VoyageLA Local Stories "Meet Lyndsi McGee of Mean Jean in Echo Park"

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lyndsi McGee.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Mean Jean was born in Los Angeles. I lived in East LA for about a decade, the last three years of which I spent building Mean Jean, a vintage-inspired leather goods company. In 2018, my partner and I opened our first brick and mortar location on Alvarado, just south of Sunset in Echo Park. We’ve since recently relocated to the High Desert, or as some or our LA friends who also made the move out here like to call it, “Silverlake East.”

Has it been a smooth road?
Since our move, we no longer have a storefront and rely primarily on the “pop-up market” setting to connect with new clientele. Pop ups also give those who find us on social media, a chance to try before they buy. Stagecoach, our largest annual event, was just recently canceled indefinitely for this year as well as many of our other markets. It has forced us to discover new ways to connect which has been an unexpected challenge that we are working to overcome.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Mean Jean is a vintage inspired leather goods company. We manufacture our products from start-to-finish at our workshop in Pioneertown, CA. We specialize in handbags, wallets and other accessories and are most notable for our Sadie bag, a handbag that can be worn over the shoulder or on the hip by way of a detachable strap. We pride ourselves in our craftsmanship, hand making each product from the highest quality vegetable tanned leathers available and we set ourselves apart from others with our original designs and custom stamping patterns.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is a great place for leather businesses, especially anyone just starting out. In fact, I don’t know that we would be where we are today had we not started there. There are so many family-owned businesses in the area who helped us get our footing and we continue to do business with them today. However, no matter how much we benefited from our humble beginnings there, we reached a point where space became an issue and our business just could not afford anymore of it in Los Angeles.

Pricing:

  • Sadie Handbag $128
  • Ramona Handbag $198
  • Bifold Wallet $148
  • “Diamond Eye” Belt $198
  • “All Seeing Eye” Belt Fob $42
  • Catchall $48

Contact Info:

 

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