{"id":1812,"date":"2021-02-22T16:47:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T21:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/?p=1812"},"modified":"2024-02-13T11:50:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T16:50:44","slug":"kaela-kay-balancing-tradition-and-modernity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/blog\/kaela-kay-balancing-tradition-and-modernity\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaela Kay: Balancing tradition and modernity"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, in honour of Black History Month, Futurpreneur is profiling a series of exceptional Black entrepreneurship leaders in our network\u2014entrepreneurs and mentors who are making a difference in their communities.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A party invite nearly a decade ago changed the trajectory of Catherine Addai\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

Addai is the designer and entrepreneur behind Kaela Kay<\/a>, a Toronto-based fashion brand. A health management consultant by trade, Addai started the brand \u201con a whim\u201d in 2013 while on parental leave, armed with her home sewing machine and a stroke of inspiration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started out, African prints were taking off and becoming really popular,\u201d Addai says.<\/p>\n

Addai, whose family is from Ghana, says her family members often wore bright, bold Ankara prints when she was growing up – \u201cbut I never wore them, because the way my mother and aunts wore them was over-styled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her perspective changed when she and her now-husband went to a party one night: \u201cI walked into this room, and all the girls my age were wearing these beautiful prints in styles I hadn\u2019t seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addai instantly realized there was a market for a more modern take on traditional West African prints. \u201cIt kind of lit the spark in me,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was about being able to respect tradition, but also be true to myself and our current, modern aesthetic, and how to bring those two things together. That\u2019s what the brand was built on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addai broke out the sewing machine she occasionally used to do alterations for friends and produced a collection of five initial pieces. Her first campaign was shot in Toronto\u2019s Kensington Market with volunteer models, photographers and stylists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never in my wildest dreams thought it would become a career,\u201d Addai says.<\/p>\n

But Addai\u2019s degree in health information management and subsequent career experience helped her in a number of ways while launching the brand: She used her tech skills to build her own site and handle marketing, and the time management, negotiation and organizational skills she honed on the job helped the business run more smoothly as she found herself laying out plans for the business months in advance.<\/p>\n

SLOW AND STEADY GROWTH<\/strong><\/p>\n

Addai eventually began tapping Toronto-based seamstresses to create the clothing \u2013 something she still does to this day, even when other brands might have outsourced production overseas. \u201cI started with a seamstress I\u2019d known about 10 years \u2013 she did my wedding party,\u201d Addai says.<\/p>\n

That soon became a tightly knit production team of three seamstresses; Addai says she\u2019s in contact with them almost every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows me to keep a better eye on production. It also lets me do more efficient things, since I can pitch them on ideas and it\u2019s fast (to make them happen),\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

That efficiency is paramount, since most of Kaela Kay\u2019s stock is still made to order, with a small number of core items and sizes available off-the-rack. That limited production also allows Addai to make custom garments for any size.<\/p>\n

Though Addai found early success with a U.S. customer base \u2013 particularly Black American women, who were \u201chip to the styles and the prints before Canadians were\u201d \u2013 her orders are now more evenly split between Canada and abroad.<\/p>\n

GOING FULL-TIME<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the brand grew, Kaela Kay came to occupy more and more of Addai\u2019s time \u2013 but she held on to her consulting job until 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the height of it, to be honest, there was no balancing it all \u2026 For the better part of two years, I think I worked on five hours of sleep a night,\u201d she admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided I really had to quit my job when 24 hours were not enough to do all the things I had to accomplish in a day\u2014something always got left behind. That\u2019s when I knew something had to give.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addai is quick to credit her family and friends for their support; her husband filled in many of the gaps at home, in addition to taking on accounting, shipping and packing duties for the brand.<\/p>\n

When she finally decided to take the fledgling brand full-time, Addai was looking for some additional funding and guidance to help boost the brand and came across Futurpreneur. \u201cI had ideas and wanted to pivot, but I didn\u2019t know how to let the business grow,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Her mentor, she said, was particularly helpful in growing the business. \u201cI knew where I wanted the business to get to, but I\u2019d never really had to have a road map before. Now I had to actually put together a plan and execute it, and he was great to bounce ideas off of, or would bring up things I didn\u2019t even know about the industry. He\u2019d hold me accountable for things I needed to get done.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the loan and two years of mentorship, Addai says she also benefited from Futupreneur programs like the Growth Accelerator<\/a>, which connected her to experts in fields like HR and marketing \u2013 \u201call those things I needed support with\u201d \u2013 in addition to valuable peer support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all in different industries, but we all faced similar issues, and it was nice to hear how people in different industries deal with those issues,\u201d she says of her Growth Accelerator cohort. \u201cI can text somebody or pick up the phone, and everyone\u2019s really open and willing to share.\u201d<\/p>\n

BRINGING COLOUR BACK<\/strong><\/p>\n

That camaraderie was particularly appreciated as COVID-19 set in, shaking up many of Addai\u2019s well-laid plans; she had recently opened a brick-and-mortar store in the north end of Toronto, and was planning to promote her spring\/summer collection with pop-ups all over Canada.<\/p>\n

She introduced mask designs, which \u201ctook off like wildfire\u201d over the summer, bridging the gap that resulted from lower clothing sales, and a strong fall launch carried them through the rest of 2020. \u201cPeople know I don\u2019t mass produce my pieces, so they wanted to hang onto things for the future,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of brands were hit harder, so I\u2019m grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big plans are in the works for 2021, including hiring more staff, as well as \u201ca bridal thing and a kids\u2019 thing\u201d that Addai is keeping under wraps for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really just looking forward to reopening the store and bringing colour back to this year,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Want to find out how Futurpreneur can support you on your entrepreneurship journey? Click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, in honour of Black History Month, Futurpreneur is profiling a series of exceptional Black entrepreneurship leaders in our network\u2014entrepreneurs and mentors who are making a difference in their communities.   A party invite nearly a decade ago changed the trajectory of Catherine Addai\u2019s career. Addai is the designer and entrepreneur behind Kaela Kay, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneurship"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futurpreneur.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}