K-Deer Leggings: Made for Movement and Making a Serious Fashion Statement

I studied fashion at Syracuse and upon graduation hunted down a job in NYC. It was much harder than anticipated and so I freelanced and took any job I could in order to get my foot in the door and learn all different facets of the fashion industry. I was never dead set on owning my own company but after watching the corporate world swallow up designers and creative people, it clicked as an option when I lost my job and started to see with a different perspective.

I was upset at first, losing a stable income and the relationships that went along with the company was impactful. Having not much else to do but search for work, I went to Bikram Yoga and it became a comfort and motivator. I reconnected with my body and got to know myself as a 24 year old, no longer a highschool athlete, college student and everything I used to be. It was a fresh start and it was hard.

Yoga was an escape at first, then it transformed into an opportunity over time. It reignited a level of discipline that I lost and it also turned my creative spirit up once I needed to solve a problem: I had nothing to wear to class!

The ‘aha’ came from frustration and absolutely hating what I had to wear for hot yoga class. My old soccer spandex shorts were getting stretched out, stinky and as my body continued to change, they just no longer fit. My sister was a swimwear print designer and would bring me fabric samples to play with. It made complete sense and logic to use a fabric that was meant to get wet, unlike all the other brands at the time using cotton and polyester based fabrics that stretched out and retained the “hot yoga funk”.

I made patterns from scratch, cut and sewed up samples during the day and then wore them to class in the evening to test our the design. The next day, I’d make adjustments to the fit and design and try again the next time I went to class.

I offered shorts to friends and yoga teachers at my studio to try and when the feedback became consistently empowered, I realized maybe I wasn’t the only one that would benefit from my design.

I realized it was time to move into a real space once I hardly had room to live and work. Fabric was everywhere, thread clippings were everywhere and after making over 800 pairs of shorts by hand, I was also starting to see that this was something that could be sustained with the right next steps. I’m so grateful my parents allowed me to stay at home as I kicked off K-DEER; I worked all over the house and knew it was time to give my mother a break and get into a real office.

All choices and decisions, when you are making them for the first time, are difficult. Sometimes your decisions feel like a setback because you can’t predict the future to know if you made the right one. Self-doubt is enemy #1 in entrepreneurship. But it’s also a necessary evil to make sure you’re on the right path; questioning and evaluating your choices is key and being patient with making decisions is the icing on the cake.

We have a kickass team of women who embody the K-DEER spirit everyday. I’m so blessed to have such dedicated, hard working women in my life and as a part of the K-DEER family. Speaking of family, my sister Trine is our creative director and I am really lucky to be able to work with her everyday too. My cousin Jamie is also on the team and has been with me since I moved out of my house and into the studio, always watching out for the good of the business and me.

I’m sure it is less expensive in ways to do what we do overseas. But the reality is, there is no price on integrity and we are so proud that we continue to and are able to manufacture and source all our materials in the US. We measure our bottom line not by profit, but by impact.

 

Our collection is concise but growing every season! New prints and styles come out 3-4 times a year and we retail off our website and sell wholesale to accounts around the world. Yoga, barre and spin studios as well as fitness centers, gyms and clothing boutiques span from the US and Canada to Chile, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore, China and Australia.

The secret isn’t really a secret. It’s authenticity. It’s walking the walk and not just talking the talk. It’s showing up and being honest, real and transparent about who you are, what you do and why you do it. Social media has connected me and K-DEER to people around the world; Facebook was the initial way to network with the Bikram and Yoga community and Instagram has furthered our reach in terms of all types of fitness to all walks of life from the stay-at-home mom to celebrities and their trainers.

My hardest learned lessons have been about letting go of old thought processes, taking action when it feels impossible to make decisions and remembering that nothing is permanent and you can always make changes to your mind and decisions. Having a business wasn’t the goal at first; the goal was to share what I loved with as many people as I could reach and the business just fell into place. I was patient and fiscally conservative, as I continue to be while also making decisions that support the growth of the business.

I remember sitting at Farmhouse in Cresskill when I checked my Instagram feed to find @k.deer was tagged in the comments in a picture on Athleta’s feed. The striped leggings in the image resembled our stripes in the most striking way and my heart sank. I thought the absolute worst. I had never been in a situation like this before to know exactly what to expect or how to handle it. Over the next few weeks, the chatter online got louder and as though my prayers were answered, our fans on social media put so much pressure on Athleta that they removed the 3 copy-cat styles from their shelves and website. What felt like the lowest of low points, turned out to be a tremendous lesson in gratitude and community.

K-DEER successes are the million little things that add up to make this journey what it is. It’s the email from a customer telling us a story about how she finished a marathon at her fastest time because she ran down a women wearing stripes- and had to ask her where she got them from. It’s the picture on Instagram that reveals a confident, empowered woman wearing a size 3XL, celebrating her beauty, her body and commitment to her happiness. Success is being able to donate over $70,000 since starting K-DEER, bringing awareness to causes and charities that make a difference in our communities. Success is seeing kindness shared through our Stripes, watching friendships form over pants that put smiles on faces of everyone around them.

I enjoy my non-work time, although sometimes it’s hard not to think about work when it’s such a big part of my life. I do yoga and barre- I love being outdoors and working on my freckles- I’ve got a few books in rotation- and if I can, I travel! I have friends around the country and don’t mind packing my passport at least once a year. My family is also a huge part of my life so spending time with my parents, sisters, niece and nephew also fill me up with love.

Absolutely, I feel really grateful for all the times I was given a challenge to overcome, for it’s created opportunity and allowed me to grow and evolve into the woman I am today. It’s about perspective too- seeing the positive in anything that happens is what continues to attract good people, experiences and energy to you in your life.