle for something that likely cut corners on material, caused a ton of blisters, or fell apart in six months. But with her brand, Laroude, today's guest is completely disrupting what luxury footwear can look like and cost. Think Warby Parker vibes. But for shoes that'll make you feel like a million bucks without actually costing you a million bucks. Everyone, please give a warm welcome to co founder of her namesake brand, Marina Larude. Support for net worth and chill comes from Botox Cosmetic Onabaculinum toxin. A Women entrepreneurs often navigate unique challenges. Over a third report difficulty finding peer networks and fewer than 3% receive venture capital funding. The Confidence Project empowering women entrepreneurs, founded by Botox Cosmetic, is here to change that. The Confidence Project supports entrepreneurs by providing transformative access to coaching, mentorship, community and funding. To talk to your specialist to see if Botox Cosmetic is right for you. For full prescribing information, including boxed warning, call 877-351-0300. Learn more at botoxcosmetic.com realimpact hi.

[Marina Larude]

Thank you so much for having me Here. I'm so excited.

[Vivian Tu]

Of course, before we jump into your story, before we jump into everything, you own a shoe brand. So I want to know what is the most expensive pair of shoes you own and how much did you pay for them?

[Marina Larude]

Oh, I think I paid probably, like, a thousand dollars in a Louis Vuitton Nicholas Ghesquier boot. It was a Runway piece. I probably didn't wear that much, unfortunately.

[Vivian Tu]

You don't feel like you wore it?

[Marina Larude]

No.

[Vivian Tu]

Oh.

[Marina Larude]

Because they were, like, so, so, so, so, so special. And I was so, so, so afraid of, like, ruining them that I didn't wear them to death. So I have them displayed in my office, and it's, like, a gorgeous piece. But, yes, it was one of, like, those Runway pieces that I was like, I need to collect this item.

[Vivian Tu]

You had to have it.

[Marina Larude]

I had to have it. It was like, yeah, yeah. It is a collectibles piece. I could never get away with it. Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

In a couple decades, people will be like, oh, you know Marina Larude? She owns that archival boot. Everyone wants it. And now you have it.

[Marina Larude]

Yes, I have it. It's probably 10 years old. I was checking. I was checking yesterday. I was like, which collection? And I think it's from his 2014 Runaway collection. So it's been. It's been a moment. Amazing.

[Vivian Tu]

And I want to start off by saying congratulations on Larue Day winning the Footwear News Achievement Awards 2024 Brand of the Year.

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

That is an incredible win. Was, like, a big thing, I'm told. It's like the Shoe Oscars.

[Marina Larude]

Yes, it was. It is like the Shoe Oscars. And we won that year with On Running, which made it, like, super, super, ultra special. You know, On Running has been in business for 12 years, and we have been in business not even for five. So having that type of award, it's really. It's really major.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. And you mentioned, you know, you're a winner on running shoes were a winner. And they've got the corporate backing, and they've got Roger Federer, Zendaya, and you are an independent brand.

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

What made you even think that you could, like, you could actually break into such a saturated market like their shoe. There have been shoes forever.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah. I think the similarity that have with On Running is they also went after the big guys. Right. Like Nike, Asics, New Balance, and then all. All the other, like, majors. Because the footwear market is so dormant. Right. It's so stagnant.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. So just so everybody can see, I am wearing the Rudy shoes right now. They're beautiful.

[Marina Larude]

I'm so happy to see it. When I saw you wearing, I was like, oh my God, I need to send you like a new fall pair. But so I think basically the footwear market, it's so dormant. It's so hard to develop shoes. It's so hard. It's different than a pair of leggings, right. That you see all the other brand out there, you know, popping up or beauty. Right. It's easier to do a lip gloss. Right. And to develop a new lash, to develop a new construction to. There is such a hard investment that needs to be done and the tech behind and then all the things. So it's very hard to do it. What I, what I came to realize it was, it was such a dormant market and then you either have a very high end footwear such as, you know, the luxury brands or you had the ones that are manufactured in a mass production. But I was like, you know what? I've seen so many women who want to buy the high end luxury piece but then the prices are so obnoxious. And then also like the marketing and then the DTC component, like the whole distribution was so broken. So the distribution model was very broken in terms of like wholesale and in the marketing how they are, you know, reaching out to customers and the quality wasn't there too. So there was a lot to be disrupt in the industry.

