We were lucky to catch up with Amanda Miles recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Amanda thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I came up with the idea to start a women’s streetwear brand because I felt like there wasn’t enough options for women in streetwear. The streetwear world is dominated by men and men designing for women. Whenever I go shopping for streetwear clothes, I mostly shop in the mens section, which I shouldn’t have to do. I always loved design and even in elementary school I asked my parents for a fashion studio and one summer we converted a corner of our basement into a design lab. From then on, I was always sketching and designing clothing for myself and friends and family. I’ve always had my own sense of style and hated to look like everyone else, which is one of the reasons I started Kaye. Kaye is a reflection of my personal style, not necessarily the latest trends.

To be honest, I didn’t know how launching would turn out and I wasn’t fully prepared to launch, but I did it anyway. I had (and still have) enough faith in my brand and myself to know that it will reach the right people and continue to get better as it grows. I know that I can do anything I put my mind to, which is why even if I’m having a tough time with the business, I just keep going. I take advice, do my research and try new things.

What excited me most about this idea was that I would finally get to share a little piece of myself with the world. Kaye is part of me and I know there’s women out there who share the same frustrations as me when it comes to streetwear.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a 24 year old, African American woman with a degree in Visual Communication Technology with a specialty in print design. I got into the business because I was always interested in fashion and designing. Although my degree has nothing to do with fashion, it gave me a leg-up because it taught me useful design applications and good business practices.

Kaye is a women’s streetwear clothing brand that’s about being you and feeling comfortable. Be the keeper of your own path. Unlock your own potential. Kaye, my middle name, means “keeper of the keys”, and my first name, Amanda, means “worthy of love”. That’s where the inspiration for the heart-shaped key logo came from. The heart represents love and the key represents keys.

What sets Kaye apart from others is the designs and quality. I want people to feel like they are getting their money’s worth when they buy something from Kaye. I also wanted to create a sustainably focused brand that addressed the waste caused by fast fashion, so most of our pieces are produced to order. Our current collection features satin lined hoodies and street wear styles for diverse clients inspired by ’90s fashion and culture.

What I am most proud of brand wise, is the idea behind it. It’s easy for women to go into a streetwear store and pick something out of the men’s section to style it how they want, but I want women to come to Kaye and know that this brand is for them. While I do offer men’s clothing, it’s more for women.

I want potential clients, followers, fans and more to know that Kaye is not a side-hustle of mine to just make extra cash, it’s a dream turned to reality and I want others to grow to love Kaye the way I do.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

My side hustle did turn into a business in a way. I was always sketching and designing clothing for myself and friends and family. In college, I drew the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air logo onto a visor and colored it with markers. I posted it to my social media, and it got a lot of attention, so I decided to start doing custom visors. That turned into a business called Kaye’s Customs, where I designed custom clothes, shoes, accessories and decor. Kaye’s Customs was very popular in my hometown and I got a lot of business. Although I was doing so well, I decided to stop because it wasn’t fun for me anymore and I wanted my brand to go in a different direction. I closed “shop” right before I moved to Tennessee and focused on graduating from college. After I graduated, I had more time to focus on my streetwear brand and building a a clientele in a new state.

Fortunately, I found a network of support locally and online that helped me find solutions and innovate ways to produce and launch my line as an e-commerce store. Having a business, design and social media management background, allowed me to streamline operations and cut down on startup costs.

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

Before Kaye there was Kaye’s Customs, a custom clothes, shoes, accessories and decor business. Since that business was doing so well, I decided to set up a website selling custom items through multiple drop-shipping apps. The idea was there, but I didn’t have a good plan. Instead of having a collection of items that went together, I had random t-shirts and accessories. What I didn’t realize was that Kaye’s Customs was so successful because it was tailored to the customer. Customers requested personalized items that could only be bought by them. For example, I made custom song keychains that had a picture of the customer on it, so I couldn’t resell that if they didn’t want it anymore. When I tried to sell merchandise that only locals would buy, everyone loved it, but that didn’t take off the way I wanted it to. I got a lot of shares, likes and comments on Facebook, but when the time came to buy, only one person made a purchase. I ended up having to shut down the website because I couldn’t afford to keep it up. I was very discouraged by that and it made me scared to try again. For a long time, I debated with myself on wether or not I wanted to start a streetwear line because I didn’t want to fail like that again. Obviously, I didn’t let it get the best of me and I took that leap of faith. I’m glad I didn’t let it stop me from pursuing my dream.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kayeclothing.com
• Instagram: @kaye_clothing

Image Credits
Photographer: Amanda Miles