 People don't realize other people will be so much more willing to work with you if you're vulnerable Like totally open-floor one of the first manufacturer we went to that was like a huge massive Manufacture I literally was straight up like I don't know what I'm doing. I was like, please take a sec I was like I swear. I'll be a good customer. I swear. I'll be driven I will be so big I will be here every day if I have to be but like Help me. I literally have no idea like my head for my ass I don't know like I was like literally teach me and I will be there and I will study and I will do it and they were in That way they were full transparency. Totally willing to teach me This is start of the storefront the podcast where we inspire entrepreneurship through truth Today's guests are Leah O'Malley and Tori Robinson lifelong friends and co-founders of the clothing brand boys lie It's probably safe to assume that a fair share of us have experienced heartbreak and in Leon Tori's case They turned their heartbreak into a mantra that mantra would become the eventual inspiration to launch something bigger than the two of them To connect with the world of women who had also gone through a bad breakup. They decided on a makeup line The problem was that the makeup line didn't connect as they had intended But the two women were far from finished and they pivoted to manufacturing street wear with this new venture They finally found their audience and connected in a big way So listen in so cover everything from how they've had their own trouble with paparazzi While they'll anonymously answer support emails from time to time and why you should never go into business with your best friend Now back to the episode All right guys welcome to the podcast on today's show. We're talking to Tori and Leah from boys lie. Thanks for joining Thanks for having us For people who don't know what what is boys lie? So boys lie is our brand We actually launched it back in November 2018 and when we first started it was a cosmetic company We launched with a bunch of different makeup a lot of skews But what we realized really quickly is that no one really knew us yet And people weren't gonna buy a product of makeup Especially if they have never heard of the brand or be able to try it on in store It's not only that but I can look at her red nail polish, right? I don't need to be like hey what brand nail polish are you wearing? I go to CBS and I buy that brand so That was another reason why not only were we from around our Pennsylvania grew up together and known each other forever But it's like yeah We came here with no influence No, like title or anything and tried to make some noise in the market and that's really not like wasn't what worked with us Yeah, why the name why the name boys lie? How do we start we've known each other for 16 years, so that's when did you guys meet how old are you when you met? Oh my god, it's like 11. Oh super. Yeah It's away from each other like not even a block away and we both went to different schools But we would always be in the same social setting and we never really became close close until college when Both of our boyfriends who were best friends were dating at the time no longer with us Ended up breaking up with them and just became best friends and from there. We just got to see Some really rocky relationships crazy staff that both of us had gone through and Basically boys lie became kind of like a mantra inside joke word that we would use in group chats or getting ready And it wasn't ever meant like boys lie like fuck boys. I mean sometimes it did of course, but sure it really Like have a sense of self-worth and know your worth And you know it's not worth your time if this person's gonna really mess around with you in this type of way And also again like it could be a job like I was gonna quit my job But I used to work at Yelp in New York It could be a loss of a best friend somebody like hurt you in some different way Break is like on all levels. Yeah, it doesn't need to be with a boy specifically It can really be in any term of a relationship whether that's a best friend boyfriend Yeah, so boys like kind of stuck We would say it all the time and we were really drunk one night in New York And she was about to move out to California and she was leaving me and I was really sad and we were kind of crying We were like boys lie is such an interesting name. We should do something. So I was like whatever for shits and giggles Let's just trade market and so I go out to San Diego. I worked in private label manufacturing for cosmetics That's why we started to white label boys lie and basically I think the other part of the branding aspect of things is we had two merch pieces and by March I mean like they were really true merch pieces where it really represented the brand and what it meant and everything kind of around it and It really launched the makeup at the same time that we launched the makeup and we only had two skews of two hoodie pieces What kind of makeup were you making like what was the thing? Oh my god? Shadow And it was I think the consumer themselves were just like overwhelmed they also didn't know what to pick and I Guess the makeup really wiped away the inessential of our business like it taught us how to fail It taught us what business to go into and it really pivoted us to drive all this fire and failure and I Kind of like feel like we surrendered in some type of way And we moved forward with the clothing and it became like something bad happened And we would just laugh about it and again and reiterate like boys lie boys lie boys lie Was it obvious though like how long did you guys stay in the makeup lane? Oh only a year? Yeah, okay, and it wasn't selling it was selling slowly What was the pieces of merch we're selling out and it wasn't until we got reach-outs from Delilah Bell and Minkley Simmons And keep in mind again We're from around our Pennsylvania so coming out to LA being surrounded by all these people is kind of wild We had like Noah Cyrus reach out and I was like hey, I purchased these hoodies under a fake name I just wanted to let you know can you also send this old one like sold out one and we were both like oh my god Wanted the clothing and then what do you think they connected to like what was the thing that I think everyone? It's like therapy you guys basically everyone out there has a heartbreak story whether it be again with a significant other or a friend or and job The clothing I feel like with that type of manner it comes with an experience So it's almost like wearing your heart on your sleeve or like wearing a sense of like armor like you're showing somebody or showing the world You went through an experience and now you're involved with a community of people who are really learning how to heal and like willing to Educate each other and talk with each other and we have people who like follow us that literally Purchase for other people that are following us that they've never connected with before and they're like I really needed to get this person a gift. She's going through something Yeah, it's really cool to see that our brand DNA was really strong and I think everyone could connect to it in some way I want to dig deep on just one thing So we have a lot of companies come on the podcast or even like personally that reach out for advice And what they end up doing some of them get caught in this rut where they're making a product for everything So it's almost like oh they like this so they're gonna make this thing and then oh my girlfriend likes this So they end up making a sweatshirt and then a t-shirt and then a golf bag and then it's like none of this makes any sense But they're creating a brand right, but the hard part is like they don't know what direction to go