Meghan Markle admits sending messages with her clothing when she ‘wasn’t out talking’ as a royal

Never underestimate the power of clothing.

In her first-ever podcast interview, Meghan Markle, 43, revealed that she sent messages through her wardrobe when she “wasn’t out talking” during her time as a royal.

The Duchess of Sussex, who was a guest on It Cosmetics founder Jamie Kern Lima’s podcast, spoke about how she intentionally wore specific labels to highlight small businesses.

“There’s this thing known as the ‘Meghan Effect,'” Lima told the royal, pointing out the influence she has on fashion. “How does that make you feel?”

Markle, who went makeup-free for the interview, said she felt “really great when specifically, it can help uplift brands that have a great ethos and female founders.”

The “Suits” alum continued, “You know, there was a long time where…I wasn’t out talking. So if you couldn’t hear me, how could I be heard through what I was wearing if that was what people were focusing on?”

Markle explained that she didn’t need to “say a word,” and the outfits she wore in public would “move product for small companies.”

Lima then shouted out a Valencia Key gold bracelet ($125) the duchess wore to the 2025 Invictus Games earlier this year as well as her As Ever brand announcement, declaring that it “had an 11,000 percent increase in sales” and “everything sold out.”

Markle also brought up the Outland Denim black skinny jeans she wore on a trip to Australia with Prince Harry in 2018.

She chose to promote the Aussie denim brand, which hires victims of human trafficking and is a certified B Corporation, as it “would take women out of positions of being trafficked and instead give them jobs,” she told Lima, adding, “by wearing those jeans, I knew it was going to allow them to save more women.”

Markle also mentioned “a small company in Scotland” that could “hire 50 more employees” after she wore it. While she didn’t name the brand, she appears to be referring to Strathberry, as pointed out by Marie Claire, as she carried the company’s midi tote ($845) on her first official appearance with Prince Harry in 2017.

“We were just a little brand in Scotland,” Leeanne Hundleby, Strathberry’s co-founder told the Times in 2019. According to the article, the company grew from 11 employees to 50, most based in Edinburgh.

Clearly, the mother of two has a track record of putting small brands on the map after stepping out in its products.

She’s also become an investor, putting her money into mission-based handbag brand Cesta Collective after she sent sales soaring for the company. Her portfolio includes more than 10 companies in different spaces.

“I spend a lot of time just Googling, looking for brands,” she told the New York Times in a 2024 interview.

The Strathberry moment “changed everything in terms of how I then looked at putting an outfit together,” she said at the time.