[Vivian Tu]

And obviously you're saying words like wholesale and you know you're using to industry.

[Marina Larude]

I'm sorry.

[Vivian Tu]

Very, very. No, you're using very technical terms. And that comes from the fact that you have this incredible journey. You were a Teen Vogue fashion director, you were a Barney's vp. I mean these are some of the greatest fashion like houses and also like entities. Now you're building your own empire. What did each before your current one as a co founder of Larude, like how did they prepare you for this job?

[Marina Larude]

I always say that my advice to a lot of the young people that want to be entrepreneurial, it's like learn from the best first. Build your foundation first and then that is going to make you thrive. I believe in your next role. Like you were a perfect example of that. Right. And I think for I [e-mail], which is vogue.com today. I was there for almost a decade. Then I was at Invoke, then I was at Barney's retail. Each one of those roles prepared me for the storytelling and the fast [e-mail] and then teen Vogue on how to manage a larger team. And a big operations. And then at Barney's, it taught me so much about consumer. What actually performs, what actually translates, what the customers are looking for. I spent a lot of time in the Barney shoe floor looking at women wanting to buy the pink boot, but then they're like, oh, you know what? I'm not going to do it. It's too expensive. I'm going to buy the black one.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

And. And I also heard too many women being like, I really need a shoe to go to my best friend's wedding. And then there was only runaway pieces at the store. So there was this huge disconnect from what the customers actually wanted to what the stores were offering. And that I learned doing the ground or, like, in the grind.

[Vivian Tu]

Like, you were. You were literally, like. Just, like, stalking the women on the shoe floor.

[Marina Larude]

Exactly.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

No, I was actually learning part of my job. It was to sit down with all the. The, you know, the shoe sales team and be like, tell me what the feedback is. Tell me what the clients want. Tell me. And then learn that, you know, velvet doesn't sell in Seattle because it's rainy, you know, and then, like, the customers in Miami are looking for, like, a certain type of sandal.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

So it was an MBA on consumer goods.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. And I love that you got that education on someone else's dime.

[Marina Larude]

That's exactly what I say. Kids finish college, got an education on somebody's dime, and then you go and you open your own thing. Don't open your own thing based on PowerPoint.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. You have to have that experience and get paid while building that experience.

[Marina Larude]

Exactly.

[Vivian Tu]

During any of those years, like, did you have any mentors that really helped shape your worldview? How did they help you? And, like, is there, like, a best piece of advice you've ever gotten?

[Marina Larude]

I guess the best piece of advice that I've ever got. It was from Candid Pratt's Price that I just launch a collection, you know, a couple of days ago. And with Candid was always to be surprised, to bring an element of, like, maybe Teknis just. Just bring something else to the table.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

Besides just one taste level that you need to bring to the customer, an element of surprise. So, like, white luxury was never a thing, you know, otherwise, loud luxury. It's loud luxury. It is. It is to bring an element of, like, surprise could be in the storytelling, could be in a product, to always be thinking outside the box. And that's the one piece of advice that carry me throughout, no matter what I'm doing.

[Vivian Tu]

So you've described Laroude as wanting to be the Warby Parker for shoes.

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

What does that actually mean?

[Marina Larude]

When we first launched, that was the goal, right? It was to do a DTC brand, to be able to be vertically integrated, to be able to hit customers in a way that, you know, Wabi Parker was being so disruptive into, into that market for us to do a similar way in the fashion lux space. Now when I look about Luzotica business, that they were able to do retail, that they were able to bring other creatives and other brands into their fold and then use that expertise to do eyewear, we are more into the Luzotica business, right. We are bringing other creatives to do their point of view in footwear. So we are moving into that direction and that's the direction that we want to continue to do.

[Vivian Tu]

So does that mean, like, there will be offshoots of Le Roude, like some, you know, by different brands? Because luxottica owns like so many different eyewear retailers.

[Marina Larude]

So that means that we launch Candy, right? We launch Alto Zara, we launched Jonathan Cohen, we launched other creatives within our brand.

[Vivian Tu]

All under the Larude umbrella.

[Marina Larude]

All under the Larude umbrella, yes.

[Vivian Tu]

Talk to me a little bit about how price plays into this.

