Lilla P's Brand History

From the Back of a Car to Nearly Three Decades: The Story of Lilla P

Lilla P didn't start with a big launch or a splashy campaign. It started with one t-shirt and a car.

In 1998, Lilla P was born from Pauline Nakios's desire to create the perfect t-shirt after she was unable to find one. In the brand's early days, she sold a single tee style directly from the trunk of her car to boutiques in Atlanta. The company's name is a tribute to her grandmother, Lilla, combined with Pauline's own first initial.

The concept was simple: well-made basics that women would actually want to wear, again and again. It worked, and it kept working.

From Atlanta to New York

By 2001, the trunk wasn't cutting it anymore. Pauline packed up and moved herself and the business to New York City, landing in the Meatpacking District, where Lilla P's first official office opened in 2002. A year later, the website was live, and the collection had grown to 12 core tee styles in 13 colors. Not bad for something that started in a parking lot!

Then in 2005, Lilla P launched its first non-t-shirt styles using a fabric called Textured Waffle, and customers loved them. That fabric is still one of our top-selling in the collection today. Around the same time, the brand started showing up in the pages of O, The Oprah Magazine, InStyle, and New York Magazine. Word was getting out.

Growing Into a Full Wardrobe

2007 was a big year. For the first time, Lilla P launched four collections in one year (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Holiday), and introduced dresses and sweaters to the mix. What had been a tee-focused line was becoming a wardrobe you could actually live in.

In 2011, Pauline opened a Lilla P boutique in the Meatpacking District, giving the brand its first brick-and-mortar. It ran for nearly a decade before closing in 2020 when the pandemic hit.

Keeping Up with the Times

Lilla P joined Instagram in July 2013 and found a natural fit there. The aesthetic translated well: soft textures, easy silhouettes, and real women in clothes they genuinely wore.

In 2018, the brand turned 20 and celebrated with LP Generation, a kids' capsule collection. In 2020, even while navigating the pandemic, the team launched Lilla P PM, a sleepwear line designed and shot from home. It was a fun, feel-good project during a difficult year.

In 2023, the brand celebrated 25 years, which, for an independent label built on basics, is a genuinely impressive run.

Still the Same Brand

A lot has changed over the years, but the core of Lilla P really hasn't. It's still about making well-crafted, comfortable pieces in great fabrics, for women who want to get dressed without overthinking it.

From one tee in a trunk of a car to now nearly 28 years of collections, our core philosophy is the thread running through it all. And it's a good one.