in do they go apparel Do they go sports and so for you guys when you started with makeup? I'm sure you guys are selling the merch you're seeing that as a signal but at the same time it's like a part of you also wants to keep trying and make it successful and So at what point are you like this is it? This is the thing So we had a really pivotal moment and Leah literally thought someone died But we were in San Diego and our parenting company was like look like you guys have two months left to figure it out Or this is just done without no more be out of a job So at that point we were like everything's up in the air the universe will take care of it Maybe we're trying too hard and all this press comes out Gigi Hadid walks out in a goodbye boys lie set right after she broke up with Tyler Cameron And it was known to the public that that two of them had broken up So I'm a huge Gigi fan. I literally scream. I'm like seeing this from one of like the Hadid outfit account Sure, I'm like She screams so loud. I literally thought something horrible happened And then I'm like what what and she comes down like where she's at the top of the steps I'm like almost sobbing. Her face is bright red. I'm like Gigi Hadid's at our stuff You can't script something like that It was crazy and just like she also stepped out at the most perfect time too because again We were failing and it just created so much buzz around this one product But then it also brought people to our page and they saw the other items that we made and it became it made people become We call it the viral factor. Yeah, so it's like it went so viral this type of experience that I mean Even Gigi was willing to represent and become a fan of and it was so organic too like it was So wholesome and so we were like oh my god And then it was like those two months ended and we couldn't produce fast. Yeah Like there is nothing fast enough that we could possibly do and it was I mean A really wild ride in between that the two of us I mean we were packing out orders without poly bags on our clothing like we didn't know I would pack in all the orders ourselves and driving them back and forth all day long to USPS They thought in between also working a sales job for this My name so we'd be like we're here and they bring us out of bed And we roll in all the orders and we go back to the office pack out more bring them back And we're just like how's this happening and our stuff is like obviously polybagged and everything's good I never even had like a degree Or education that I mean I went to Harvard of the West Arizona State University So like I did a lot more of college in school. I guess And she went to Boulder and she was a communications major But we never had like a sole focus on clothing like we would always dress alike We would always like run around New York and our friends would be like the circus is here when we Be matching had to tell But it was never like we really like thought that this was gonna happen It's still mind-blowing every day and as we go by day It's like to kind of determine what category we go into the business itself just calls for it Like your audience if they're really engaged with you and you're really a digital native brand They're willing to tell you like we really want this so like now we're creating a home line We sold out of our bases. We're doing ashtrays blankets like all these new things and does it say boys lay on it Oh, it has our little emblem I'll show you a picture it has our little emblem that you like press down make your own coffee out of well Give them to you for your coffee shop. Absolutely. Yeah, that's pretty amazing It's insane and it's kind of like at least with the background We had in the white label for manufacturing for cosmetics that really taught us like okay How do we take this and kind of this education and transition it into manufacturing for clothing and now Everything else under the Sun one of the things that we hear all the time From companies who get an unexpected bump is that they're unprepared to fulfill those orders Like it's excitement when it first comes in because it's like oh my god We're finally hitting all of these orders are coming in but then it's like crap now We have to fulfill all of them Well, what's so crazy is when we first started and we were doing that we were doing made to order and our customers Were willing to wait so they waited two months to three months for one hoodie with no literally no complaints They would they would pay for it and they would wait and they they loved it So I think the other part of selling something good to and wholesome is like again We were the only two in this so for customer service emails We were like truly like look in full transparency ASU graduate. I'm one year out of school. We just decided to do this. Just give me bear with us Yeah, please bear with me at this time trust me. It's gonna get to you I want it to you more than you want it like itself and just please like forgive me in the meantime And I think also that transparency of customer service is so important because it's no interaction Where people shocked really like oh my god, I they were so like empathetic Honestly, and they were like wow this makes the brand even cooler And I think a lot of brands kind of miss out on that opportunity to connect with them on a personal level I had a fashion company. We created this fake alias named max and so max was basically me or my buddy Matthew And we would just max would take care of you like max if your order was back ordered or He would expedite your shipping randomly or if you had a problem max would just solve it If you needed to talk to us max was like the go-between, but it was just me and Matthew I love that because you didn't want to necessarily like get maybe I get target or get targeted or blame for something But maybe max can handle it Oh Sometimes right back and be like hey, I'm an intern. It's my first day here. Let me double-check on this and get back to you Like sometimes I still handle the wholesale email and they're like who am I speaking with I'm like Maggie But we did we in the beginning phases of things we're like fully fully transparent and what's cool is we Since the makeup like stopped we haven't paid anybody to post or anything like that So all these celebrities who have been wearing our brand. It's truly been and I hate yeah But it's truly that's the one thing I see over and over again like a lot of brands that come on here I think a lot of people think they have to go to business school or have to say like I have to figure this out to do this Thing or I have to give myself permission Which usually comes in the form of like a degree in order to be successful and the brands that we've talked to that have come On the podcast they're really just chasing expression like their brand is a representation of something so deep to them and People connect the crazy thing is other people connect to it And it's insane. Yeah, I really get that I also just think people are naive about the world and how it recognizes you because for instance Okay, you have a hundred followers on Instagram right now. We would look at that and be like, oh, that's minuscule, right? But like imagine a hundred people in a room following what you're doing. That's a lot of that's a lot of a lot of a hundred people having family How much family does a hundred people have like and that connects the world is really abundant people You just need to find the right group of people who believe in the same things you do And I think you don't really need a formal education for that But you do need a lot of spirit and a lot of will where it's like you can be pushed down seven times But you have to get up eight like that's just the way that it is And we had people who really didn't