[Marina Larude]

Price for me has always been what is the best product that I can create, what is the best leather material that I can do? Our outsole, leather, like our outsole are all done in suede. It's the most expensive outsole that you can, that you can find in the market. Only Chanel and Manolo, like uses that type of outsole. So for me has always been about developing the highest quality product that we can, but then breaking it down, how we could cut corners to get that to the customer in the best way. A lot of the footwear business, it is done with agents in the middle, right? It is a, a brand calling, let's say bins Camuto to then develop their own collection, to then calling an agent to then find a factory. So there are like so many people.

[Vivian Tu]

In the middle, in the middle with their hand out, right?

[Marina Larude]

Getting a dime and tripling the price every time that it goes. But then until it gets to the customer, that's why it costs like so much money. So then for us, that's why we decided to be vertically integrated. We're like, we're going to cut all the middlemen and we're going to do it ourselves. So then we're able to give to the customer that high end experience at a better price point.

[Vivian Tu]

I Love that. What kind of like market research did you do to then be able to determine your price point? Because you know, you talked about like the low end retailers of a pair of shoes that's less than $100, but then like there's like glue exposed and then you've got the $895 pair of heels and you're like, I don't even feel comfortable wearing these because they're so expensive. How did you pick your price?

[Marina Larude]

For me, it was very much about an instinct in a way. Of course I did. Ricardo did a deep dive study in the industry and understanding how many players were in the high end market, how many players were in the shoe dog world of like the hundred dollars. That's how, you know, the industry calls. And, and then it was my instinct of being what does a woman. What is, you know, what do they want to pay?

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

What do we want to do with that? Do you understand? And then, and then we figure out like the entire business of it. How much do meta. What is the unit economic of a shoe at the end of the day? But it was very much having an understanding of like, you know what? This is what a woman would like to pay for a high end shoe. Shoe.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. And you mentioned, Ricardo, you and your husband actually founded the company together, Correct. Can I be honest?

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

How is that working with your spouse?

[Marina Larude]

It is intense.

[Vivian Tu]

24 7.

[Marina Larude]

It is intense. I'm not gonna lie. It is. It's also, I guess it's harder for the kids because we are at dinner, they're like, can we talk about something else? Oh yeah. But you know, it's been. Ricardo is the person that I trust the most unconditionally, you know, in my life. So to have someone like that being my business partner, I couldn't have dreamed about, you know, anyone else. He's also my boss. We like to say that we need one boss leading the company. Right. So he's the CEO and everyone knows that. And then I am the creative director. So he says that he's the boss at the office and then I'm the boss at the house.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

And then it's very productive because we're always working, working. There's no time off. Right. If we're on vacation, if we're like hang out at night, if we're like on a date, if we're like walking in the morning, it's just like, I, I guess that's one of the reasons why every day is also successful because we're constantly working, working.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. Do you Guys ever fight over decisions?

[Marina Larude]

Yes. No, not over decisions. Over.

[Vivian Tu]

Over. I like how I was like, yes and then. But, like, not over. No, no.

[Marina Larude]

We always.

[Vivian Tu]

We.

[Marina Larude]

We have been married for 22 years, and we have hard conversations all the time. Right. It's not something that it. Like, there's nothing that goes under the rug.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Marina Larude]

Right. And then ultimately, he's leading the company. I am a co founder, so if I would ask, I'll be like, oh, are you sure you. We're not doing wholesale anymore. Explain me the reasoning. Right. But no, he's leading it. And I'm like, okay, tell me how fast we're gonna go. But yes, of course we have, you know, disagreements. Sometimes he looks at me, he' your content suck. And I'm like, oh, that's harsh. You know, it is true. But then at the end of the day, sometimes it is bad and he needs to, you know, give me a feedback as he gives to anyone else in the company. So, yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Wow.

[Marina Larude]

It happens. I'm telling you, it's. It's hardcore.

[Vivian Tu]

That's crazy. I don't know if, like, I could listen to my husband tell me that and then be at the dinner table and be like. Like, you know, I would be, like, mad, I guess.

[Marina Larude]

I mean, we have been together for too long, you know, so. So we have the. We have had very hard conversations. Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

But it seems like it's working, which is great.

[Marina Larude]

I mean, better from him than somebody else, I guess, right?

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. Yeah. Better to come from someone who, you know, loves you.

