Anthony Luciano on Failure, Family Traditions and His Fashion Empire

Most people think reinvention has to be a leap into the unknown. Anthony Luciano found his by doing the opposite. He just followed the current. In this episode of Love, Take Two, Anthony takes us through the version of success nobody puts on a mood board: getting fired three times from fashion jobs in his twenties, stitching costumes in the belly of a cruise ship for five years, and finally walking away from a design director job with no plan except to start making bags in his apartment the next morning. What followed was two decades of hand building a luxury handbag business from scratch. He landed in Bergdorf's and Neiman Marcus, all before the industry itself pulled the floor out from under him. He talks about watching retail collapse around him well before the pandemic finished the job, and the moment he realized he would rather close his own business than go work for someone else again. Anthony gets into what it actually took to rebuild, without treating it like a rebuild at all. No dramatic pivot, no five year plan. Just workshops in his studio one night a week that a Today Show segment turned into Sip and Stitch, the leather and wine experience that's now filled with strangers, celebrities, and his own extended family of regulars. He opens up about growing up the son of a carpenter and a homemaker in a small upstate New York town, watching his mother and grandmother sew and embroider by hand, and the tradition his late father kept alive for him: collecting pennies from the whole town so Anthony could put one into every bag he ever made, for luck. For Anthony, turning 60 didn't feel like an ending. It felt like proof that you don't have to fight your way upstream to end up exactly where you're supposed to be. This is a conversation about freedom, patience, and what happens when you stop treating a second act like it has to be a reinvention at all. Key Takeaways How getting fired three times in the fashion industry became the redirection that mattered most What five years of costuming cruise ships taught him about freedom over security The Today Show segment that turned a one night a week workshop into a full business overnight The penny his father collected from an entire town, and why every bag still carries one Why he believes the best second act isn't a leap. It's following the current you're already in If this episode resonated, send it to someone who needs a reminder that reinvention doesn't have to look like a comeback. Sometimes it just looks like paying attention to where you're already headed. Come hang out with us on social.