believe in us who are friends for a long time who like when we started They literally like would make jokes laugh like post on their own social talk to them Yeah, well now they're the biggest fans of our brand. Oh, they switched. Yeah, we converted them And you remind them yeah, we do and it's really cool and it's really exciting. I like people wrong Yeah, no, it definitely feels the tank and then the best part of like I've talked about this a lot on the podcast is once You're right. It's addicting right and so now you're like how how much more can I go? Yeah, what's the next crazy like what's crazy now? Yeah, and you just keep you like you love the people that hate because it drives you. Yeah, we love that I love when people tell me I can't do something because I'm like, okay. I'm gonna do it Like now I'm gonna actually do it I'm trying to do this art walk on a real estate development project And I have like it like went viral on Instagram all these haters all these people and I'm like it's a dumping site right What is there to hate and they're all just going through it and some of the artist community like they're fighting them They're going back and forth and it's crazy and I'm like, I'm just trying to get rid of a dumping site I don't know why there's any opposition to this but apparently because I called it an art walk I'm appropriating that term and they refer to me as like some rich white kid from San Francisco Which is like I made it I made it It's just also I think no matter what like like like you're saying everyone's always gonna have an opinion no matter what you can't control that And that's like why the world goes round But I think what's cool for a brand or if you're starting a brand like if you find that one thing that you know Relates to so many other people out there. It's gotta give people a reason to buy I also just thinking like So many people come up with ideas, but how many people actually pursue them So I feel like for us. It's like, okay, like we could have easily not trademark boys. I we were drunk on St. Patrick's Day in a fire station in New York City running around like crying to X crying And it was kind of like the next day. I was like, oh my god really hung over But I was also like let's just see what we can do with this like it doesn't hurt That was so exciting because we were like all right. What could this be and when you have almost like nothing yet It's like you have nothing to you have literally no risk like it's just like fuck it. Let's just in the bonus Yeah, but you just have to be willing to keep going and just not be scared Yeah, and every loss that you're gonna take you're gonna have one win. That's gonna be like Just your whole world and that's where I think the high comes from because I think as an entrepreneur You're gonna lose so much more than you win, but your wins are so worth it Yeah, big and like milestone like that. It's like fuck. Yeah, everything I put in I'm getting out of this What's your greatest loss like what's the one thing you guys think about when it comes to the worst time? Oh my god We've had so many There's just a lot that we've dealt with and I think too like we've had you come out here And you trust these people who say that they can give you the world and they can they know this person They know that person meanwhile They don't know this these people and they're also lying to your face, but it's just this persona Like if they play like Cardi B is my best friend, right? Like oh you are like your best friends Can you texture right now then like if that's your whole ordeal? I mean 99.9% of the people I can't but from the east coast It's it means a lot when you put someone forward and you introduce someone you're like, hey I'd love to connect to you and I think That's a different mentality than what it is here. You meet a lot of people who are like jacks of all trades with masters I'm not out here. They're like I do this. I do that, but they don't it's almost like this thing to say to build themselves Yeah, but it ends up hurting people along the way. There's a big like fake it till you make it Yeah, sometimes they're just faking it a little too hard. Yes, you know Yeah, it's like they don't know Cardi B, but they know a cousin who knows a brother who knows yeah That Stick with you too like they really like you know make you think and Influence how you interact with the next person down the line who actually might know Cardi B Yeah, but because you've had these interactions before it really puts a bad taste in your mouth But it becomes so interesting because a lot of times you want to put that wall up But yeah at the end of the day You still have to trust your intuition and you can't put it up fully because there's still gonna be that one person Who is who they say they are? I think that's so true The benefit of the doubt is just trusting our Intuition but in general with business and meeting people I think business isn't about like Being a Harvard graduate like that's just cool. You did that But you don't know what it's like to fail then in real life And you don't know how to get yourself back up and like that's the real challenge in life No, it's just kind of like it's a false reality like schools and experience It's great for me it taught me how to meet people and put myself out there And it really made me more of a social person than I I just think it's linear like the thing with school is it's linear It's like here's a test. Here's the material study it take the exam do well If you do that enough times they're going to a top school if you do that enough times You'll work at a top firm, right, but it's not like they're not teaching you to go left They're not teaching you to go into entrepreneurship Even your passion when something fails like bring me another option or how can I like Regroup and reset and like redo this again the right way And I think that's the education that like out of school people really need to start learning if they want to start a new business Do you guys have any siblings? Yes, too Do they do you have them do you have like have you given them the bug or that do they work for you guys Have they know all my sister actually I think she got the bug a little bit from what we do She just she's in the wholesale sales my brother's actually at Michigan right now studying. He doesn't My younger sister she's super like save the planet didn't even like believe when we were doing boys lie She's like this is so stupid. She's like I can't believe you're doing this and now she's like can you send me a beanie? Like can I get a hoodie and I'm like for sure chase, but no my older sister also She's super into photography and food and that's her life and for me. I'm like at the end of the day Someone give me a cardboard box. I'm starving And I think we're just so different my siblings That's the best thing about siblings. It could be like super humbling like it reminds you that there's someone nothing like you But it also gives you but related to you or at least for me and my siblings It made us really competitive and I think that that's also helped me and I mean Lee I know you're very competitive. I think I'm the competitive with my sister. She is not very competitive She actually supports all everything I do I love you But also my little brother Luke to whole text me during the day and he's like hey I saw this on this website. That's so cool And he walks around Michigan sends me pictures of girls in the school wearing our stuff and I'm like, oh my god He has ever thought about doing like campus reps with your family. Do you guys do that doing a boys lie tour? We're you stop at like all the different campus like the biggest ones around Yeah, and like have like a wrapped boys lie bus and just do trunk shows out of like