[Marina Larude]

And then ultimately, you know, I know he loves me, and I know that he wants the best of the best. So I need to remove. Take it off my emotions and be like, okay, how do I get. How do I get better here? Right. And his talent is to coach people, and it has been coaching me throughout my career. You know, when I would come home, I'd be like, I don't know what to do. And he was like, why don't. You know, so it's nice to be able to build something together as the same way that we have raised our kids. Right. And there are a lot of times that we disagree on how to tell the kids to do homework. You know, I'm more soft, he's more this. And it's similar that, you know, to do that in business.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. And you mentioned earlier, Larude is still quite a young brand. Roughly five years. Just a shade. Yes.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah, it will be five years.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. But can you talk to me a little bit about those earlier days? Like, you Know, what was your initial investment to get Laroude off the ground?

[Marina Larude]

Initial investment? It was, you know, Ricardo and I, we scraped our 401ks.

[Vivian Tu]

You scraped from your 401ks?

[Marina Larude]

Yeah, that's how we did it. We did it. We were like unemployed and it was Covid and we were like, okay, we're going to do this.

[Vivian Tu]

That's a lot of faith. That's your retirement money.

[Marina Larude]

We are tripled down on this. You know, we strongly believe in it. Like, that's how we did it. We worked for others for 20 people, like 40 years combined. And then all of a sudden came the pandemic and we lost our jobs. And we're like, this is on us. Yeah, we gotta do what, what, what are we gonna do to. To make it, you know. Yeah, to the next 10 years. How are we gonna make it succeed, you know, on. On our own terms? Ricardo took a second job at the time, you know, so he was double working and then I was full on. On Larue day. We did a very small round of investment until March this year with friends and family. But I remember back then I used to call some of my friends who had recently opened, you know, E Comm and I was like, do you have anyone to recommend to design a website? Sure. And I was calling like all these agencies and they're like, it's 50,000, it's a hundred thousand to design an E commerce or like to do all those things. And I was like, like, I'm broke. Like, we are like, we just lost our jobs. Like, I'm not gonna put all the money that we have to create an entire company to design a website. So we did that ourselves. Like I physically design it on PowerPoint. We hired like a developer and we paid like $4,000 to build it. So we really bootstrap and, and I'm only sharing this story to share with everyone that it is possible. Right. And now with AI, like we can all probably like design a website cheaper than I paid like $4,000 to do.

[Botox Cosmetic Announcer]

So.

[Marina Larude]

So you can be so scrappy and you can do things, amazing things. And that's how we did it. We bootstrapped the business.

[Vivian Tu]

Can I ask how much did you take out of your 401ks combined?

[Marina Larude]

It was like 100k.

[Vivian Tu]

100K to get it off the ground.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah, but I mean, we didn't spend that money all at once, Right? Of course, like through the year we were like, okay, how much does it cost to pay this? And then we were like slowly paying the cost and one of the other things that we did, it was Ricardo and I divided and conquer. Right. So all the jobs that he knew he would absorb, and then all the jobs that I knew we would absorbed, I, I, you know, I was doing PR, like, product.

[Vivian Tu]

18 different hats.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah, 18 different hats. So we didn't have to hire CFO, you know, hire CMO and all those things.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah, you were doing all the jobs.

[Marina Larude]

So that saves a lot of money. Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

How much money do you think you and Ricardo have put into the business?

[Marina Larude]

We didn't put after that with just everything that we sold, then we put it back into the business. We never took money out.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Marina Larude]

Every single dime we'd made, we built a factory. And then we built a second factory, and then we hired, like, more employees. Now we have 550 people that work for us. And to be able to see that, that it was two unemployed people who then have 550 employees that we pay health insurance for is a pretty nice payback, you know? And that for me, it's the most fulfilling thing that we're able to bring prosperity to all these people.

[Vivian Tu]

When you guys were still building, can you tell me about your lowest low point where you were like, I don't know if this is going to work.

[Marina Larude]

I think February of 2021, we sold $5,000 in the entire month.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Marina Larude]

And I was like, how are we gonna pay your employees? Or, like, rent.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

You know, like, how is this gonna make. It was before the vaccines. If you think about it, like, vaccines were in launch probably like March, April of 2021. 2021. Correct. And I was like, okay, how are we going to get to the other side? I was never doubtful of La Rode as a company, a concept, or a product. I was more concerned about how are we going to hold until the company can thrive. Thrive, yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

But fortunately, you did thrive. I just asked you your lowest of lows, but yes. Now tell me, what is your high moment? When did you realize the business was actually viable? Like, what was like a aha moment?

