They’re Ba-ack! Vena Cava’s Designers Dish On EVERYTHING

Photo: Courtesy of Vena Cava

If you haven’t heard much on the Vena Cava front lately, it’s because Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock have been toiling under the radar for the past couple seasons — and their efforts culminated in some Big News announcements earlier this month. The indie sweethearts are relocating to L.A. and partnering up with big hitters LF USA in the next phase of their brand’s design life.

What does that mean? It definitely doesn’t mean selling out or watering down the Vena Cava vibe we’ve grown such affections for. We sat down with the VC ladies to talk about the team-up and what’s in store for them (and you!) in upcoming months and years.

Tell us how the partnership came together.
Sophie: “It all happened very naturally but very quickly. We reached a point where we realized that in order to take the brand where we wanted it to go, we needed a strategic partner to help with the back-end. We were sick of getting caught up in logistics and wanted to spend more time on the product and on being creative. LF reached out to us. It was a strange psychic thing and everything fell into place.”

Why do you think they’re the best partners for you to work with right now?
Lisa: “We’ve been working with LF now for a few months, and it’s far beyond what we had thought it might be. They’re experts at sourcing, tech design, fabrication, manufacturing, and many other things that can be extremely difficult for a small brand to get a handle on. But at the same time, they understand that we’re the experts when it comes to our brand and our customer, and are totally open to letting us continue to do awesome and weird branding projects like our online garage sale, non-fashion-persons’ Fashion’s Night Out, zines and anything else that helps our brand maintain its ‘personal-ness.’”