Definitely need more And also like I do all the design work still like I would definitely need somebody Yeah, like because going on tour and to colleges But we've definitely talked about it Did you guys feel a lot of pressure once like let's say that post Bella Hadeed Gigi Gigi So once she posted did you all of a sudden go like oh my god, we have to design all this new stuff I think it wasn't pressure. It was more so excitement like that drove me to be like, okay This person is willing to put this on their body. I'm not wrong here Like it just proved everything we were working towards it was on the right track So it drove me to be like, oh my god, we have to do so much more. Oh my god We need more people are oh my god We need to quit our other job like and get going and we were still super small at the time too So like we knew what we were launching with like we have a drop structure where we drop every other month So we knew what was coming out in the next two months. We still had inventory to sell So once she stepped out and that she that set fully sold out And it's still one of our we call it evergreen products that we keep around because it's still one of the most popular crew necks Do you see that post coming back around is it cyclical like? We're like tagged in at least once every two months. Wow that photo And now we're like learning things that we didn't really understand before like paparazzi takes pictures of these people Yeah, they call them. Oh, okay. No without them knowing right? They take this picture We get tagged from like fan accounts being like, oh my god Stella Maxwell's walked out in a boy's lie set They tag us and I'm like, oh my god. This is sick. Let me post this on my story, right? We've gotten in trouble now like legally because this paparazzi person will come after you for not fully Picture so we're like, okay, so you're taking these pictures without their knowledge And they're not saying to take the photo but now you own that image of them and you're trying to charge us But we have like fan accounts posting that image like to track that all the way down for the resources So now we can't repost pretty much anything unless we buy the image or yeah, what do they want to charge you for the image? Photographer is trying to charge us a hundred fifty thousand dollars. I mean they they do God That's for one image. For those who want to know the GD had seen a photo of her in the goodbye set That was like two grand for us to get to keep License post on our story with all credits and same with a grid post Yes, we had to do it because it was like the one thing that we saw like that it could help us get to the next When you were first designing the products was it more of Seeing what was in style at the time or was it more of this is what I like This is my sense of style fashion, and I'm going to design clothes based on that Well, so Tori and I both used to steal our ex-boyfriend's hoodies and classic. I have so many missing hoodies I still think about them just for the record. I know exactly And I'm bummed out But so we knew we love to wear oversized men's hoodies And so we're like let's be comfortable and we know that that makes us feel good and confident So we're like we should follow the step I mean when I go to even if I like had to buy something from urban or something like that I only shop in the men's section. Yeah, I'm so weird We wanted to create clothes for girls so they didn't have to do that, you know So they were shop there shopping men's actually really smart And so now we're like, well, there's no place for girls to get it because they buy all the men's It's not something again, it's not meant to show off your figure or anything like that I mean for some people sure like if you feel that confident in it That's amazing But it was more so just to feel good in your own body like it's for comfort Like I feel my best at a party and a matching sweatshirt sweatpants set I feel like I can like move and like dance and like walk around compared to wearing a tight top and and that's just me That's personal, but that's where I feel the same way. They're like I'll wear this to like a formal gathering People will be like, what's wrong with you? And I'm like, no, I'm the one who has it right here Yeah, like the next time you go other people will be wearing the same shirt Totally and actually I basically associate with people only who dress like me now Like as a real estate developer, it's tough because there's a bunch of suits like everyone's finance or suits And so like I call it like the developer jacket He said it would be a blazer and he would only wear it for official meetings and he would call it a developer jacket Yeah, it's just like the developer jacket Yeah, there's no need for that because I've been at like city hall meetings where I'm Basically just giving the laid land on a project and all the city council members will come up to me At some point and say hey man, like you really need to wear a suit to this like you're kind of being rude to us And I was like, oh no, it's not personal, but they take it personally Interesting, but it's not because it's like this is nice clothes. Yeah. Yeah. It's they're setting their ways That's it. Yeah, they haven't they haven't woken up to this new concept. Yeah, so that's why I just wear the jacket jeans t-shirt Jacket for you guys But when we did design the hoodies the first two hoodies one of them was like a denimy color And it had this amazing poem on the back shout out Carson Patrick Bowie We love him. It's still our best-selling product and it's called the denim hoodie That was like something that I felt I personally designed that was geared towards like me and like my trending aspects of things And then we had this neon orange hoodie, which is very leah And it says like what are you going to do without him on the front and then on the back It's a comic character on the phone like Chewing bubble gum popping it and saying whatever I want So it was it's also kind of two phases of heartbreak because you go through this one part Where you're like, you know, I I'm better than this. I'm out of here and then you go through Well, now I'm just gonna do whatever the heck I want. So yeah The the back of um the denim is about love being loving someone Unconditionally, but if they don't like measure up to your sense of self worth moving on from them and still loving them the same way so Still loving yourself like from a distance. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome We're in the process of creating merch for our podcast But it's more of like just the hard-hitting quotes that people have dropped like on the podcast I have no idea if it'll work. But like to me it gives me an excuse to wear sweatshirts until Worst case scenario everyone like will know they're christmas present in the family Yeah, but we're just gonna try it out and see if our I think we have a good idea on you in meetings because you're like, hey, I'm I'm repping. I'm walking out for My brand down. Yeah. Yeah, and we think it's like a powerful thing Like we something I always say is like don't buy your home buy your office. And so it's like that's something I think the new american dream should be our office is my home But it's just like more to get people to think differently about the norm I see lia more than I get to see my own family on the east coast and vice versa So it kind of whatever you do and you're passionate about you create a lifestyle around that and it Wholesomely becomes your everyday life and it succeeds with you and it fails with you And it might succeed even when you're personally failing Which is fantastic because at least it gives you a drive to do something in the morning But I think that for boys lie specifically We made sure it would