[Marina Larude]

Okay. To give you, like, a great number. We got a $3 million order from a wholesale that day. I was like, what the fuck? You know, it was like, major. I'm sorry. For, like, I'm sure. No, not at all.

[Vivian Tu]

I was like, I'd be crying.

[Marina Larude]

My God. Yes. I cried too. Yeah. But then you have to be like, okay, I need to produce all these shoes. How are we gonna make it? You're like, now we have. What is the margin that I'm gonna get how many people? And then it was about, like, hiring more people.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Marina Larude]

So it wasn't never for us.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

The fact that it's like, okay, can I buy a home? You know? Or like, can we do this? It was more like, okay, let's put it back. Let's put it back. Let's build this.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

Wow.

[Vivian Tu]

That must have been such a high to go From February of 2021, where you only made $5,000 in one month, to getting a $3 million order all at once. Like.

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

What was the time differential on those two moments?

[Marina Larude]

I think it was probably a year and a half later.

[Vivian Tu]

A year and a half later?

[Marina Larude]

Yeah. Or like two years later. Wow.

[Vivian Tu]

So sometimes you just have to ride it out, Ride out the bad, and.

[Marina Larude]

Then there's like, the highs and the lows. Right. And then, like, can be a year later, and then, you know, that same wholesaler is like, wait, I want an rtv, like, return to vendor a million dollars in merchandise. And you're like, why? Is that why you made that such a large order? You know? So, I mean, yeah. Living and learning.

[Vivian Tu]

Living and learning. And you mentioned earlier that you are Brazilian. When we were training, you actually manufacture in Brazil, and you're very, very transparent about supporting your employees there with English classes, health care, stock options.

[Marina Larude]

Correct.

[Vivian Tu]

How do you balance your profitability with this inherent social responsibility you feel?

[Marina Larude]

When we were. One of the things that we noticed, it was when we were placing orders through factory, through other factories, then the owner of the factories were becoming rich. They were buying houses, they were buying boats. And we were like. I mean, not yachts, you know, but they were having.

[Vivian Tu]

But they were. They were making money.

[Marina Larude]

They were driving. Yeah. And we were like, I want to, like, do this for my people.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

And we're like, I rather get, like 300 people a better life, 300 people, health insurance, than one single person who owns the factory. Who owns the factory?

[Vivian Tu]

Yes.

[Marina Larude]

And those were the decisions that we did. And. And being vertically integrated allow us that. Right. Allow us to pay better our employees. So we in the region, in Brazil, this region that we produce our shoes, this region alone produce two times more than Italy.

[Vivian Tu]

Wow.

[Marina Larude]

So it's well known, like, huge region just for food alone, manufacturing. And then how we pay 30% better than any other factories in the region. So we have the best employees. Of course, everyone calls us the dream factory.

[Vivian Tu]

When you pay 30% more, you're going to get the best.

[Marina Larude]

And then we are the only ones that ever pay health insurance to all. So what happened was we were disturbing the region. So we were called by the mayor's office, and they were like, we have the other factories complaining about how well you were paying your people. And we're like, guys, we're giving prosperity tomorrow. Like, what is.

[Vivian Tu]

You're like, this is not my problem. Tell everybody else to pay.

[Marina Larude]

They need to pay health insurance. But again, yeah, it's one of those things. They want to keep the money at the top. And, you know, Ricardo and I, we are immigrants. We came here and work gave us prosperity in our lives, and we want to give it back to people. I think that's so there's enough to share with everyone.

[Vivian Tu]

I love that. I love that you just said that. Yeah, that seems so honorable. But so few, you know, fashion brands do that. It does feel like the folks at the very top are getting incredibly wealthy. And then, you know, you even have, like, fashion interns making, like, tell me about it.

[Marina Larude]

You've been there. I've been in the fashion industry for so many years. You know, a lot of the years I was making $10 an hour, and, you know, I made my way through. But it's hard and it is very difficult. And so it is. It is important for me to. To give it back. Not to give it back. To pay. Correct.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. To be fair. To be fair.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

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[Vivian Tu]

How has your relationship with money changed since becoming an entrepreneur?

