Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Wimmer.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Krew Designs started in July 2019. I’ve always loved calligraphy and drawing. After making several friends gift, they told me I should try and sell my work online. I started an Instagram and an Etsy and pretty soon, Raw Artist Showcase found me and asked me to be a part of their show in October 2019 in Dallas, TX. That show gave me the momentum to keep creating. In October 2020, I lost my job and found myself with a lot of creative energy and nowhere to place it. My mom suggested doing a holiday open house and making ornaments. A friend let me use her house and a ton of people came to support me! My shop was all over the place – paintings, calligraphy, ornaments, I even taught myself how to wood burn. One day, in August 2021, I was sitting at my apartment and saw my wool hat on the wall and thought to myself, “I wonder if I could burn a design into that hat”, so I did. I posted a picture of it to my Instagram and within 10 minutes someone offered to pay me $75 for it. So, I began making hats. My business has ebbed and flowed but I have finally found my niche. Hand-burned custom hats. I expanded in April of 2022 to a new website and I also sell wholesale. I am currently in 22 stores nationwide and counting.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being unemployed was definitely a hurdle but it gave me the time to sort through what I wanted to do. Once I was able to pare down what I wanted to create, it was pretty easy
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I burn designs into the wide brim, wool hats. I hand-draw each design and then burn them into the hat by hand. I love seeing customers wear my hats at their weddings, or on special occasions. My favorite thing is when someone messages me with different elements they want to be incorporated into a hat and I get full reign of how to execute the design.
What does success mean to you?
Creating something that you are proud to put out into the world
Pricing:
- 135
- 150
- 200
Contact Info:
- Website: www.krewdesigns.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/krew_designs
