Fashion is a $400 billion industry in the U.S. It includes household names with global reach and big-box scale. But in this massive market, there's room for the neighborhood shop — if you find the right niche. 

That’s right. If you want to get into the clothing industry, you don’t have to be afraid of fast fashion. Plenty of consumers are still out there looking for something curated, something custom — something that makes them feel unique. 

LaGina Bruno knows that first hand, she's the Owner of LAD Prints and More. 

LaGina is a graphic designer and vinyl printmaker based in North Lafayette. Her shop specializes in custom t-shirt design, vinyl printing, and personalized accessories — from mugs to umbrellas. 

LAD Prints began as a side hustle in 2017 while LaGina was still working full-time in insurance. In 2023, she took the leap into entrepreneurship, and in 2024, she opened a storefront just down the road from her home. 

Linda Solley Hurd is the Founder of Adeline Clothing. Linda started her online fashion brand in 2015 after realizing big changes were coming to the retail landscape. She turned her home-based business into a full-scale operation, eventually moving into a 14,000-square-foot warehouse in Lafayette.

Adeline Clothing is entirely online, selling curated and proprietary fashion lines to customers across the U.S. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

Fashion is a $400 billion industry in the U.S. It includes household names with global reach and big-box scale. But in this massive market, there's room for the neighborhood shop &mdash; if you find the right niche.&nbsp;
That&rsquo;s right. If you want to get into the clothing industry, you don&rsquo;t have to be afraid of fast fashion. Plenty of consumers are still out there looking for something curated, something custom &mdash; something that makes them feel unique.&nbsp;
LaGina Bruno knows that first hand, she's the Owner of<a href="https://www.facebook.com/LADPrints/"> LAD Prints and More</a>.&nbsp;
LaGina is a graphic designer and vinyl printmaker based in North Lafayette. Her shop specializes in custom t-shirt design, vinyl printing, and personalized accessories &mdash; from mugs to umbrellas.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/ladprints/">LAD Prints</a> began as a side hustle in 2017 while LaGina was still working full-time in insurance. In 2023, she took the leap into entrepreneurship, and in 2024, she opened a storefront just down the road from her home.&nbsp;
Linda Solley Hurd is the Founder of <a href="https://adelineclothing.com/">Adeline Clothing</a>. Linda started her online fashion brand in 2015 after realizing big changes were coming to the retail landscape. She turned her home-based business into a full-scale operation, eventually moving into a 14,000-square-foot warehouse in Lafayette.
Adeline Clothing is entirely online, selling curated and proprietary fashion lines to customers across the U.S.&nbsp;
Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at&nbsp;<a href="https://lafayette.servingsushi.com/">Tsunami Sushi</a> in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by <a href="https://www.astormorgan.com">Astor Morgan</a> at <a href="https://itsacadiana.com/2025/05/25/fear-no-fast-fashion/">itsacadiana.com</a>.

OUT TO LUNCH Business over lunch. Each week Christiaan invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join him for sushi at Tsunami in downtown Lafayette. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.

OUT TO LUNCH Business over lunch. Each week Christiaan invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join him for sushi at Tsunami in downtown Lafayette. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.

OUT TO LUNCH finds The Current Publisher and Editor Christiaan Mader conducting business Acadiana style: over lunch. Each week Aileen invites guests from Acadiana's  business community to join her. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.

It's Acadiana: Out to Lunch

OUT TO LUNCH Business over lunch. Each week Christiaan Mader invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join him for sushi at Tsunami in downtown Lafayette. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.

OUT TO LUNCH Business over lunch. Each week Christiaan Mader invites guests from Acadiana's business community to join him for sushi at Tsunami in downtown Lafayette. Beyond the foundations of the Acadiana economy - oil, cuisine, music - there is a vast network of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and even some of the country's largest companies who call Acadiana home. Out to Lunch is the cafeteria of the wider Acadiana business community. You can also hear the show on KRVS 88.7FM.

Fear No Fast Fashion

Here's a question every small business owner loses sleep over: how do people find out you exist? Word of mouth still works. Always will. But today you need more than that. The challenge is that most small business owners are already doing three jobs at once. Marketing is the thing that slides. The thing you mean to get to. 

You need a presence — online, in print, somewhere people are actually looking. Figuring out where to start is daunting. What’s worth the investment? How do I know it’ll work? What’s the best media to buy for my business? Two decades into the social media era, getting noticed on platforms can still be a mystery. 

Ashlynn Gary has built a business around solving exactly that problem.