[Marina Larude]

I know how hard it is to make it right. Because once you get a paycheck, no matter what, if the company succeeds, if the company doesn't succeed, if there is a good month, bad month, you get paid. Yeah, you get paid. You can go on vacation and everything's fine. Now it's on us. I say that I don't have 550 people working for us. We are working for them. We need to make this right so everyone can go home.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. You gotta make payroll.

[Marina Larude]

Yes. You gotta make payroll. You gotta make payroll. And that's. It's so scary. It is very scary.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. To feel like other people eat because of you.

[Marina Larude]

Yes. Yes. It's a tremendous responsibility.

[Vivian Tu]

What else are you doing outside of building Larude to diversify your personal wealth and grow that for the future?

[Marina Larude]

Right now, nothing. Right now we are like triple down on Labrade on the brand. The brand. It's only five years old. I have not become one of those big brands that you were just describing about. So maybe one day if I have a lot of, you know, right now we are growing the company. And when you are in the tremendous growth phase, it's hard to invest in anything else.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. But maybe this will help turbocharge Larude in the short term. And then you'll have other opportunities.

[Marina Larude]

Yes. Would love to. Otherwise, you know. But of course, I will sell my things on old, old stuff. I sold all my designer shoes on the real wheel.

[Vivian Tu]

Did you?

[Marina Larude]

When I first saw for La Rode, I was like, okay, I'm never gonna wear another brand, so.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. What do I need these for exactly?

[Marina Larude]

Was a good paycheck that I put it back into the business.

[Vivian Tu]

That's so funny. I love that. Aside from selling all of your designer shoes on, you know, the realreal, what financial advice would you give to other execs thinking about leaving their corporate jobs to start something themselves?

[Marina Larude]

What advice? I. I think the device. The advice that I give is learn from somebody else's dime. Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

And then you open your own thing. Yeah. Don't get out of school and open. Unless you are like a genius and. Yes. And you're gonna do fintech. I don't. You know. Yeah. Because if it is something else, be doing that work first. Yeah. And your foundation, that network is so.

[Vivian Tu]

Important because you gotta be able to make the calls.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah. You gotta Make. Yeah. You're not going to reach out to someone and be like, hi, I just left school, and I have this PowerPoint. Can we. Can we do a safe. They're like, what?

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

So I. I wouldn't do that. That's my advice.

[Vivian Tu]

I think that's good. Now I want to take a second, because this is my podcast, and I need to be selfish for a second. You are a shoe expert.

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

If I'm being honest, I have bought a lot of bad shoes.

[Marina Larude]

Okay.

[Vivian Tu]

Like, cheap bad shoes, expensive bad shoes, and bad shoes hurt.

[Marina Larude]

I know.

[Vivian Tu]

Like, I have scars on my feet from where I've been cut into. So what should people really be looking for when they're looking at the actual physical construction of a shoe?

[Marina Larude]

I don't think you can look at it and. And decide. I think you need to put it on and see how it fits.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Marina Larude]

If it's tight, if you cannot walk, return it.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. What are the three parts of the foot that I should be thinking about when I try a shoe on?

[Marina Larude]

Right. Where in the middle of your fit? Is it okay if I take my shoes off?

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah, take your shoes off. Show us.

[Marina Larude]

So this part here.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay. So the sole, right where the ball.

[Marina Larude]

Of the foot is like ours here, it's 5 millimeters wider than any other designer shoe in the market.

[Vivian Tu]

So there's room for my bunion.

[Marina Larude]

So this makes your fit really rest in the shoe. And then ours. It has a memory foam on the inside of the insole. So when we develop the last. We develop a new construction.

[Vivian Tu]

I'm, like, looking at mine now, but.

[Marina Larude]

Then you're gonna see it's. Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

I love this.

[Marina Larude]

That's what it is. It is like a sneaker.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

And then the fit really rests on the shoe.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

So we develop this new technology, we develop a new construction that allows that. And then in my case, because I'm such a pain in that sense, I go to Brazil, I go to the factory, and I try it on every prototype.

[Vivian Tu]

You try on every single shoe?

[Marina Larude]

I'm the fit model. Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

Wow.

[Marina Larude]

I'm not a fit. We have a fit model in the factory that it's constantly, like, trying, but every prototype, I go and I try and I make sure that it's comfortable, that it. That you can walk all the things, and then it moves into the sample. I heard the worry guy does the same thing. He's the fit model.

