We were lucky to catch up with Angela Carter recently and have shared our conversation below.

Angela, appreciate you joining us today. How do you feel about asking friends and family to support your business? What’s appropriate, what’s not? Where do you draw the line?

This has definitely been one of the hardest things for me. At first I absolutely hated asking my friends & family to help with my business. My business is something I’ve always been really proud of & asking for help made it feel like I was cheating the idea of being “one woman operated”. But what I’ve learned is it is okay to take help that’s offered to you. I have such wonderful friends & family and they want me to succeed. They see me pulling late nights working & want to help out a sleep deprived girl! It definitely takes a village & I’m so grateful for their help. Whether it’s my boyfriend dropping off packages for me at the Post Office or one of my friends reposting my new collection – everything helps. My business definitely would not be where it is without the support from my friends or family.

Angela, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Angela Carter & I am the owner of Kinis By Carter – a swimwear line. I originally started it in 2021, mainly as a hobby/side-hustle for years. I hand sewed everything myself (I learned to sew during Covid Lockdowns). I started sewing swimsuits for myself because I wanted an affordable, cute & high quality option. Then all my friends wanted swimsuits as well, which led to me starting Kinis By Carter. From 2021 to early 2024, I hand sewed everything by myself. I truly enjoyed sewing, but as demand increased it became unrealistic to sew them myself. For Summer 2024, I found a wonderful manufacturer who was able to continue the high quality swimsuits my customers loved! Working with my manufacturer has allowed me to scale & offer my swimsuits to more girls! The past year I think I have really tailored to the stylish, young teens & 20 year old girls who love fashion, yet desire affordable suits. Most girls at this age can’ afford $200+ for one swimsuit (just like I couldn’t) and I think Kinis By Carter really merges affordability & style.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When I started my business I was doing everything handmade, so luckily I had minimal start up costs. I was able to buy fabric (to sew the swimsuits) in minimal quantities at a time. Hand sewing & doing everything myself definitely helped me afford everything at first. When I transitioned to working with a manufacturer, it definitely got a lot expensive. I obviously had a lot more costs upfront such as sampling & placing bulk orders. I have always been completely self-funded & I used money from the past few years in business to afford my first collection with my manufacturer. Being a small business, it’s definitely still a cycle of reinvesting into my business but it’s definitely worth it!

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

This is funny because as of a few weeks ago I quit & scaled down my hours (from 40 hours to about 10 hours) with the previous company I work for. I took this leap of faith because I felt that I was not dedicating enough time to my small business & I was constantly falling behind on things. I would commute 1 hour each way to my job, spend 8 hours there and by the time I return home I felt completely drained. I think at that moment I realized it was finally time to focus on my business full time. I wasn’t putting my 100% into a business that showed promise of growing bigger. Luckily my business was in a financial position to support myself, so I decided to take the risk and run it full time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kinisbycarter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kinisbycarter/?hl=en