NAME: Kara Whitten
WHERE ARE YOUR DIGS: Austin, Texas
COMPANY NAME: Kailo Chic
WEBSITE: www.kailochic.com
TOOL YOU CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT: My sewing machine
FINISH THE SENTENCE: When I am not sewing my heart out I am… doing one of the many other tasks that go along with running your own business.
Kailo Chic offers wristlets, clutches, wallets, totes and more in a wide variety of fun and bold patterns. That is a lot of sewing! I myself can’t get past the ironing part of sewing so I stick with jewelry. What is your favorite and least favorite part of being a seamstress. Do you do all your own sewing?
Yes I still do all my own sewing believe it or not. That is why as it stands right now, pretty much everything to do with sewing is my least favorite part. I am currently headed for burnout-Ville. Luckily my husband has started to help me with the ironing part of sewing, so that is a plus! Hopefully soon I will be able to start farming out some of my sewing so that I am not stuck making everything myself. I have just had trouble letting go 🙂
Kailo Chic started with purses but has recently branched into jewelry, T-shirts, belts and more. Why the decision to expand the line? Are you customers loving all the new additions as much as I am?
My decision to expand my line always lies in me getting tired of making the same things over and over. I keep branching out as a way to give myself a new creative outlet. I still enjoy handbags, but after three years of making the same bags over and over, I need to find new things that I enjoy making.
You have a fantabulous new line of laptop bags. How did you get hooked up with Pacific Design?
Well, they actually found my stuff in a local shop, Parts and Labour (Ironically, it is also the first store that I ever sold my stuff in and where I got my start). They had just started to work with Chloe Dao and big retailers were showing a lot of interest in more fashionable mobile tech cases, so they decided to look for a local designer to partner with as well. They found me and the rest is history!
You had a release party for your lap top bags with Project Runway winner Chloe Dao here in Austin, whoa exciting. Staples and Office Max are carrying your line now. How has your experience been thus far working with another company on a bag like you have with Pacific Design? When you are used to being your own boss and making all your own executive decisions it can be a big change.
Well, the experience was quite a learning one. During the course of working with Pacific Design I learned how to draw up professional sketches of bags for factories to sample, how big box retailers view fashion (p.s. they are scared of too much color and bold prints and they definitely don’t like change that much), and how big companies selling to big box stores have to work at least a year in advance in order to get products into the stores. Luckily in my case with Pacific Design I did have final word on the product designs and which prints of mine we should move forward with. It really wasn’t a difficult transition and it was nice to be able to say to them, I think we should do such and such and they knew how to go about getting it done.
A woman after my own heart you are a lady that knows the importance of good marketing and editorial coverage. Kailo Chic has been featured in Daily Candy, New York Magazine, Bust and many more. What piece of press brought more visitors to your website and orders into your inbox than all the others? I have found that not all press coverage is created equal. I have had features in small Indie Magazines that sent orders through the roof and product in huge publications that felt like nothing more than a blip on my bank account.
The best piece of press I have received by far for online orders was a mention of a pair of my earrings in the Seventeen Magazine Holiday Gift Guide last year. The response was amazing I think from that one mention alone I got 300-400 orders! The best mention I received for gaining new wholesale accounts was in a trade magazine (Beauty Launchpad) for beauty shop and salon owners which brought me close to 10 new wholesale accounts and the largest wholesale order I have received so far. Since I currently do all my own PR, here is hoping that I have time to keep up with it and hopefully get some more good mentions this holiday season!
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