be a lifestyle type of experience And that's why it is really cool to have it as a home setting and you know when we do pop-ups or anything like that I want it to feel like you're like in a living room working in and it's all boys lie And it's great too because we do all of our photo shoots there We can have events there our team works out of there. So it's just a multifunctional house. That's a boy's lie house. Yeah It's really cool. Like playboy, but like way more appropriate. Yeah. Do you guys have any dream collabs either in the works or Just that you hope to bucket list items. I mean we I definitely do right now We're gonna be collabing with um someone who's pretty big and it's really exciting But it'll be in 20. Yeah It's q1 of 2022, but I think for us like Stepping into this world, especially in la We really didn't realize what it is like to like work with the celebrity type person And that's really changed my perspective on a lot of things. Also. We had a really good first experience Well, I guess now second experience technically with the makeup but this is a really good experience working with somebody like that because This person is really driven and also extremely creative and so having someone who's you're doing a collaboration with Be able to provide like equally as many ideas and like care about what you're making because they also really care and Care about and love the brand And we're like it's cool to see someone that you're as as passionate as you are about the brand that you work with and collaborate with I think for me like it's been shell shocking a bit because For instance, they want to host an event at the house, right? And they want to have some pretty big celebrities there and I'm like thinking to myself like Oh my god, I need security. Oh my god I need to make sure the food is right. Like what type of dietary? I mean everyone in LA has some type of dietary restriction. So I'm like I'm explaining to like my family being like, oh, yeah Like so and so might be coming to the house and my sisters are like that's awesome And I'm like no it's not so awesome. I am sweating like thinking about all the things we have to organize and it's a dream It's for sure a dream, but it's so crazy how your perspective genuinely changes once it's like real Yeah, there's a lot of baggage and hoops to go through Also, you don't really have time to Think about oh my you don't really it doesn't hate you. It doesn't register even until it happens Even then like on that day when it happens Maybe for your second hole hit us, but then it's on to the next thing that we need to take care of so it's like We got 30 under 30 and it was like I read it in the morning and I was like Oh, wow, that's really cool. And I walked upstairs. Leah's hysterical. She's like, I'm like, we have a photo shoot get it They're trying to do my makeup and literally I was just crying My whole face off. I couldn't keep it together, which is weird because normally I'd yeah, why? Why did you play so much value on that? I think it's because it was like such a big accomplishment Like we've been so down on the dirt and like we've been told like you can't do this You won't be able to do this and just to have that there by this like by forbes Like that to me it was like we fucking did it and like we are worth it and everything that we did was And all the shit people talked like literally it was just kind of like that's the best Yeah, that's the best type of revenge is like being just yourself and successful and it was kind of like for me I think I was like holy sh- your gas tanks are so full I mean, I was just like whoa I'm shocked you didn't react the same way I did because you're usually the one that reacts that way I'm usually the one that's a stone cold bitch couldn't even Register in my brain like it took me at least a week and a half until after where I was like Oh, shit. We really did get it and then that's when I was like I'm emotional and it's not like we need to be validated by anything at all But just to be recognized like that was just a huge honor and it just it just kind of It made all of our hard work Worth it, which we already knew it was but it just kind of it showed everything we put in we got out of it I remember calling my dad and my dad You'll never believe so. I'm crying like we made forbes 30 or 30. He's like, well, yeah, that's awesome. What is that? Humbling No, I mean, it's amazing even when Gigi wear our stuff. I was like dad Gigi adidas and our stuff. He's like, okay. I was like, no Gigi adidas You know who that is and he's like no and I was just like and then the people at our headquarters Like who's gai gai had it? Get with it Well, and then you guys took it a step further right you did a collaboration with forbes afterwards, right? Yeah, and they've been an amazing team to work with and what's really cool about forbes that people Really don't know is once you get the 30 under 30 They put you in a community of people Who are in our age range who are going through the same issues and you get to communicate that with them on a daily basis It's an amazing networking opportunity. Yeah, the networking that goes on through that. I mean they host events We've hosted one at our house and it's really cool. How consistent they want to keep the community going And whether that's with your class is what they call it for the year or with another class It's really cool to see that we've had a lot of the brands on here that have couple yeah, recently Jimmy from super coffee brevity the brevity boys the backpack guys Is it like a like a text thread like a group and then it also they'll have like They'll email you and be like, hey we want to set up. I mean during covid like a zoom cocktail hour type thing Where we can talk about things and my god speaking of the first time. Oh my god. This is so awful So hold on wait time out everyone was supposed to get like a bottle of really nice mcallon Okay, they're like shipped to them. Yeah When we never got ours. Yeah, we hold on it gets better So you basically go on a zoom call and everyone kind of they announce you and they're like these are all the people who got it And it's kind of like a celebratory award type of thing But then they bring you up into your group Yeah, when we and I went to go break off into the group of like the people who got art and style They accidentally put us in entertainment and tv So we're sitting there. I'm like, wait, you were on the lion king. Are we in the right group? And also to make it even worse is everyone was drinking this whiskey at torrent. I was sitting there drinking white claws So like we look like the trash. She has blonde girls We're not actors or in the entertainment industry, but thank you for having us But we also then became we met friends with everybody in the entertainment and tv group of forbs We didn't even like it just is so perfect. It was so classic like that only would happen to us honestly We're saying they're like And I was like, do we say something she's like, no, no, no, it's fine. It's it's tv entertainment. I'm like, let's stay in here But it was hilarious. Do you think any collaborations will come from that little mistake? I'm sure like there's definitely gonna be opportunities in the future I think it's cool because the collaborations that we have right now They're actually people who have come to us because they also again love the brand believe in the brand And I think that that's really special because then it makes the collaboration even better And it's really cool to not only have that passion shared between the person, but it's cool that We're selecting from people when Like a year and a half ago. It would have been us reaching out being like we're just Yeah, it's a very different makeup It also like makes