Kaphill's Krystal A. Phillips Wants Black Women to 'Take Up Space' in Her Clothes

Not all young fashion designers graduate from design school ready to start their brand.

“I came in[to] fashion through the back door,” Krystal A. Phillips, the New York City-based founder of womenswear brand Kaphill, tells Fashionista. “I always wanted to be a designer, but when I was applying to [colleges] I didn’t think that my designs were enough and I was afraid to show them at the time.” She first applied to Long Island University for physical therapy, before deciding last-minute to apply for and attend the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

Just, not for fashion design: She went for Production Management because she “wasn’t ready to design.” However, the decision “ended up being the best thing” because it gave insight into the industry’s business side.

Phillips began her post-grad fashion career in the corporate world. She worked at Century 21 as an assistant buyer, followed by a seven-year-plus stint at Macy’s in product development. But that itch for design never faded: In 2014, Phillips took a chance on herself and co-launched a fashion brand, Marie + Annette, alongside her sister.

“I realized that I was continuously making product for people who didn’t look like me,” she reflects. “No matter the price point, we were never centered in the conversation. So I wanted to create something that was for us.”

Five years later, Phillips decided to step away from Marie + Annette — which closed its doors that same year — and venture out on her own. Though it took strength to reach that decision, she knew design was something she “wanted to do on [her] own” to help “get to this place of self-assuredness.” This resulted in the 2019 launch of her current fashion brand, Kaphill.

While Kaphill may be a new chapter for Phillips, her passion for crafting clothes that empower women — especially Black women — remains. “I create clothing for women to literally take up space, but that has to come from within first,” she says. “That does not mean that you’re the loudest person in the room or you have on the most outrageous outfit. It just means that you’re comfortable within yourself.”

“Particularly for us Black women, we’ve been told time and time again that we’re too much,” she continues. “I myself will shrink and fade to the back because I feel like I’m not allowed to take up space. So this brand was really a personal statement that I then turned into the brand statement” of “standing in who you are and owning it.”

This fervor for boldness is reflected in the looks: Colors such as fire orange, bright red, kelly green, turquoise blue and plum purple — plus neutrals like white, cream, light brown and black — live through fun proportions and silhouettes such as balloon sleeves, peplums and side cutouts. Kaphill is also big on texture play as seen in the creative use of fringe, bouclé and denim.

For Phillips, these design elements speak to her priority of infusing personality in every piece. “[Personality] is something that I never want to lose from the brand,” she says. “The soul of the brand is all about authenticity and that it’s okay to be yourself…I want you to laugh, have fun and be joyful. I want to show that it’s joy and there’s nothing else around it. If it feels good, if I feel happy and light in it, that’s what I’m going to create.”

When creating a collection, Phillips takes a “practical approach” — for which she credits her merchandising and product development background. She analyzes what’s happening in the industry, plus the state of her customer’s current lifestyle. But she also emphasizes that every collection is driven by emotion.

“My design process starts with: What am I feeling?” Phillips explains. “What do I want to evoke in the season, or what am I feeling currently when I’m starting to design?” She builds upon that, first with color — as it’s “the biggest thing that correlates to the feeling” — followed by textures.

Fabric sourcing is also a big part of Kaphill’s market positioning. The brand is predominantly produced in New York City’s Garment District — and a few manufacturers in Italy and Turkey — but its fabrics come from around the world.

“I don’t have a limit,” she confesses. “I’ll go to [international] fabric shows. I love texture and that is the thing that draws me to most fabrics. Usually, most of the things that I like are not made locally, so I’ll travel for them and I’ll travel to find the thing that speaks to me.”

It’s also why she’s kept certain pieces in limited stock. Logistics-wise, it’d be too expensive and time-consuming to mass-order special fabrics. Brand-wise, Phillips wants “to make that woman who’s purchasing [limited pieces] feel special. I don’t want Kaphill to be everywhere.” That said, the clothing sells at a relatively accessible price range: from $75 to $895.

When the designer looks at scaling, Phillips intends to maintain a level of curation. Opportunities like appearances at the Black in Fashion Council NYFW Spring 2024 showroom and 2024 Essence Fashion House, in addition to major retail placements at Free People and HSN x Harlem’s Fashion Row, have helped provide “organic growth.” But going forward, she plans to continue focusing on direct-to-consumer while also partnering with bigger retailers that resonate with her customers, and still feel curated.

“Building my [brand] experiences is something that I’m focusing on next, whether it’s dinners, conversation or little get-togethers,” she adds. “Growth for me is having the person who has spent their dollars on the brand feel like they’re part of the brand’s family and community without having to keep spending to feel that way.”

Ultimately, her long-term plan is to build Kaphill “into a lifestyle brand.”

“I want a brand that sits next to the Ralph Laurens and Tory Burchs, where there are different tiers of the business that range from high-end to accessible. That is my goal, but layering on top of that is the experience and community part…I want Kaphill to not only feel like a brand, but a safe space for women.”

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Source: Fashionista.com