Good-bye, American Riviera Orchard. We hardly knew ye. On Monday, Meghan Markle announced that the lifestyle brand she launched last year — which hasn’t done much except send jam to her friends — is getting a revamp. American Riviera Orchard is out, and As Ever is in. Is that a better name? It certainly sounds less like an actor’s diction exercise, so that’s a plus, and it’s far less likely to get her into a patent dispute.
“Last year, I had thought, ‘American Riviera, that sounds like such a great name.’ It’s my neighborhood; it’s a nickname for Santa Barbara, but it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area,” Markle said in an Instagram video, her new favorite way of communicating. The brand relaunch is being paired with the release of Markle’s Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, which comes out in March. Until then, you can bide your time by looking at Markle’s new website, which features nothing but a photo of her daughter, Lilibet, but is frankly much more inviting than the ARO one ever was.
“Netflix came on, not just as my partner in the show, but as my partner in my business, which was huge,” Markle continued, “so I thought about it, and I’ve been waiting for a moment to share a name that I had secured in 2022, and this is the moment, and it’s called As Ever.”
Markle promised that As Ever will feel familiar to anyone who kept up with her pre-Harry lifestyle blog, The Tig. “If you’ve followed me since 2014 with The Tig, you know I’ve always loved cooking and crafting and gardening — this is what I do,” Markle explained, “I haven’t been able to share it with you in the same way for the past few years, but now I can, so as things are starting to trickle out there, I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
This is all very exciting, but one thing about Markle is that she cannot do anything without sending people into a tizzy. It turns out that there’s already a small New York–based clothing brand called As Ever. The brand’s founder, Mark Kolski, wrote on Instagram, “In the last 36 hours there has been an outpouring of support and concern regarding recent events around our namesake brand. We are aware. We are not affiliated.” Kolski’s As Ever has been around since 2015, and he wrote that it will continue on as ever.
Somehow, that wasn’t the only bit of controversy. The new name came with a new logo, which features a palm tree flanked by two hummingbirds. While tabloids speculate those are sweet symbolic nods to her relationship with Prince Harry, one Spanish official thinks Markle stole her town’s seal. “Page Six” reported that Xisca Mora, the mayor of a 5,000-person Mallorcan town called Porreres, is not so touched by Markle’s new logo. Despite the fact that there are some differences — the palm tree looks different, Porreres’s birds are swallows instead of hummingbirds — Mora is “studying the case with the legal services of the Consistory to see what course of action should be taken.” In layman’s terms, she’s deciding if she wants to sue. For once, I’d like to see something go off without a hitch for Markle.
On the positive side of things, Markle promised that her refreshed endeavor will still include fruit preserves. (“Jam is my jam.”) There will also be … other things? Markle remained vague about what the deal is going to be with As Ever but said, “There are so many more products that I just love, and now it’s time to share them with you.” What could that mean? We’ll find out when As Ever launches alongside Markle’s Netflix show in two weeks — but my guess is that it’s, like, scented candles.
This post has been updated.