We recently connected with Kamdin Montagne and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kamdin, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Prior Waste is a clothing brand and the fashion industry makes up for so much waste on our planet, so one of the main goals behind my brand is to create clothing in a more sustainable way. People throw out so much clothing all the time whether it’s because their pieces are damaged or just not wanted anymore and a lot of the time it’s the latter. For Prior Waste I go to thrift stores and donation centers and source those unwanted and damaged clothes and rework them into a brand new one of one piece that someone will want in their closet again. Whether it’s cutting up an old pair of pants into a skirt, reworking a shirt into a bag, or just adding some patchwork to a piece or jeans breathing new life into these pieces that were discarded and making them something people want again is so rewarding. I can take a pair of old ripped jeans people wouldn’t think twice about and turn them into something fashionable, unique, and desirable. Theres already so much clothes out there and this way of recycling pieces that already exists rather than adding more waste to the world is very important to my brand and it’s the only way we create. Not only is it sustainable but it also always me to create completely unique one of one pieces that will never be the same as the next.
Kamdin, 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?
Prior Waste is a sustainable clothing brand reworking unwanted or damages clothing, mostly denim, and turning them into new one of a kind pieces. I started creating reworked pieces for fun and selling at local flea markets about 2 years ago and after that started doing well I founded Prior Waste created my website and turned it into a business! I think the biggest thing that sets us apart from other clothing brands as well as the thing I’m most proud of is our sustainability and relationships with my customers. Selling at flea markets means I get to meet people face to face and tell them about my brand, it’s mission, my journey and I get to know them as well. I truly immensely value each and every person who supports Prior Waste and I get to interact with most of them directly. It’s such a rewarding thing to meet so many people this way and share a piece of myself with them through my brand. A business can’t run without customers obviously, but beyond that finding the motivation to run my business would be impossible without the support that I receive from the community I’ve found through clothing. I tun Prior Waste single-handedly I source, design, create each piece by hand, made and maintain my website and social media, handle shipping and finances, set up at flea markets on the weekends, etc all myself and I think being that involved in everything really shows in my brand and when you meet me and that’s also very important to me. When you’re shopping with me you’re supporting a 20 year old girls dreams of making creating her full time job, you’re shopping with someone who truly cares about you, your experience, and the product, and you’re shopping sustainably and who wouldn’t want to support that?
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Social media is very important to my brand and has helped me grow immensely. My instagram page is where I get over half my traffic to my website as well as even making sales directly on instagram through people finding and messaging me on there. I started my instagram for my brand a while ago and built my audience just by posting consistently and making an effort to create content. It’s a free marketing tool that can reach millions around the world and you’re crazy not to take advantage of it as a business. I coordinate photoshoots for my clothes whenever I have something new and posting those on social media to showcase my product always brings in so many new customers. It’s a very important part of my business to create content and this would definitely not be my full time job without the help of social media. I used my instagram page as a replacement for a website until I made one and it gave me. place to showcase my work. It’s is such an easy way to show people exactly what your business is and what you can do as well as connect you directly with potential customers and all you have to do is start posting.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
My business definitely started out as a side hustle and I always wanted to take it to the next level but never knew how to get there myself. I started selling clothes I made at flea markets when I was 18 years old and would create everything sitting on the floor in my dorm room. It was definitely just a hobby I made money off of and I just kept gaining experience, and making mistakes, and learning lessons, creating and selling, and creating and selling, and slowly started figuring out what I was doing. One of my first milestones was curating my first drop. Rather than putting out one piece at a time I made a collection, organized my first photoshoot for it, marketed it on social media and started taking it more seriously. After that I knew I wanted to make a real business but still didn’t know fully how to switch over to that, I kept walking the line between hobby and brand doing drops on social media until the big milestone in March 2021 when I founded Prior Waste and launched my website. The catalyst for finally being able to rebrand and take it seriously was 100% the supportive creative community I surrounded myself with. I am so so blessed to have such talented friends in my life who want to help me succeed and none of this would be possible specifically without my friend Kyrstin Inman. She’s in school for graphic design and created my logo for me as well as brainstormed the name Prior Waste with me. She is just as equally involved in all of our photoshoots and projects as I am at this point and I am so lucky to have her talent and support. Our next big milestone after that was selling out a drop on the first day which was just huge for me and made me see how far I’d come. Since then I’ve continued to sell out when I do pop ups and I’m about to hit another milestone showcasing Prior Waste at our first fashion at the end of June. This has definitely made the leap from hobby to business over the past year and it is all thanks to my friends, community, and customers who support me and I have so grateful that they give me the motivation to make this possible. 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.priorwaste.com
- Instagram: @priorwaste
Image Credits
Kyrstin Inman Lowell Manis Luis Govea