Left: Collection from Kraft Clothing Brand. Right: Kenechi Tabansi (Photos: Kenechi Tabansi)

TL; DR

Kraft is a tie-dye clothing brand led by a Gen-Z college freshman from Staten Island, New York, dedicated to promoting love and art by selling clothing. Started by 18-year-old Kenechi Tabansi, a creative student at Hunter College who has a strong knack for bleaching and dyeing. Her love for creativity inspired her to create a platform where youths could come and showcase their works and spread the love of art like her.

What made me start this clothing business was my love for art and my newfound passion for tie-dye started by a bleaching trade class in high school.

My goal is to create a platform for young artists where they can sell their art and crafts and showcase their talents. The goal is to grow this business so it can encompass the youth in my home country, Nigeria. This would allow us to share our culture with the world and give them an opportunity to flourish and make a lot of those small Kraft businesses more accessible and mainstream.

I plan on expanding my business by embracing advertising and expanding the market, like more international countries. I would also like to create a more diverse and interesting lineup of products.

What keeps me motivated is just the idea of succeeding. It is very fulfilling and motivating to think that there is a possibility to make something out of this store. I think my best accomplishment would be when I sold my first sweatshirt. It was a personal win because I was so convinced that no one would want to buy that first sweatshirt from me. There was, however, an order, and the rest is history.

Here is my advice for other artists and creators who are interested in becoming an entrepreneur. Believe in yourself and just do it. Take that first step and each step becomes a little easier. Ask for help! You don’t have to do everything by yourself, but don’t let others try to tell you what to do. Lastly, just keep trying, you never know until you try.