you feel like again like somewhat validated that these people are reaching out before you even reach out to them And what's funny is um We reached out to a couple people when we were first beginning and they said no and now they're reaching back out to us Being like, hey, let's go out. It's like, yeah, do you not remember us? Yeah, you turned us down a year and a half ago But or the like answer to their dms or just like go to dms suggest and see like a dm from like 2018 and be like Oh, oh my god. I totally miss this and I'm like, no, you just yeah And you're also now damning us for free clothes There's a great story about that with between Justin Bieber and billy ish where she dm'd him When she was like seven or something like that and of course Justin Bieber is not reading all of his dms So he did so like when she is a big believer It's a secret. Well when she became famous and popular He actually wrote to her and dm'd her like, hey, I'm really liking your music Keep doing what you're doing and when he was doing that he saw that old dm From like, you know five six seven years ago and he was like, wait a second What is this and she she said she was just so completely embarrassed because she had forgotten about it And also it's not who she like she wasn't that like like uh die hard for me. Yeah, totally I should probably delete all my dms to Justin Bieber and kiss every time He resets them, right? I'm just pretending for a conversation Yeah, what do you guys view as the future of the brand? So it's boy's lives today Maybe you guys get married one day. Maybe you have kids like how how do you how far do you take it? Does it change the brand at all? No, so for us on our long-term goal like in the five-year plan What's amazing about la is there's so many creative people. I mean, that's just endless and there's influencers with whatever they influence Sometimes it's nothing. I don't really understand There are so many content creators so many creative so many designers so many everything But the reason why they fail is because they have no real laid out foundation of like accounting legal Operations supply chain. They don't have to ban what to do with themselves or the concepts of like, oh, I actually need this They don't know they need a team. Oh, yeah, I need a tax exam form What's that again like and it's there's so much access right now For brands that I mean, we've seen that we've really admired so ultimately I think our goal would be to house in those brands let the creatives run wild and be like Go on like an lvmh essentially Dior runs all the houses like we boys lie would be the Dior and All the other houses would get to be other brands that are in our wheelhouse. They'd help them with production photoshoot No problem. Like how do you make our team? We got you Photographer know like so I think that that could be really really cool And just having it all under one big roof So it's kind of like a huge warehouse filled with like all these different outlets of rooms that do different things You have your accounting team. You have your legal team You have who can like help with any type of trademarking And just to help be mentors to these people because we went through it too and it's not easy Especially if you don't know if you don't know how to do something and you don't have the right people to ask You know, what would be the biggest obstacle in getting to that place? I think The biggest learning Curve to that is proper supply chain and making sure we have that pillar of the foundation very very strong And just operationally like having something Perfected like religiously with that's like really anchored for these brands to understand. This is how you start and this is how you finish Yeah, just getting everything that we're doing right now Like down to a T perfect and knowing that we can actually end up supporting these people Meanwhile, I say this in our operations person quite yesterday We won't get into that though It's interesting. So we had no big cookie dough, which is like a cookie dough. I love that I had it so they came on the podcast and then jimmy Who's the he founded the company with his wife? He emailed me Earlier this week just being like, hey, I want to create this thing for cpg brands in Nashville And so basically the concept is we buy a massive warehouse. This warehouse has all the kitchens we need It's also got a little like vc arm. And so there's funding in place for cpg companies There's a daycare jimmy's a new father. And so he's like we want the daycare Same thing in like a gym the whole thing and he's basically like and we want all these cpg brands To be part of this like not an incubator, but literally use the space ship from the space That's exactly what he wants for cpg I'm a developer. So he's like, how do we do this in my background was like in tech and different companies And so I was like, oh man, this is like amazing So now we're but it sounds like kind of what you're saying too where it's like you become a house You create a house. Essentially. That's like a real house that has divisions of whatever facets I mean that are unique to us that we feel Strongly about and believe in yeah with marketing with legal All the nine yards of everything. Have you guys heard of y-combinator? You heard of them. It's basically like a tech accelerator program that same concept It's three months you go through this program, but they have reddit airbnb came out of there Right, I mean you name it all the all the major unicorns But basically what make what I love about their program is they have the legal team in house They have the accounting team in house. They have the press that gets you an article and whatever tech Publication you want And they have the investors and so it just made it it makes you as a founder just focus on your business Completely and it's a lot less scary getting into it too when you know, you have this team of people Yeah, you can ask all the dumb, you know, quote-unquote dumb questions And like no one's there to judge you they're like, yeah, no, this is normal It opens up your doors too to be able to like eventually like hopefully the brands that we have Even though they're gonna be a variety of ones that are like ours They can collaborate with each other and that's even cooler Like you see that now with tiffany and supreme or what is it tiffany and I think it was or timberland We had market the founder of market Yeah, chinatown market formally. So mike and that he's like the clap like the king of collab It's unbelievable the collaborations. He's putting together And his like fingers on the pulse of like culture all the time. It's it was crazy. I met him and I'm like this guy is a special human being He reminds me of like a street artist Meets like complete rebel with happens to have a fashion company But one of the things I learned with mike is he was bullied in school And so he so are we yeah, he tells us great story where he was bullied in school and He made sweatshirts and put the bullies face on him and brought them to school and gave them Everybody except the bully And then the bully wanted a sweatshirt because he felt left out And so the bully punched somebody else to get a sweatshirt and then mike got expelled And what I learned about mike is he's really just focused on building community And so while he might have like a fashion brand that Lebron wears and all these a listers He's doesn't care about any of that. He's just creating community. He wants you to know that you're okay. Yeah That's really cool. Yeah, I mean it like it touches Yeah, well, that's a part of I think the lifestyle experience that you get and what was I talking about today with Oh, we would create donations, right and you could have a direct link to Either donate to a foundation