All women deserve to feel beautiful both inside and out. Accents By Kay is an online women’s clothing boutique based out of Toronto, Ontario. The brand is committed to making all women feel beautiful by providing both stylish and affordable fashion in various sizes. Onside Media spoke with founder Kadian about her business journey and why she decided to dive into the fashion industry.
About Kay and her business
Kadian is the owner and operator of Accents by Kay. She is happily married to an amazing man and mother to two handsome boys. Apart from starting Accents by Kay, she continues working extensively in the project management and event planning industry. She is originally from Jamaica but now resides in Toronto, Canada.
She talks to us about her passion for clothes and adds, “I think flowing/oversized dresses and tops are a blessing to every woman when it comes to fashion and outfits. Accents by Kay is an online women’s clothing boutique. It was curated out of a lifelong habit I had of styling others. While I never paid much attention to myself, I could always find the best pieces for the women in my life, so I decided to turn this passion into a business so I can now help more women find pieces that ‘just work’.”
What are some goals you hope to accomplish with your business?
Every one of us, irrespective of size, age, shape, or budget, deserves to feel beautiful. I embarked on this journey to build a trusted clothing brand that women can rely on for inclusivity, quality, comfort, and style. My ultimate goal is to make outfit shopping easy for the everyday woman by providing options that work while inspiring confidence and self-love.
Why did you decide to start your business? What was the inspiration behind it?
I launched Accents by Kay because I saw a need for outfits that accentuate our least problematic areas while igniting our own sense of style. Most of our pieces are roomy and oversized and are made to accentuate the legs, shoulders, bust, and hips.
I launched Accents by Kay because I saw a need for outfits that accentuate our least problematic areas without compromising style. Most of our pieces are roomy, oversized and are made to accentuate the legs, shoulders, bust, and hips. We also offer a few form-fitting pieces to appeal to the diverse tastes of our customers.Our launch collection ranged from sizes small to large. We are now busy sourcing pieces that go up to size 3X and will continue to offer sizes small to 3X going forward.
Accents By Kay hopes to cater to the modern-day woman.
We have carefully selected a collection of pieces that cater to real women in the real world. We understand that it can be difficult to find pieces that fit well on varying body types and we’re here to help. At our boutique, you will find outfits for a variety of occasions in varying fits, colors, and textures with ranging sizes. We are currently carefully select our plus size pieces as it is essential to us that these reflect our brand promise.”
Do you design your clothing? Why or why not. Would you ever consider it?
We do hope to launch our own designs in the future. We currently source our items from established manufacturers and distributors. Designing clothing is an art form that takes talent, time, and passion, so we decided to launch first and continue to do the necessary research and sourcing to offer high-quality original designs in the future.
How has the fashion industry and trends influenced you and your business?
The fashion industry has always been dynamic and exciting in reinventing itself. Current trends show a shift to more comfortable styles (loungewear), brighter colors and matches, and oversized but trendy pieces. Accents by Kay’s objective is to make these trends more accessible to women of various body types within Canada and, by extension, the US. Admittedly it has been a challenge sourcing trendy plus size pieces, but we are taking the time to find the best vendors before launching our plus collection.
What do you hope to see change in the industry if it hasn’t already?
We hope to see improvement in body image representation and acceptance in the industry. This can be accomplished by offering on-trend styles in sizes beyond large. This has been especially evident when sourcing items for our boutique. We often find trendy, stylish pieces, but they are only available in sizes small to large. Diversity should be a norm in fashion.
How is the customer feedback so far, and where are they coming from?
We are happy to have received nothing but five-star reviews so far. We’ve been in operation for only a few months and we’re still building our customer-base. However, everyone who has shopped with us has expressed satisfaction with our products’ quality and overall service delivery. We market our products across Canada and the US but we have observed that most of our customers are within Ontario, and we anticipate this trend may continue for some time.
Have you considered a brick-and-mortar store in the future?
No, a brick-and-mortar location is not in our current business plan, but we are open to going wherever this business takes us as we continue to grow.
How have you been affected by COVID-19? How have you adapted?
Entering the market during this pandemic has been incredibly challenging. COVID-19 has changed a lot in society and, by extension, the fashion industry. It has changed customers’ buying behavior as well. Businesses have now had to find new ways to market clothing, sell them and deliver them to the customer.
As a new business, we had to adjust our marketing strategy and operating procedures to adapt to this new normal. That includes offering local pickup and delivery as an alternative to standard shipping for the convenience of customers in the GTA, who may not want to endure the unpredictable nature of the current package delivery timelines.”
Accents By Kay currently offers local pickup and delivery in the GTA and free standard shipping Canada-wide on orders $75 and over.
To shop, please visit: https://www.accentsbykay.com/
Facebook and Instagram at @accentsbykay or
please email for inquiries at info@accentsbykay.com
Author: Emma Mitro, Lifestyle, Content Writer for The Onside Media, Canada. If you have any stories or comments, kindly email: – emmamitro.onside@gmail.com
Awesome article!! I am so proud of you Kadian!! ????????????????