Ashlynn grew up in Lake Charles and came to Lafayette for college, graduating from UL in 2020 with a degree in arts and humanities. She's always been creative — painting, choir, theatre — and she still acts with the local theatre community today.

In 2020 she started a t-shirt company called Leading Color, mostly to scratch an entrepreneurial itch. What she discovered was that she loved the marketing and branding side of it more than the shirts themselves. So she pivoted.

In 2021 Ashlynn founded Ash Creative Collective, a social media management company that handles content planning, content creation, scheduling, and customer engagement — so her clients don't have to.  She also serves as media manager for Leadership Lafayette. 

Don’t listen to haters. Print isn’t dead. With apologies to Mark Twain, rumors of its demise have been, well, somewhat exaggerated. In Lafayette, hundreds of businesses still rely on good old fashioned print products to sell their brands. 

And they're not limited to flyers and newspapers. As Jennifer Brewer found out on a visit to Baton Rouge. 

Jennifer was born in Lafayette, raised in Baton Rouge, and returned to Acadiana about ten years ago after marrying a local. She’s a real estate broker by day. But a few years ago, she and her friend and business partner, Krysten Ledet, spotted something on a visit to Baton Rouge — a beautifully produced print publication called The Scout Guide, displayed in a local shop. 

Krysten and Jennifer were immediately drawn to it. When they looked into it and found the Lafayette market was still open, they bought in.

The Scout Guide is a 100% woman-founded franchise now operating in over a hundred cities across the country. It launched in 2010 in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has grown to support more than three thousand small businesses nationwide. Each edition is a premium print guide — and a community in its own right.

Jennifer and Krysten launched the Lafayette Scout Guide in 2023. This year, they printed 20,000. 

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

Here's a question every small business owner loses sleep over: how do people find out you exist? Word of mouth still works. Always will. But today you need more than that. The challenge is that most small business owners are already doing three jobs at once. Marketing is the thing that slides. The thing you mean to get to.&nbsp;
You need a presence &mdash; online, in print, somewhere people are actually looking. Figuring out where to start is daunting. What&rsquo;s worth the investment? How do I know it&rsquo;ll work? What&rsquo;s the best media to buy for my business? Two decades into the social media era, getting noticed on platforms can still be a mystery.&nbsp;
Ashlynn Gary has built a business around solving exactly that problem.
Ashlynn grew up in Lake Charles and came to Lafayette for college, graduating from UL in 2020 with a degree in arts and humanities. She's always been creative &mdash; painting, choir, theatre &mdash; and she still acts with the local theatre community today.
In 2020 she started a t-shirt company called Leading Color, mostly to scratch an entrepreneurial itch. What she discovered was that she loved the marketing and branding side of it more than the shirts themselves. So she pivoted.
In 2021 Ashlynn founded <a href="https://www.ashlynnthecreative.com/">Ash Creative Collective</a>, a social media management company that handles content planning, content creation, scheduling, and customer engagement &mdash; so her clients don't have to.&nbsp; She also serves as media manager for <a href="https://leadershiplafayette.org/">Leadership Lafayette</a>.&nbsp;
Don&rsquo;t listen to haters. Print isn&rsquo;t dead. With apologies to Mark Twain, rumors of its demise have been, well, somewhat exaggerated. In Lafayette, hundreds of businesses still rely on good old fashioned print products to sell their brands.&nbsp;
And they're not limited to flyers and newspapers. As Jennifer Brewer found out on a visit to Baton Rouge.&nbsp;
Jennifer was born in Lafayette, raised in Baton Rouge, and returned to Acadiana about ten years ago after marrying a local. She&rsquo;s a real estate broker by day. But a few years ago, she and her friend and business partner, Krysten Ledet, spotted something on a visit to Baton Rouge &mdash; a beautifully produced print publication called<a href="https://thescoutguide.com/"> The Scout Guide</a>, displayed in a local shop.&nbsp;
Krysten and Jennifer were immediately drawn to it. When they looked into it and found the Lafayette market was still open, they bought in.
The Scout Guide is a 100% woman-founded franchise now operating in over a hundred cities across the country. It launched in 2010 in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has grown to support more than three thousand small businesses nationwide. Each edition is a premium print guide &mdash; and a community in its own right.
Jennifer and Krysten launched the <a href="https://thescoutguide.com/lafayette/">Lafayette Scout Guide</a> in 2023. This year, they printed 20,000.&nbsp;
Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at&nbsp;<a href="https://lafayette.servingsushi.com/">Tsunami Sushi</a> in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by <a href="https://www.astormorgan.com">Astor Morgan</a> at <a href="https://itsacadiana.com/2026/03/14/social-scout/">itsacadiana.com</a>.

