When the world shut down, Marina and Ricardo Larroudé hit go. Out of their Manhattan apartment, the former Teen Vogue fashion director and her financier husband built Larroudé—a shoe brand that went from zero to millions in sales in just a few years.

In this episode, Sammi dives into how they turned job loss into rocket fuel, built their own factory in Brazil, and reinvented the luxury e-commerce playbook with a direct-to-demand model that’s shaking up the mid-tier market. The Larroudés also talk about the wild world of RTV (return to vendor), the innovative way they’re using pre-orders to keep prices low, and why they’re bullish on Brazil.

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00:00 Marina and Ricardo Larroudé’s Social Currency

02:05 Losing Their Jobs and Starting a Shoe Brand

04:47 Making Product Development Personal

08:48 Quality and Customer Satisfaction in D2C

13:05 Bootstrapping Then Friends and Family Rounds

27:28 Wholesale Pre-Payment Financing Strategies

29:21 The Wild World of Return to Vendor (RTV)

36:11 Being Bullish on Brazil

39:49 The Innovative “Direct-to-Demand” Model

43:34 Defining the Mid-Tier Shoe Market

51:11 Managing High Return Rates in the Shoe Industry

53:04 How to Show Social Currency Some Love

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