We were lucky to catch up with Janine Kroes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Janine, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I am a self-taught seamstress and fashion designer. I started sewing when I was 16 years old, I always had a passion for fashion and often imagined my own designs when
window-shopping. My grandma played an important role showing me sewing techniques when I
was young. As a teen I began sewing for friends in the ’80s era, this developed into starting my own clothing line around 2005 called: “enina-J by Janine” (my name spelled backwards), I started sewing for customers other than friends and since then I haven’t looked back. I love helping women take control of their fashion style by wearing my creations.

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

My sewing went from hobby to business, I design sexy/trendy clothes for ladies age 45 and up. Most ladies this age still want to look sexy without revealing much skin. Looking sexy does not mean you need to show a lot of skin, this is my main focus when designing clothes. My talent is matching different prints together (print blocking) and color blocking.
I try to design something that you would not easily see in stores and that you can recognize immediately that it is made by my brand. My mix and match designs can be viewed on my social media accounts where I present them as transition reels from fabric to clothing.
My goal is to grow my business internationally, until I get the change to have my designs re-produced to retail stores.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

My way of funding my business was keeping my 9-5 day job and using my salary to cover all expenses for my side hustle, I still have not quit my day job, hopefully in the near future now that my business is growing internationally.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Working by day and sewing at night made me less social, I spend all my free time growing my business. It is a huge sacrifice But I want to see my company grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.enina-j.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enina_j_by_janine/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@enina_j_by_janine