So far, the Duchess of Sussex has only given us an Instagram account, a tiny little video and the name of her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard. We have not seen any products, nor have we even gotten a confirmation that Meghan plans to launch a Netflix food/cooking show. As I’ve said before, Meghan’s trademark-binge isn’t indicative of ARO being some massive brand which sells everything from dog food to makeup. She’s just trademarking everything so that dumbf–k haters don’t snap up rival ARO trademarks/products. I actually believe that Meghan is probably going to start relatively small – jams, soaps, cookbooks, cookware, stuff like that. Obviously, we still haven’t gotten much information from Meghan, which is driving people crazy. Speaking of, Page Six had a long-winded piece about how Meghan’s ARO is the talk of California society.
Questions about ARO: There still remain vital questions surrounding the brand: Just who is investing in it, who is working on it — and who is manufacturing the goods, which will range from jams and jellies to candles, skincare and pet food? Well-placed sources at other lifestyle brands told Page Six that American Riviera Orchard is all the gossip on industry What’sApp groups around Los Angeles. Tellingly, however, they have not yet heard anything about Markle hiring buyers or a sourcing team. One insider who knows the Sussexes told Page Six that it’s looking like a typical Markle project: plenty of glamour, little substance. “They [Harry and Meghan] consistently make announcements and roll things out really early … to what point?” the insider said. Sources close to Markle point out that no timeframe for an actual product launch has been given yet.
Who is Meghan working with? However, Page Six can confirm that the finance types Markle and Prince Harry have been seen networking with — including Wall Street billionaire Ken Griffin and cosmetics mogul Victoria Jackson and her husband, marketing multi-millionaire guru Bill Guthy, both close pals of the Sussexes —are not investing. Neither is Ari Emanuel, head of WME, the talent mega agency which signed up Markle nearly a year ago. Markle is believed to have worked on the project with Hollywood money man Adam Lilling. The project will tie in with Markle’s new Netflix show, which she is said to be filming now, in a bid to follow in the footsteps of Martha Stewart and Joanna Gaines.
Lili Bunny Garden!! When she was interviewed for The Cut in 2022, Markle gifted the writer a basket of homegrown fruits and vegetables, as well as a jar of jam with a customized label from Etsy. It read Lili Bunny Garden + Larder, after her daughter Princess Lilibet — could that be a clue about her pantry products? Whatever the case, she’s already raising her neighbors’ hackles. Kerry Clasby, an organic farmer who runs the Malibu Fig Ranch and supplies to top chiefs including Tom Collichio and Jean George Vongirechten, said that Markle also needs to be diligent about using the name America Riviera — a nickname for the posh Santa Barbara region, which includes Montecito. “If you’re calling it American Riviera, you really ought to be [sourcing ingredients] grown in Santa Barbara,” Clasby told Page Six. “Otherwise, you’re going into the wholesale dump in downtown LA, where all the produce comes up from Mexico or Chile. The kitchen should be there also [in the Santa Barbara area], unless they are just putting their name on it and getting it made wherever, or getting it pre-made. And then it’s hype.”
Local farmers haven’t been contacted?? Although Markle has been spotted at the Montecito farmers market, Sam Edelman, general manager at The Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market Association, told us that, to his knowledge, the duchess is not working with any of the farmers in the group. If Markle wants to sell anything at her local farmers market, though, she’ll need to get her hands dirty. “California is strict about us putting on our sign that we grow what we sell,” said Maureen Claffey, who owns Red Hen Cannery in Carpinteria, California, with her husband. “In order to sell strawberry jam at the farmer’s market, you have to have grown the strawberries.” Claffrey is a fan of Markle’s after meeting her: “My daughter had set up a little cotton-candy stand and [Markle and Prince Harry] bought cotton candy from her. Having met them and seen how they reacted to my daughter and how positive they were on a windy day, that speaks volumes. How people treat children with no one around says a lot.”
Meghan admires Gwyneth’s Goop: “Everyone is speculating about American Riviera Orchard,” said the lifestyle figure. “But someone like Gwyneth started out by sending out a newsletter once a week and it was very personal, kind of like Substack now. But it was a very novel idea at the time, but she didn’t monetize the business for about seven years. The goal was creating a community and something of value, rather than it being a business. She didn’t take any outside funding until 2015. With Goop, everything that happened all came from a very gradual, authentic place … Gwyneth did not set out to create what it is today.”
Re: Goop… I’ve been here since the start of Goop and it’s true that Gwyneth moved very slowly when it came to monetizing it. It really was just a weird rich-lady newsletter about dieting and juice cleansing back in the day. Now it’s a makeup line, a skincare line, fashion collabs, brick-and-mortar stores and more. It took Gwyneth a good seven-to-eight years before she really figured out how to monetize Goop. But… Meghan’s The Tig was the start of ARO as well. She ran a successful lifestyle blog too, so in a sense, ARO is just picking up where she left off. Besides, as I said in the intro, I actually believe that Meghan is going to start out with a relatively small product line and she’ll likely grow ARO from there. Also: now I’m curious about how she’s sourcing for a potential jam line as well.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.