We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristin Frazer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kristin, appreciate you joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team?

It was about 2 months after graduating with my BA in Fashion Design & Marketing. I already knew that I was going to pursue the path of being a Fashion Designer in having my own brand/label but I needed more experience in the buying field first and got a job working at a Family owned and operated business called Bealls Inc. I worked with the outlet part of Bealls called Bealls Outlet in Bradenton, Florida where I was the assistant buyer for all of the outlet stores across South Florida. Prior to me starting, my boss was also new to the company as she had just started about a month or so before me. Her name is Sandra Hanes and she was the most pleasant, soft spoken, funny, caring, thoughtful, respectful and knowledgeable woman in the field of fashion and buying when it came to outlet pricing, sourcing, etc. Her characteristics showed through her work ethics and she instilled in me an added level of understanding the importance of business relationships, negotiating, trust building, respect for all in the workplace and more. I was only allowed to work in the US for one year at that time but she still remains in my heart and mind as I go into my 15th anniversary with my brand and business and I’ve implanted quite a few of her teachings to my business model. She truly was the best boss I ever had.

Kristin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was 7 years old when I got my first “adult” sewing machine. I come from a family of women who made craft, crocheted, knitted and sewed all things from garments to accessories to home furnishings and more. While sewing and creating is my first love, I also had other avenues that I moulded and grew up into as well. I’m a singer with a voice range from first soprano to baritone and I’m also a lover of writing, acting and telling stores that uplift, inspire and make people laugh! In all honesty, growing up as a child and well into my teens, I thought that everyone was super talented around me because I came from a big family and even in my peer circle of friends and associates, they too were very talented and so I saw nothing else but drive, hard work, consistency, passion and success from a young age. I also play the clarinet and am a lover of music so when the opportunity came to choose a career path and what I wanted to go leading into my senior year of high school and forward, I decided to combine all my talent and love for the Arts, Fashion, Music and Literacy and went to Tampa, Fl to study Fashion Design & Marketing.

Leading up to that decision came with many late nights and early mornings of sewing and draping in my mother’s sewing room and weekends and days after school I would spend in my grandmother’s store called Clover’s- a family owned and operated business in Tortola(which is the main island in the British Virgin Islands). My work ethic, charismatic and bubbly personality allowed me to start selling not just the products that Clover’s sold but my grandmother allowed me to also sell products and accessories that I made – this is where the business side of my experience began. My products complimented the store as Clover’s caters to the selling of shoes, craft items, notions, fabric, home furnishing items and more. The store would also set the tone for my growth as an entrepreneur today.

Once I began to study abroad, my experiences and natural love for travel, culture and people gave me the opportunity at the age of 19 to travel to London where I did a student exchange/study abroad of 3 months and I took two classes, Fashion Journalism and Trend Forecasting. This opened my eyes in a vast way to the world of Textiles as well. After doing a double internship at Carolina Herrera for a Fashion and BCBG for a marketing in early 2006, as an International student, I had the opportunity to do an OPT(Optical Practical Training) which gave me rights to work in the US for one year only. I secured an Assistant Buyer position at a family owned company called Bealls Outlet and worked on seven departments for purchase, distribution, sales, marketing and overall business development.

In 2007 I moved back to my homeland in the BVI and in 2008, started my Fashion label with all the information that I was taught coupled with the experiences I received while growing up in my grandmother’s business. I tied it all together and founded Trèfle – a French word that means Clover. I tied the start of my legacy to the woman that started it all. My intentions were clear and my discipline was to execute my plan for my business in the best way as my home has only a population of less than35,000 people and my mind was to think global.

I started my company with the most difficult thing that challenged me in school and that was swimwear for women. My goal was to participate in as much Fashion Shows across the Caribbean first so that my brand would sit with other Caribbean brands as many designers came out of the bigger islands like Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica. I also began participating in Fashion Shows in the US like Miami and New York as well while slowly building interest, press, clients and followers on my social platforms.