or you could buy a hoodie and we would donate for you, right? So many more people bought the hoodie than directly donated And for me, I kind of realized like wow that kind of makes people really really selfish, right? They want some type of gratifying thing that They can receive for doing a good deed And then I started to rethink it and I was like Actually the hoodie represents a good deed that they did and it has a community of people who also represent that type of I don't know foundation or Believe in what you donated to and they're excited to wear it like toms Like they're like, oh you wearing toms. I'm wearing toms too. We both donated to the same same community Yeah, and that's really cool because that puts an experience into the clothing I think that's also why our brand does so well again is because it every single piece like means something to these people actually When we first started our instagram as boys lie, we didn't have our product shot yet We didn't have anything done but we created it basically a collage of not only Quotes and graphics that represented what the brand was and what it was going to be But also memes like funny memes that related to heartbreak at the time And we started building our following just from that and they're like, what's boys? Like gonna be what's boys like nobody really knew that it was going to be clothing It was simply like a meme account But basically that had a creative mood board attached to it So if you go all the way to the bottom You'll see like all these memes and these creative mood boards attached and they'll be like wait What but we also through that built our demographic because the people who started following us Related to the same things that we were going through and so the followers that we are gaining We also knew we're going to love what we were going to come out with So it was a really interesting way we didn't even I think when we were doing it We didn't even think of it like that Yeah after we're like look at what we just did and this is how it worked And this is why we built our following this way But it was this it's it's cool because people gravitate towards what they relate to Do you ever feel like it ties you to that heartbreak though forever? Can you you feel like you've been able to move beyond that? No, because now we're able to like laugh over stuff like that I think that also it's cool because we built this together and I would never recommend going into Business outside of our people always ask like should I go into business with our best? My best one we're like no It's like a very unique relationship. We have a very very special I think what's made boys lie boys lies because of such the unique relationship We have where I feel like I could lean on her any time of the day that I needed Whether that's in work or my personal life, and I'm assuming vice versa But um, I think that for me it's like boys lie has always been like a foundation for me to heal Through whatever and what's great is I get to lean on my best friend to go through that healing Process and go through being like someone just told me we can't get a license to something Let's go do it. Yeah And it drives us to do together and honestly like I'm not gonna sit here and say like it was always easy because Definitely wasn't a thing about us, which is nuts is that like we've since we have known each other for so long We have a sister relationship as well. So like I know I know the second I see her starting to get mad I think she knows the same with me. I can read her. I can tell by the way that she walks Like simply walks in a room. I can hear it and be like, oh, I know what mood she's yeah So like if you're able to read each other It's literally like sisters and then we could fight and then we're like wait Did you see that that person died just in the picture and then we're like back It's normal again And you know so you have to make sure that you are ever thinking about doing that The end globe will always be the same. We've never like brought and also fights into work Like you go in and you're like, this is our goal today. We're gonna go through it We're gonna make it through today and then at the end of the day deal with our personal problem Is it's still even there type of thing? It's and communicating when something I think we had to learn How important communication was and like telling Each other like hey, these are the things that really openly bother me and you have to address it when it happens Otherwise it has this like yeah, and it has this build out of this It's not worth it. And then I think you get we would get in our heads. I'm sure you did. Yeah They're thinking this but like probably we both neither of us was and you like really come down on yourself too Because you're just like why would I do that or like why are we fighting right now? So like those are really big learning experiences for us in the beginning And I think getting when we were failing. Yeah So getting over that hurdle while you're both working your ass off and failing was like Again a very pivotal point to our business to learn a lot about yourself too And I think the one thing you learn is like the little voice inside your head and how crazy that can go And so even in assumption like oh, she's walking like this and now your brain starts going Oh, what is the reason and then you start building an idea that doesn't exist 100 people don't realize Other people will be so much more willing to work with you if you're vulnerable Like totally open floor one of the first manufacturer we went to that was like a huge massive manufacturer I literally was straight up like I don't know what i'm doing. I was like, please take a sip. I was like, I swear I'll be a good customer. I swear. I'll be driven. I will be I will be here every day if I have to be but like that's awesome help me I literally have no idea like my head from my ass I don't know like I was like literally teach me and I will be there and I will study and I will do it And they were in that way. They were full transparency totally willing to teach me for us the podcast is like therapy I'm sure like like people say, oh you have a podcast I'm like, yeah, but it's basically me inviting founders to a therapy session because we're all kind of go through Going through like the same thing to some extent commiserating and so every time we're done with this I always feel like oh, I'm ready now. Like it just feels like a cleanse. Oh, we're good Definitely, it's also nice to relive it all right. You relive like the highs the lows you talk about it and then In that there's my share. It's like it almost well it still is a nostalgia type of feeling just thinking back to like what we would go through and Where we are now and like how much we've both changed I mean even like imagine this we lived with each other for three and a half years. We had dogs together. We had dogs together We've done everything together. We almost oh my god We almost accidentally signed ourselves up as sex offenders in a registration line. Let me Almost do that. Yeah, that's that's an interesting story No, my car was stolen and we were waiting in the wrong part of the San Diego police station And we were waiting in the sex offender registration line. The police officer could see us from behind the screen No, oh my god, are you imagine that right line? This is the sex offender registration line and then all the sex offenders will be each other start laughing at us And we're like, oh my god. That's such a dark bit of comedy right there Yeah, we experienced a lot of like humility together type of thing like it. We've been humbled together Yeah, there can't be just a placard up above like sex offenders But then he's like follow the yellow lines back up to the main office