[Vivian Tu]

Oh, the VR guy.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, okay, we got something common. Yes. I really care about fit and comfort.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah. I have A now another financial question for you. We're in some interesting economic times. It feels like there's a little bit of doom and gloom out there when it comes to the economy. But also we still know people love buying little treats, little things to like, you know, brighten up their day. How are you positioning Larude to be recession proof, recession resistant, and, you know, going to be able to take on the future?

[Marina Larude]

I believe what is happening right now also to the luxury consumer, they're sort of awoke. They are like, they understand now that a shoe that is $2,000 doesn't cost that much to make. They are much more aware. So the consumer now, it's so well educated that they're like, okay, I want to buy this other brand. And because we are growing, you just step into a whole different audience that didn't even know your brand. So for us, we're not in that space. What I personally believe in, if your product's really good, no matter when you're going to sell them, and I really believe in our product and because our product is the same quality as all the high end designer brands, but then there's a third of the price, then I guess we're set up for this.

[Vivian Tu]

You're eating up that market for this phase. Yeah. Really, really smart. How are you also thinking about your business in relation to the big T word tariffs?

[Marina Larude]

Yes. Although I do not like it.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Marina Larude]

And I guess everyone else don't either because we're vertically integrated. It's very different than if I had to cost and then tariffs and in wholesale market and then retail, which I think a lot of my competitors are, then it adds to. Adds up like so much so that it's one piece of it for the DTC brands. The most costly item in our P L. It's meta ads.

[Vivian Tu]

Meta ads.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Just like running paid digital ads.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Marina Larude]

So I'm more concerned about that lowering the cost there than on tariffs than.

[Vivian Tu]

The actual shoe itself. Because you. I love tariffs. I love that you.

[Marina Larude]

Not the cost of the shoe, but.

[Vivian Tu]

Just the tariffs on the shoes.

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

I love that you mentioned earlier that what you are and are not willing to cut corners on like you're willing to cut corners when it comes to the.

[Marina Larude]

Not the quality of the shop, not.

[Vivian Tu]

The quality of the shirt.

[Marina Larude]

Never.

[Vivian Tu]

Only in the process of like the middleman cutting them out.

[Marina Larude]

The middleman. For me, it's all about the middleman. And there are like so many middlemen. And I, I say this all the time. When you are, when you have a Business, everyone wants to have a piece of it. Your email deployment, they want to get a cut. Your shopify, they want to have a percentage your meta ads need to get. And I was like, I do the hard part. I design, I make, I try it on like Ricardo. It's like you were getting it done and then everyone just wants to have a little piece of your business.

[Vivian Tu]

And you're not doing that. You're like, we're gonna vertically integrate.

[Marina Larude]

I was like, no, no, no, no, no. We need to like streamline, spend the.

[Vivian Tu]

Money on the shoe correctly and give.

[Marina Larude]

It back to the people that are working on the shoes.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah, definitely. We're gonna play a fun little game.

[Marina Larude]

Okay.

[Vivian Tu]

This is my lightning round. Yes. We are just going to go through really quick and you're going to tell me the first thing that comes to mind.

[Marina Larude]

Okay. Okay.

[Vivian Tu]

What has been the best financial decision you've made in business?

[Marina Larude]

Script my 401k and put into the.

[Vivian Tu]

Business taking that risk. I love this. What is the worst financial decision that you have made?

[Marina Larude]

Taking an RTV from vendor, which is a return from vendor from like a bigger, you know, wholesaler that asked me to return $250,000, a quarter of a million dollars in product, which we did with a promise that they would place an order and they did not. Live and learning.

[Vivian Tu]

Live and learn. Well, I was gonna ask, what is the biggest lesson you've learned along the way?

[Marina Larude]

You gotta work.

[Vivian Tu]

You have to work.

[Marina Larude]

You have to work. You have to put the work. There's no magic. You gotta put the work.

[Vivian Tu]

If you could go back and give your 25 year old self one piece of money advice, what would it be?

[Marina Larude]

Ask for more money. You know, ask for the promotion. I always work extremely hard and I was okay with the lower pay at fashion. Not that I was okay. I was too afraid to ask. Yeah, I would have asked for a raise early on, like I would every year. I would be advocating for myself for all the hard work that I was putting in.

