LaTres Lingerie, located in downtown Los Angeles, is the brainchild of Marcilla Hayslett. Upon entering LaTres Lingerie, you find yourself in a different world. A world where what’s underneath is what it’sn all about. Laces and frills, lounge wear, bottoms, bras, leg wear and swim wear. Collectively, it’s simply called lingerie. So, it’s more like Victoria’s Secret, right?
“No, not like Victoria’s Secret. Our products are much more posh and glamorous.”
LaTres focuses on high-end lingerie and never “trashy”
Due to her extensive connections in the industry, Hayslett works personally with the most prestigious lingerie designers, brands such as Mimi Holliday, Cosabella, Niki Blak, TyLynn Nguyen, Love Claudette, Addiction and Instagram. Cosabella, for instance, is a family owned and operated brand that’s been around for thirty years. Yet, LaTres also offers lingerie that is moderately priced, along with upscale lingerie. For example, LaTres has “5 for $20 undies”, every day.
The company started with six styles of lingerie and now offers more than 1,500 styles throughout the world
According to Hayslett, the market for classy or upscale lingerie in the U.S. is booming, and is expected to continue to grow.
“In today’s world, although women are educated and working professionals, they still like to feel sexy. And professional women can afford to indulge themselves with luxury lingerie.”
LaTres Lingerie opened five years ago. After the first four months, Hayslett knew her boutique would be a success. “After three or four months, I began getting repeat customers and new customers who had heard about La Tres from friends.”
Even though she does engage in local and online advertising, Hayslett believes that word of mouth advertising is unsurpassed. Nothing beats a personal recommendation from a friend or co-worker.
In fact, LaTres is doing so well that Hayslett plans move the present boutique to a new location, while at the same time opening another boutique in the Valley.
Hayslett attributes LaTres’ success not only to the boutique’s upscale lingerie but to her philosophy of empowering all women and providing positive lingerie options for plus-sized women.
There’s something for every woman at LaTres.
LaTres Lingerie has an online presence, along with its brick-and-mortar store. Hayslett sees the online store has “fairly successful, paying for itself.” But she records the dominant portion of LaTres’ business depending upon good old-fashion foot traffic, customers who walked through the doors into the shop.
When asked if she had any advice for people starting their own business, she said,
“Have a good business plan in place. Then make sure you have funding for at least six months, preferably a year. And establish an efficient bookkeeping and accounting program ahead of time.”
While I was speaking with Hayslett, it was obvious that she enjoys owning her business, so much so that’s it’s not work; rather it’s what she wants to do. And I suspect that the success of LaTres Lingerie is the result of her charm, wit, personality and pure delight in helping her customers.
Any woman looking for quality lingerie should visit LaTres Lingerie, located at Main & 7th Street, or visit them online: http://latres-royal-intimates.myshopify.com/.