Social Scout

Hi, it's Christiaan Mader, host of Out to Lunch Acadiana. I love a dive bar.  And I know I’m not alone. They attract a certain cult-like following among people looking for an unpretentious place to share a reasonably priced drink with an old friend or a new one. The appeal is fundamentally American.  The drinks are cold, the music is loud, the bathrooms might be suspect — but you can be you and everyone's welcome. 

In Acadiana, a great dive bar can be a cultural center of gravity. Especially if it’s got a stage and a spunky PA. 

However adored, dive bars carry a janky reputation. And the people who love them, love them because of that jank. It’s hard to precisely define a great dive bar. But my guest Justin Bennet saw one in the making when he moved to Lafayette and bought Artmosphere, the Downtown Lafayette bar and music venue. 

Justin Bennett grew up in New York and was literally raised in dive bars, sitting on a barstool drinking cherry cokes from the age of five while his musician father played gigs. He went on to earn a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Washington, spent five years with New York City's Department of Management rising from Press Assistant to Public Information Officer, and later served as Press Secretary for the Louisiana Workforce Commission. But it was Lafayette, Louisiana — a city he and his wife Marcela kept passing through on the way to Lake Charles — that eventually called them back.

In February of 2025, Justin purchased Artmosphere, a bar and music venue on Johnston Street that's been a Lafayette landmark for years.

He didn't just buy a bar. He bought a vibe, a history, and a whole lot of deferred maintenance. Now he's fixing the bathrooms, booking the bands, and making his grandmother's meatballs.

Barbecue

There’s maybe no better example of something great out of something humble than American BBQ.

We’re not necessarily known for BBQ here in Acadiana, but Shane Wiggins is doing his part to change that. 

Shane was born and raised in Flynn, Texas. He came up through electronics repair school, then spent years in the oilfield — onshore, offshore, and eventually running a business with his father in Pennsylvania. When that chapter closed, he ended up back in the Lafayette area.

Shane had been making brisket for years. His Texas Twister BBQ sauce became so popular with friends and family that by 2020 he was bottling it commercially. He and his wife Allyson had long talked about a food truck. He told her: if that spot on East Main in Broussard ever comes available, that's the sign.

It did. He had to keep his word.

In early 2022, Deuces Taste of the South opened as a part-time venture — a Texas-style BBQ joint with Cajun influences, built around a forty-two-foot custom trailer that Shane built himself. It didn't stay part-time for long.

Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by Astor Morgan at itsacadiana.com.

Hi, it's Christiaan Mader, host of Out to Lunch Acadiana. I love a dive bar.&nbsp; And I know I&rsquo;m not alone. They attract a certain cult-like following among people looking for an unpretentious place to share a reasonably priced drink with an old friend or a new one. The appeal is fundamentally American.&nbsp; The drinks are cold, the music is loud, the bathrooms might be suspect &mdash; but you can be you and everyone's welcome.&nbsp;
In Acadiana, a great dive bar can be a cultural center of gravity. Especially if it&rsquo;s got a stage and a spunky PA.&nbsp;
However adored, dive bars carry a janky reputation. And the people who love them, love them because of that jank. It&rsquo;s hard to precisely define a great dive bar. But my guest Justin Bennet saw one in the making when he moved to Lafayette and bought <a href="https://www.artmospherelafayette.com/">Artmosphere, the Downtown Lafayette bar and music venue.&nbsp;</a>
Justin Bennett grew up in New York and was literally raised in dive bars, sitting on a barstool drinking cherry cokes from the age of five while his musician father played gigs. He went on to earn a bachelor's in journalism from the University of Washington, spent five years with New York City's Department of Management rising from Press Assistant to Public Information Officer, and later served as Press Secretary for the Louisiana Workforce Commission. But it was Lafayette, Louisiana &mdash; a city he and his wife Marcela kept passing through on the way to Lake Charles &mdash; that eventually called them back.
In February of 2025, Justin purchased Artmosphere, a bar and music venue on Johnston Street that's been a Lafayette landmark for years.
He didn't just buy a bar. He bought a vibe, a history, and a whole lot of deferred maintenance. Now he's fixing the bathrooms, booking the bands, and making his grandmother's meatballs.
Barbecue
There&rsquo;s maybe no better example of something great out of something humble than American BBQ.
We&rsquo;re not necessarily known for BBQ here in Acadiana, but Shane Wiggins is doing his part to change that.&nbsp;
Shane was born and raised in Flynn, Texas. He came up through electronics repair school, then spent years in the oilfield &mdash; onshore, offshore, and eventually running a business with his father in Pennsylvania. When that chapter closed, he ended up back in the Lafayette area.
Shane had been making brisket for years. His Texas Twister BBQ sauce became so popular with friends and family that by 2020 he was bottling it commercially. He and his wife Allyson had long talked about a food truck. He told her: if that spot on East Main in Broussard ever comes available, that's the sign.
It did. He had to keep his word.
In early 2022, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/deucestasteofthesouth/">Deuces Taste of the South</a> opened as a part-time venture &mdash; a Texas-style BBQ joint with Cajun influences, built around a forty-two-foot custom trailer that Shane built himself. It didn't stay part-time for long. Out to Lunch Acadiana was recorded live over lunch at&nbsp;<a href="https://lafayette.servingsushi.com/">Tsunami Sushi</a> in downtown Lafayette. You can find photos from this show by <a href="https://www.astormorgan.com">Astor Morgan</a> at<a href="https://itsacadiana.com/2026/03/07/dive-bars-barbecue/"> itsacadiana.com</a>.