[Vivian Tu]

I think that's.

[Marina Larude]

Don't be afraid, just go and ask for a promotion. Because I don't think women ask for promotion as they should. We don't, as the guys do, you know, ask for the promotion. Put in the work first and then ask for the promotion. Don't be delusional. You know, oh, I need to pay.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

I also want to have a nice life. Make like it's not an. This is what I tell my team.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Marina Larude]

This is not an allowance.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

An allowance I give to my kids.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

Like for work. You gotta work, and then you ask for the promotion. Ask for the promotion, but ask for money.

[Vivian Tu]

Ask for the promotion, but first put in the work.

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

If you were not running Larude, what would your dream job be?

[Marina Larude]

What will my dream job be? Will be a founder of some sort of.

[Vivian Tu]

You would still be a founder.

[Marina Larude]

Yes. Wow. Yes. You're addicted. I am addicted. Yeah. Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

That's crazy.

[Marina Larude]

I. My. My inspiration, it's Martha Stewart. You know how she was able to do so many things in a lifetime and be so creative and so evolve with pop culture and be an entrepreneur.

[Vivian Tu]

Yeah.

[Marina Larude]

And that's what I want to be. That's my KPI. That's what I look up to.

[Vivian Tu]

I love that. What is one purchase over a thousand dollars that has been totally worth it. For your business.

[Marina Larude]

For my business. The first set of samples that we.

[Vivian Tu]

Produced, the first set of samples of all of the shoes that you make. If you could only pick one with you to go to a deserted island, which pair would you take and describe it for us?

[Marina Larude]

I would take the Milan. We have a Milan raffia sandals.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay.

[Marina Larude]

That I wear that in the day and at night in the summer. And that's my go to shoe. And it's so appropriate for the beach, but it's also so appropriate for going out. And because it's raffia, it really blends in no matter which outfit that you're wearing. It's such a neutral. And that would be my. One, two.

[Vivian Tu]

Okay. And it's perfect for the deserted island.

[Marina Larude]

Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

That's it. That's it. Amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me. Final question for you.

[Marina Larude]

Yes.

[Vivian Tu]

Is where do you hope to see Larude go the next 5, 10, and 30 years in the future on running?

[Marina Larude]

It's definitely an inspiration. They're, like 12 years old. They a public company now, you know, And. And I guess that that's. That's the goal, right? It's. It's to become the biggest fashion footwear brand in the world.

[Vivian Tu]

You want to be the biggest in the world?

[Marina Larude]

Yes. In our category. Yeah.

[Vivian Tu]

I love that. I love that so much. Where do you actually see the. I. I said I lied. This is the last question. Where do you see the footwear industry, like, going directionally? Just like, as the. As an entire industry?

[Marina Larude]

I think it's going to be. I think you're going to see worse products out there.

[Vivian Tu]

Right.

[Marina Larude]

Because of the tariffs.

[Vivian Tu]

Wait, tell me about that.

[Marina Larude]

I think because of tariffs, everyone's going to start cutting costs everywhere. That they can and then ultimately it's going to end up in the product. So I think for the short period of time it's going to be a lot of bad products not done with basically like plastic. Right. They're gonna cut corners. So for the next, I don't know, a couple of years, we're gonna see very bad products out there.

[Vivian Tu]

Well, that serves as a warning for everybody listening. Make sure you are buying good shoes that last because consistently buying junky shoes will probably end up being even more expensive because you have to replace them all the time. Thank you again so much for joining us so much. And please tell everybody at home where we can find you across social media and where we can get larude shoes.

[Marina Larude]

Yes, La Rude, larude.com and myself. It's Marina La Rude altogether on Instagram.

[Vivian Tu]

Amazing.

[Marina Larude]

Thank you so much.

[Vivian Tu]

Thank you so much.

[Marina Larude]

Thank you.

[Vivian Tu]

Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of Net Worth and Chill, part of the Vox Media Podcast network. If you liked the episode, make sure to leave a rating and review and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Got a burning financial question that you want covered in a future episode? Write to us via podcastorrichbff.com follow Net Worth and Chillpod on Instagram to stay up to date on all podcast related newsletter and you can follow me at yourrichbff for even more financial know how. See you next week.

[Marina Larude]

Bye Fox Creative.

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