Ep. #017: Confidence Is the Sexiest Thing a Woman Can Wear — Dora Lau, Dora L. International

This week on Street Talk, Arthur Zaczkiewicz sits down with Dora Lau — designer, president, and CEO of Dora L. International — for a conversation that spans Hong Kong opera stages, a debut fashion line that didn’t sell a single garment, and the realities of building a global intimates business from scratch.

Dora unpacks what it took to grow a 60-person, multi-continent operation serving specialty retailers across America — covering everything from product development and fit to QA/QC and on-time delivery. She speaks candidly about the chronic under-service of the plus-size market, how tariffs actually hit importers not exporting countries, the post-COVID pivot to comfort-first bra design, and the fabric innovations she believes will reshape garment construction entirely.

And she shares the advice she’d give her younger self: don’t spend money like water.

Topics covered: Plus-size intimates · Tariffs and sourcing strategy · Post-COVID comfort design · Fabric and bonding innovation · Leadership and 30-year employee loyalty · Lessons from a first-line failure