Selena Costa of Wai‘anae always wanted to start her own business.
In October, her boot brand — Leather & Lei — debuted with the launch of its Lehua collection, offering made-to-order boots “inspired by Hawai‘i’s natural beauty and the resilient spirit of paniolo and cowgirl heritage,” a recent announcement noted.
Costa was going through a “lei phase” early in the year and says the idea for her boots initially came when a pretty purple cowgirl boot with a white stitching design came across her Instagram feed. She thought a purple boot with white crown flowers, one of her favorites, going up the shaft would be pretty.
“I looked around and I couldn’t find anyone that actually made boots with Hawaiian designs,” she recently told Aloha State Daily. “I just started dabbling, creating.”
She created a business plan with the help of ChatGPT and came up with a name.
Costa also was one of 20 aspiring entrepreneurs chosen to participate in the City and County of Honolulu’s small business incubator pilot, Idea2Biz, which was launched this summer by the city’s Office of Economic Revitalization.
The ‘ohi‘a lehua is often among the first plants to grow on lava flows, and Costa says that’s the significance behind her first boots and the design, “because it’s kind of like my first baby.”
In the future, she wants to create a palaka design, but Costa says she’s now working to create a men’s boot with the Hawaiian flag and Hawaiian Islands underneath, and two more boots for women, a bootie style and one with corset lacing in the back, both of which will have a hibiscus flower design. All three collections are expected to drop in March.
Although some parts of starting the business came easily, Costa says finding a manufacturer was the biggest challenge in getting Leather & Lei going.
“Everything else was pretty easy — getting the name, the logo, the LLC, the support — but just finding the manufacturer [was difficult], because it’s hard. It’s hard to find someone who’s going to create boots, especially when all the other markets are like clothing and bags, which is a little bit easier to find. It took me a while to find manufacturers.”
The leather boots are made in small batches in Mexico. Costa says she designs it and works with the manufacturers on how she wants it to look on the boot. The sample is made then Costa approves it.
You can find more about Leather & Lei here. As for the business itself, Costa is a one-woman band, so to speak.
“I’m doing this on my own and I love it. I love knowing that I am creating something different. I’m creating a legacy for my future generations.”
As for her participation in the city’s Idea2Biz incubator, Costa notes the support it provided was the biggest takeaway from the program.
Family members, she says, “are going to be like ‘Oh, that’s a good idea,’ but they’re not going to be the ones pushing you, like ‘What do you need?’”
Costa says the structure of the program helped her tackle the necessary tasks and offered resources that helped start her business.
“The support was just unmatched,” she says. “They were excited for me. You can just feel the love and feel the support with them. … Without the support it’s hard to move forward in something when you just feel alone.”
For Costa, though, she says it’s “amazing” that the incubator was held in Wai‘anae.
“Everything is in town, so if this incubator was in town, I probably wouldn’t have applied at all. … The fact it was just in Wai‘anae, the West Side, to me, that’s something that makes such a big difference, especially for those who live on the West Side and want to take advantage of these cohorts or things that are for free, too.”
Costa encourages others to take advantage of the program if it is offered again.
“Even if you have an idea and it’s so small, you never know,” she says. “Sometimes you just have to take that step of faith and just run with it and be a part of something that’s going to help the community, help your business grow and for them to support you in a way that’s unmatched, take advantage.”
Idea2Biz update
OER recently shared with Aloha State Daily updates about Idea2Biz, its inaugural cohort and what’s next for the incubator, the first iteration of which focused on aspiring entrepreneurs from the Wai‘anae Coast.
“We believe that nurturing entrepreneurs on the Wai‘anae Coast strengthens the local economy and supports the community wealth building,” OER Executive Director Amy Asselbaye said in an emailed response to questions from ASD, provided by an office spokesperson. “Many of these entrepreneurs are deeply connected to the area, and they share the stories of their families and neighborhoods through their products and services. As they grow, their connections to each other, to West Side community resources and to the city, will help assure that they can continue uplifting their communities and eventually create more job opportunities for local people.”
Asselbaye, who noted that partnerships were “key to making this possible,” says the incubator pilot was “very successful,” with 15 of the 20 participants completing the program and 60% reporting “increased confidence in their ability to pursue entrepreneurship.”
“Another 53% said the program significantly improved their entrepreneurial knowledge,” she continued. “The pilot also created strong collaboration opportunities; OER worked with eight nonprofit partners who helped deliver training during and after the program. All partners shared positive feedback and expressed interest in continuing to work with OER on future cohorts.”
Asselbaye says that all 15 graduates applied for business licenses through the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to move their ventures forward.
“Several are continuing to refine their business plans and have applied to additional small business programs to help scale their operation,” she says. “At least four graduates have already brought their products or services to market and more are expected to launch their businesses in the coming year.”
Although this cohort focused on the Wai‘anae Coast, Asselbaye says plans are underway to develop a second cohort of Idea2Biz.
“It may be designed around a specific location or industry, but the overall structure will remain similar,” she says. The program is being developed with a review of data from the first cohort, ongoing outreach to entrepreneurs and resource partners, as well as guidance from the Economic Revitalization Commission, which Asselbaye says offers “entrepreneurial expertise and real-world market mentorship.”
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
