Meghan rebranded “American Riviera Orchard” for “As Ever”, and she’s not shy about why. On her Confessions of a Female Founder podcast, the Duchess of Sussex opened up about scrapping the brand’s original name, calling it a straight-up “word salad.” Meghan had initially launched her lifestyle company as American Riviera Orchard, but after stepping into a creative partnership with Netflix and her show With Love, Meghan, she pivoted back to her original name choice: As Ever.
According to Meghan, As Ever was always the name she wanted from the start. “I had secured As Ever as a name in 2022,” she said. “But then things evolved and with a partner the size that it was… it all shifted.” She thought American Riviera could work as an umbrella brand, with “Orchard” as a sub-label, but that didn’t quite play out. “It just became this word salad,” Meghan admitted, and added, “I didn’t love that so much.”
So, she went back to basics. Quietly, behind the scenes, she and her team rebuilt the brand under the name As Ever, without the noise, opinions, or outside meddling. “We were able to focus in the quiet and build on something that no one was sniffing around,” she said. That “quiet period” ended up being one of the most helpful phases in building the new lifestyle identity.
During the episode, Meghan also shared a throwback to the early pandemic days, revealing she met her now-close friend and hair colorist Kadi Lee in a very 2020 moment, after a boxed dye fail that left her hair “Elvira-esque.” She laughed, saying she genuinely thought she’d end up looking like the girl on the box. Spoiler alert: she didn’t.
Kadi, co-founder of Highbrow Hippie, recalled meeting Meghan and Harry during that wild time, calling them warm and hug-loving, despite being total strangers. Meghan’s move to California during lockdown and adjusting to life in the States again added to the chaos, but she’s clearly found her footing now with As Ever making its official debut.
So, what do you think of Meghan’s rebrand?