and report your car missing there and we're like What's worse is we were standing there for like 15 to 20 minutes Like why is everyone looking at us weird? Yeah, is everyone else's car stolen like what's happening? We're just so out of it because of everything we've been going through We didn't even realize like the people and who they were And we've had fights to like in new york We had to do dusk sites for cosmetics where you sit next to all these editors and you show them This is the old very stressful. It's not only stressful. You're up at five in the morning We were getting our makeup done because again when you're promoting our makeup brands and it's like you're being poked and prodded at And you just have to like get through your day continuously do your pitch and pretend like everything's all good At the end of our desk side meetings lia and i being that we were in new york back again We were like let's celebrate and let's get drunk and let's have a good time We both get wasted like yes totally get in a drunk argument Like I don't even remember what I have no idea neither us I just we were both going back and forth and back and forth and we got a call We ended up sleeping in separate places. Well, no you were going to We wake up I keep getting like missed stranger phone calls from my phone I look at my voicemail and it's like the san diego police company saying Our house was broken into our dog sitter had woke up to a man jerking off over her face And what yeah, it went from like screaming a lot to be talked about Annie's shaking her head. No, but no, I'm just kidding From like screaming drunk argument to like 6 a.m. Having to put on makeup and I was like, I literally don't give a fuck about what we argued about Let's figure out this person's situation. This is a much bigger problem Yeah, like so those are just two instances that we went through like on top of our business feeling So the craziest shit was happening to us at the same time of us being down in the dumps Like the most insane thing you couldn't even make up. Imagine your business is failing and your car gets stolen and you're just like What do I do? I'm like, where's my car? I could have sworn I parked it out here last night. Oh my god And we had an S cameras and it was so funny because I was driving into work And I'm like lia's calling me be like, I don't know where my car is maybe I like accidentally parked it somewhere Did it get towed and I'm like looking and I see lia with her like little dog Running down the street with the clicker like that's pressing the panic button on my car And then we finally re wanted it and realized somebody stole it and it was just like We're just a lot We're alive though. We're well. We're fine. Yeah, you guys have experienced so much at such a young age Yeah, yeah, but that's I guess the most important thing is like again, we work together live together I've been in some crazy situations and the end goal has always been the same Yeah, as tough as those situations are you have learned from them You've grown from them and you are now you're more Adept as people to handle whatever comes next Yeah, whatever the next big curl is. Hopefully it's not someone breaking into your house or You know getting into the sex offender line at the police station Oh my god We always say like oh just add this to the chapter of the book when something bad happened Tons of good movie you guys should have a movie like a sitcom A sitcom would be amazing boys lie as a title for a sitcom would work. This is the air of east end This is the feeling native. Yeah, the story right That's a good idea. Maybe one day when we have the time. Have you guys raised capital for your business? No, it's all privately owned. Okay Oh, that's good yourselves are the owners and was it still the makeup company or after you pivoted to clothing It was still the makeup company. Basically when we went to create our business I Pulled money out of my trust but not like just being like hey I need x amount like it was literally like we had to create This business plan and go in front of this entire board and be like hey Downline line line line. These are what our expenses are going to be like so That also laid the foundation and blueprint to our business and at the time we were so naive We were like, oh, this is going to work exactly to the This will be perfect. Everything's blueprint. Yeah, it'll be fine. Thank god Nothing worked the way that it was supposed to but that's really how we started and now it's just I mean we're three years and it's profitable. Yeah, almost three years as a november. It'll be three years. That's so fun Oh, it is November. Oh my god. Oh, happy anniversary. Congratulations. Oh, I think it's on the eighth or the 18th Oh my god, we forgot our anniversary last year too. Why do we do that? By the time this episode comes out, it'll be three years three years. Yeah, the eight or the 18th I can't remember. I think it's the 18th. Well, happy anniversary guys. Thank you I'll add some cider. Well with design work right now, I'm supposed to be which Sorry, I'm here, but like finalizing august of next year that we're supposed to be pre-selling to a wholesalers too By february would be like the latest date to pre-sell so what stores are you guys in right now? We're in Revolve and Urban Outfitters and then just boutiques around the world Yeah, we're in like 80 plus boutiques But um, we're also in touch with a bunch of bigger majors that we're hoping to be in by the start of 2022 Anything else you guys want to tease and drop before we Let people know where they can find you you can find us at boys lie. Yeah, if you want to follow us personally, she's at Reptar And Yeah, yeah, I mean how many people have contacted you asking to buy that? Do you know someone at instagram? Yeah, I You can put us in touch with Um, no, I just have been a huge rugrats fan and Reptar was always at fire breathing crazy You must have been one of the first people on instagram because I can imagine that handle No, she knows You have to know I know nothing. I don't know. You know Regan Yeah, so Regan we have a friend of ours who's a singer and so she got at Regan. I really want at lia So bad. It's not and so I asked her how'd she got it. She's like, oh, I have a friend You need to know somebody. I was like, that's what's up Yeah, it's inside connects. It's my uh, Reptar congratulations on Reptar. Thank you We had I had a bow tie company and we put Reptar on a bow tie. Hell, yeah That's a fun thing. I should be Reptar for Halloween next year. I know you should I'm surprised you haven't already. I know I really should have. That is such a great handle. Yeah You could be Tommy Pickles I'm never gonna get rid of mine because mine's my full name. Yeah, and I got I had my I got instagram Like really early and I got lia omali. And so I'm like if I ever get rid of that I'll never get it again. Someone's gonna take that for sure very popular last name All right, so at Reptar at boys lie or you can and at leo Yeah, or you can shop on boys lie official.com go on revolve anything coming up for the holidays that you want to Yes, we're releasing a home goods line, which is super exciting We're also releasing a very high luxury line, which is going to be a new branch of our brand called a piece of rain Okay, just spelled like peace like And then rain is spelled um r e i g We're also coming out the basics line too. So also keeping an eye out for that. Oh, and a jewelry line. Oh, yeah There's a lot going on. Y'all are busy. Yeah, we'll drop sneak peeks on our instagram before we drop with each new line But I love it. Yeah good stuff. It was really nice. Thank you for having us. This was fantastic Thanks for the therapy session. Yeah I don't need to see my therapist tonight anymore