Over the years, Trèfle has expanded to swimwear for boys, girls and men along with accessories and home furnishings like pillow covers, curtains, bed throws, chef jackets and more. In expanding my product offerings, I also introduced my textiles of various prints that are designed annually. I went from a store bought print designer to a textile print designer almost overnight. This opened up an avenue to allow for collaborations and partnerships with both local and international businesses. In 2014, my first celebrity client was Beyoncé and in 2017, I was the first Caribbean Designer to partner with US Accessory company Otterbox where they housed my prints on their Symmetry Series Phone Cases. My products serve a two fold purpose. 1) To create and curate products that are top quality, durable, fashionable and market priced. 2) to create the physiological aspect of garments and story telling that allow for women and men to feel beautiful, confident and overall internally aligned by the products from our brand that they wear externally. Confidence and colour exude happiness and happiness exudes peace. Peace creates an environment to thrive and this is the difference with our brand.

My most proud accompaniments lies in two things: My professionalism and discipline to managing a business through character and networking. I’m also proud of my international credits that allowed me to put both my brand and my country on the map in Fashion. I’m an island girl that still lives and works out of the Caribbean and with such a small population, the stakes and opportunities are far less. I’ve been able to break that stereotype with hard work, my personality and consistency. The brand and the work I’ve been able to do has also impacted lives in my country. I currently have about 9 mentees that are all amazingly creative with their own stories to tell. Giving back is key and this is a core focus and mission that I continue to do throughout the community. Being a creative is great but being a consistent creative allows you to pivot and shift to the ever fast changing world and Trèfle intends to do just that on the #roadtothe15th.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

There have been two(2) times in which my brand has had to pivot which ultimately also affected my career and life. At the height of my brand/career, the British Virgin Islands was devastated with two category 5 hurricanes in September 2017 which caused me to shift my focus to only rebuilding the territory and the lives of as much people as I could. It took a while to rebuild the brand but my consistency kept me focused. After getting the brand back at a steady pace and while the BVI faced such a natural disaster, the world would soon face in less than 2.5 years thereafter, the pandemic that affected the entire world.

I was at my highest once again with the ability in participating in Tradeshows and expanding the brand in boutiques across the Caribbean and the US. This was short lived as in March 2020, everyone’s life changed. I had to pivot once again but this time around, I went back to my first love…sewing. I began sewing masks and keeping my head down as I turned to the community in service and work. The pandemic also affected my shipping schedules, collection launch, sales, marketing, networking and much more. The geographical location also of the BVI made it much more difficult for me to do business and has changed the direction of the brand. Now in its 15th year, we are solely focused on working on wholesale accounts through mass production of capsule collections. Our prints continue to be at the forefront of our story telling and we hope to see an improvement going into 2024.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The power of image and first impression is a very real thing. For my entire career as an entrepreneur, there has been one thing that has stood out for me, that is my actual talent. My skills, personality, wardrobe choices and overall “look” does not speak to what a traditional designer “should” look like. I’ve often gotten the “are you the assistant?” or “are you the actual designer” which has then followed up with “you’re the designer?”. It often tickles me that at some point I should walk around in designer shoes, clothing and accessories because I simply don’t “look the part” to most, and that is ok.

This is why my story is such a unique one. This is why I’m resilient. I’ve never changed who I was or how I carry myself in order to advance my brand and business. I’ve showed up to everywhere and at every event as myself – from my quirky laugh to my bright smile and brought my talent and product right along with me. At one point in my career, I was even told that I’ve only gotten far because of my personality. My resilience and drive was in me before I even knew that I’d have a brand. My job was to bring my talent and goals to life and that it what I set out to do. In today’s world, there are so many filtered images, videos and even stories that present a falsehood for positive gain. I say, stay the course and allow the right people to continue to water your garden with you on your journey and your talent will naturally shine through.

I am on a new journey to the #roadtothe15th and I’ve gotten there through my resilience. With this new chapter comes my third and final re-brand and look of the company’s word and brand mark logo. My new brandmark speaks to the culture, history, legacy and evolution of the brand with its new interpretation of a Clover leaf and the word logo represents my roots as a Caribbean brand.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trefledesigns.com
• Instagram: @trefledesigns
• Facebook: @trefledesigns
• Linkedin: @trefledesigns
• Youtube: @trefledesigns

Image Credits
Kamaal Lettsome Norman Allen Bacheler Jean Pierre Shaun Black