Tell us about the journey that led you to launch your brand Lunar Method…
Lunar Method was born from an idea that came in the early days of the pandemic. After pivoting from the political world, to tech, to consulting in a span of a few years, I reached my late 20s extremely burnt out. My then boyfriend, now husband, and I decided to move to Mexico City in February 2020 to experience a fun adventure living aboard and in March 2020 the pandemic hit. We had just moved our lives and our entire San Francisco apartment to Mexico, so we decided to stay put. Without many options to explore or meet new people, the pandemic gave me time to step back and rest. Within weeks of being home I felt a rejuvenated sense of self and purpose and willing to finally create something good in the world. One day I went about cleaning the apartment when I stumbled upon a box of tangled jewelry. I spent hours untangling necklaces and pulling out earrings that I loved and had forgotten about. That’s when I realized this is likely a common problem for many women, and I asked myself “how could this be solved in a practical way…and be made beautiful and ethical? Does a product like this exist?” That’s when I got busy researching the possibilities of solutions to this problem. I created an LLC and started making the first draft designs of the bag shortly thereafter.
Where did the name Lunar Method come from?
The moon is a powerful force in our lives as women, as humans. It has a way of subtly guiding us, creating a cycle or rhythm we can count on. I wanted to incorporate the moon in our brand name because the moon represents the core principles of who we are: we are feminine, we want to be a guiding light for women who are ready to shop ethically, and we want to create a new cycle of sustainable living that’s luxurious and attainable. The word ‘method’ represents the step-by-step formula to live this life. When you support Lunar Method, you’re choosing a life that goes beyond a beautiful product. We are creating a culture around ethical luxury that can translate into other aspects of life.
We love that you use cactus leather to make your jewelry organizers, why did you choose cactus as your material of choice?
Thank you! We absolutely love using cactus leather as well. In the very early days of Lunar Method, I thought our only options were recycled leather or PU (polyurethane). We didn’t know better and had our first prototypes created in China, we were told that PU was the only available option if we wanted to create a vegan product. I refused to accept that, even though it was far cheaper to use PU than recycled leather, I was determined to create a company that didn’t use either. Our core values are based on ethical, sustainable, and luxury products and PU and recycled leather just don’t match that standard. I dove into reading blogs, Reddit threads, forums, and researched until I finally ran across three different “alternative leathers” manufacturers. Two from Italy, one made from apples, and one made from grapes, and one in Mexico made from cactus.
I ordered samples of all three, the cactus leather felt the most luxurious to me. Since we were based in Mexico City and cactus leather was being created in Mexico, it also made the most sense for us to use cactus leather for shipping purposes as well. The proximity allowed us to ramp up more quickly then if we had to wait to order rolls of vegan leather from Europe.
What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve faced and how did you overcome it?
Our biggest challenge to date has been to find a manufacturer that was willing and able to work with vegan cactus leather. Since I had ZERO experiencing with sourcing and using a manufacturer, I fell into the trap of trusting the wrong people, luckily no money was lost, but we ended up losing three months of time, which set our launch date further than we originally wanted. A colleague and friend of mine, who is from Mexico City, helped me source a vegan leather manufacturer in the city. That small factory of artisans has been our manufacturer for the past year, but as we think about scaling, we are now in the next phase of growth. We have started looking for a manufacturer that can take on bigger orders. The manufacturing has definitely been our biggest challenge and will continue to be because it’s also important to us that our manufacturer have ethical labor practices and use sustainably sourced material.
If you were to describe your business mantra in three words, what would they be?
Lunar Method – Elevated Vegan Luxury
What advice would you offer someone interested in designing jewelry bags?
Always look to solve a problem for your client. Ask yourself, “what would make their lives easier/better?”
Talk us through an average business day in your life…
The beauty and chaos of entrepreneurship is that days are rarely exactly the same. Some days consist of running around the city finding new trimmings for the bag to give to the manufacturer, while other days are spent mostly in front of the computer. The “average” days are usually a combination of both.
Business can be an upward struggle at times, what do you do to stay positive?
The best advice I can give to stay positive when you run your own business is to surround yourself with other entrepreneurs, who have gone or are going through similar situations. This makes it so much easier to get through the tough times when you have a community of people who are going through the same struggles and striving towards the same goals.
Do you have a go to quote when lacking motivation?
To be honest, not really. However when I lack motivation, I remind myself why I started, to never work for someone else again, so failure is never an option.
Does social media play a role in the success of your brand?
Absolutely! Social media is an incredible way to connect directly with our customers. We are able to talk to them, ask them questions, and engage as a brand at a very personal level, because they know it’s a human at the other end of the message or comment. It’s an amazing tool brands have, I feel very lucky to have social media as a resource.
How do you want people to feel when they first see your designs?
I want them to immediately think, “oh I didn’t know I needed that”. I want Lunar Method to be the luxury product you didn’t know you needed but extremely glad to have. I want Lunar Method to always first and foremost solve a problem for our customers, while also being an ethical and sustainable brand that fits seamlessly in our customers lives, even for customers that don’t consider themselves vegan or knowledgeable about other sustainable products.
Our readers love to travel, what destination is at the top of your bucket list, and which of your jewelry organizers would you take with you?
Great question! Japan and Portugal are highest on my list. We have a trip planned to Portugal for our honeymoon in May next year. Since these are two very different places, it requires very different jewelry. I would take the green Lunar bag to Japan and the red one to Portugal, for maximum jewelry organization.
What’s next for you and your brand?
We are so excited to launch our Solstice everyday bag and our universal backpack, that can be used for bigger trips or for running city errands. We want to continue working with artisans across Mexico and hope to form new partnerships in 2022 with other amazing brands.
Where can people find out more about Lunar Method?
You can follow us on Instagram at @lunarmethodshop or on our website at lunarmethod.com
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