Dive Bars & Barbecue

Some businesses don’t just sell a product — they sell a feeling. They create an experience you can’t fully describe on a website, because the magic is sensory. It’s atmosphere. It’s memory. It’s the thing that makes you walk into a space and instantly feel like you belong there — or like you’ve been there before.

From a business standpoint, that’s a tricky thing to build. You can’t ship “vibe” in a box. But you can design it — intentionally — through the details: the ingredients, the storytelling, the setting, the community you build around it.

Johanna Divine sits in for Christiaan Mader on this edition of Out to Lunch and hosts two guests who make their living creating experiences that are hard to explain, but easy to feel.

Rochelle Campbell is the founder of Pure Intentions Candle Company, a small candle business based in Youngsville specializing in clean-burning candles — and candle-making experiences that are part product, part party, part community event.

Yvette Landry is a musician, educator, author and interpreter, who – between playing shows, teaching and writing books – has also built a successful business hosting Cajun music and history tours in the Atchafalaya Basin.

Candles and music are two very different products, but both Rochelle and Yvette are  in the business of creating a feeling people want to come back to. Rochelle is building a product line around clean ingredients, seasonal storytelling, and in-person experiences that connect people to her brand. Yvetteis proving that culture can be both art and enterprise — through live performance, books, teaching, and tours that translate Acadiana to the world.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Tsunami Sushi in downtown Lafayette.You can find photos from this show by Alisha Zachery Lazard at itsacadiana.com.

Some businesses don&rsquo;t just sell a product &mdash; they sell a feeling. They create an experience you can&rsquo;t fully describe on a website, because the magic is sensory. It&rsquo;s atmosphere. It&rsquo;s memory. It&rsquo;s the thing that makes you walk into a space and instantly feel like you belong there &mdash; or like you&rsquo;ve been there before.
From a business standpoint, that&rsquo;s a tricky thing to build. You can&rsquo;t ship &ldquo;vibe&rdquo; in a box. But you can design it &mdash; intentionally &mdash; through the details: the ingredients, the storytelling, the setting, the community you build around it.
Johanna Divine sits in for Christiaan Mader on this edition of Out to Lunch and hosts two guests who make their living creating experiences that are hard to explain, but easy to feel.
Rochelle Campbell is the founder of <a href="https://pureintentionscandlecompany.com/">Pure Intentions Candle Company</a>, a small candle business based in Youngsville specializing in clean-burning candles &mdash; and candle-making experiences that are part product, part party, part community event.
<a href="https://yvettelandry.com/">Yvette Landry</a> is a musician, educator, author and interpreter, who &ndash; between playing shows, teaching and writing books &ndash; has also built a successful business hosting Cajun music and history tours in the Atchafalaya Basin.
Candles and music are two very different products, but both Rochelle and Yvette are&nbsp; in the business of creating a feeling people want to come back to. Rochelle is building a product line around clean ingredients, seasonal storytelling, and in-person experiences that connect people to her brand. Yvette is proving that culture can be both art and enterprise &mdash; through live performance, books, teaching, and tours that translate Acadiana to the world.
Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at&nbsp;<a href="https://lafayette.servingsushi.com/">Tsunami Sushi</a> in downtown Lafayette.You can find photos from this show by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/alisha.zachery">Alisha Zachery Lazard</a> at<a href="https://itsacadiana.com/2026/02/21/sound-scents/"> itsacadiana.com</a>.

Fear No Fast Fashion

It's Acadiana: Out to Lunch

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