San Francisco-based heritage-led fashion brand Cuyana, founded in 2011 by Karla Gallardo and Shilpa Shah, has built a notable reputation in the fashion industry for its distinct ethos: “fewer, better.” The brand is known for creating timeless, high-quality essentials for women, including apparel, bags, and accessories while maintaining a strong commitment to sustainable production and ethical partnerships. By taking a measured approach to growth, Cuyana has become a trusted name, particularly among professional women seeking refined, versatile pieces.
At a time when many direct-to-consumer brands pursued rapid expansion at all costs, Cuyana took a different approach. The company prioritized profitability and intentional growth, ensuring it could weather industry shifts and economic challenges. CEO and co-founder Karla Gallardo reflected on the brand’s resilience, explaining, “Even though we’ve been a part of this cohort of digitally native brands, we’ve done things slightly differently; we believed in retail from day one when no one believed in it, we believed in profitability when other brands were growing at all costs, and because of these philosophies we’ve been able to sustain in a crisis and build a brand that’s based on fundamentals that don’t change when things get hard.” The brand has grown a lot over the past 14 years, but very much in a steady and focused way. That stability strengthened the brand, maintaining its commitment to craftsmanship and quality.
Gallardo emphasized that despite the industry’s fast-changing landscape, Cuyana has remained a favorite among consumers. “If you see somebody wearing Cuyana and you ask them, ‘Is that a Cuyana?’ there’s a love for the brand that’s just very, very strong.” That brand loyalty has also played a key role in Cuyana’s continued success.
Expanding Retail Horizons
Retail has always been part of Cuyana’s vision. Even before the company officially launched, Gallardo and Shah recognized the importance of having physical spaces where customers could experience the quality of their products firsthand. While the brand started as a digitally native business, it was always designed to have a retail footprint. The company’s first store was within its office in San Francisco’s Union Square. Although that site is now closed, the brand has six locations across the U.S., including San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York. Retail now makes up 15% of the total business revenue, and most stores have reached profitability within their first year of operation.
Cuyana’s most recent store in Malibu is its second store in the Los Angeles market and an example of expanding to meet its existing customers where they live. The store is smaller than most and designed as an intimate, curated space. “The experience is beautiful; it really doubles down on our leather goods offering,” Gallardo said.
However, the Malibu store faced unforeseen challenges right from the start. “Our opening day was the day of the fires,” Gallardo shared. With the surrounding community still recovering and major highways closed, foot traffic was impacted. Despite the slow start, the brand remains confident in Malibu’s long-term potential, given the area’s strong customer base.
One of the unique experiences customers have when going into a Cuyana store is the opportunity to try on the bags and see how all the accessories and potential items will look and feel inside them. Each store offers wooden objects that resemble items like laptops or water bottles that also weigh the same as the actual object, allowing customers to truly feel and experience the bag as if they already had it at home.
Product Evolution
While Cuyana once had a more extensive apparel line, recent years have seen the brand double down on its core strength—leather goods. “Our apparel offering actually has reduced as we’ve really homed in on leather,” Gallardo explained. This focused approach is reflected in how the brand builds its product assortment. Rather than launching entirely new categories, Cuyana refines and expands its best-selling styles. “Our business model is one where our assortment is fewer, better—very curated,” Gallardo said. One prime example is the brand’s tote bag, which has been perfected through multiple iterations, from different sizes to added zippers and bag organizers.
The Celestia bag has also quickly become a standout product, attracting the most new customers for a single launch. Initially launched in small batches to test demand, the bag has consistently sold out. The brand has since introduced an oversized and mini version and additional colorways, reinforcing its strategy of building depth within existing categories rather than chasing fleeting trends.
Plans For The Future
As Cuyana looks to the future, its retail strategy is set to expand further. Gallardo and her team took a thoughtful pause on store growth during Covid-19 to wait out the pandemic and reassess how customer shopping habits had evolved. “Before Covid, we had a big community aspect in our stores. We used to throw events often and have lines out the door of customers,” Adding that after Covid, “is that what’s going to be value-added to the customer, or is it that a shopping experience helps her find the right product? What’s the main reason she’s coming in?” These insights have helped shape the next phase of Cuyana’s retail expansion and given the brand the confidence to move forward with retail.
“We’re ready to start expanding again,” Gallardo confirmed, highlighting the continued importance of physical retail. With rising digital marketing costs, many brands find that stores serve as an effective, more cost-effective customer acquisition channel, reinforcing Cuyana’s belief in brick-and-mortar spaces.
Cuyana’s deliberate approach to growth mirrors the strategies of other notable brands. Fellow San Francisco-based company Rothy’s took a similarly measured approach to retail, initially focusing on digital sales before expanding its store presence in recent years. Since the pandemic, the company has grown, with 26 stores, most of which opened in the last four years. Meanwhile, Baggu, a viral brand known for its playful yet functional bags, has steadily built its brick-and-mortar footprint, opening a store in Chicago late last year and now operating five stores across the U.S. These brands, like Cuyana, have prioritized sustainable growth, ensuring that retail expansion aligns with strong consumer demand and brand identity.
On the product side, Cuyana has sold 1.3 million units of leather goods to date, with a consistent 90% sell-through rate. The brand’s strategic, steady growth in product is clearly working. Although new launches are minimal, the brand plans to announce some exciting products in its upcoming fall collection. “It’s really just the next iteration of our contemporary offering for this working woman,” Gallardo said. The collection will feature functional, elevated bags designed to transition seamlessly between work and personal life. Customers have already demonstrated a willingness to invest in more complex, higher-priced designs, reinforcing trust in the brand’s craftsmanship.
With its deliberate approach to growth, Cuyana stands out in an industry often dominated by trends and rapid expansion. As the brand gears up for its next chapter, Gallardo’s vision remains clear—stay focused, stay intentional, and continue delivering timeless pieces that customers love.
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