Meghan Markle is breaking down her rebrand.
The “Suits” alum blamed her switch from American Riviera Orchard to As Ever on the original name being “word salad.”
She clarified to “Confessions of a Female Founder” listeners Tuesday that she “secured As Ever as a name in 2022,” two years before going public with American Riviera Orchard.
“Then as everything started to evolve last year, and bringing in a partner the size that it was, it was just so interesting,” the podcast host continued, referencing her partnership with Netflix.
“You remember, I said, ‘I like American Riviera as an umbrella,’ and then be able to have verticals beneath it,” she told guest Kadi Lee. “And maybe have the ‘Orchard’ really small. But when that’s not feasible … suddenly it became this word salad.”
The Duchess of Sussex admitted, “I didn’t love that so much.”
Markle then decided “to go back to the thing” she “always loved” and “protected,” which she told her Instagram followers about in February.
Before she made her announcement, the former actress noticed a surprising benefit of the swap.
“We were able to focus in the quiet and put our heads down and build on something that no one was sniffing around to even see about,” she said on Tuesday. “It was really just helpful to have that quiet period.”
Markle, notably, did not mention her trademark issues in Tuesday’s explanation.
The “Deal or No Deal” alum filed trademark applications for her brand’s original name in 2023, only for it to be rejected.
She hinted at this while admitting to making “mistakes” during a conversation with People in March about her business’s “twists and turns.”
“Even with the name … I was figuring it out in real time,” Markle explained.
“I appreciate everyone who gave me the grace to make mistakes and figure it out and also to be forgiving with myself through that,” she added. “It’s a learning curve.”
While sharing the name change in February, Markle said she originally thought American Riviera Orchard would be “such a great name” as her Montecito, Calif., neighborhood and the “nickname for Santa Barbara.”
However, she soon realized it limited her to “things manufactured and grown in this area.”
Markle’s rebrand came just ahead of her show, “With Love, Meghan,” premiering on Netflix and getting renewed for a second season.
“Confessions of a Female Founder” launched earlier this month, nearly three years after she debuted her short-lived podcast “Archetypes.”
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