Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Oct. 24, 2018, edition 1 / Page 10
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student entrepreneur launches new fashion line, Saint Xavier Diego Pineda Elon News Network | @diego.pinedal9 S ENIOR KAVEEN SOLANKI REMEMBERS joking around with senior Xavier Andrada, his roommate, at their College Station apartment about building a fashion brand. As they brainstormed ideas for this potential brand, they immediately created the name, Saint Xavier. The Kaveen Solanki ^ combination of Andradas first name and the word “saint,” which Solanki thought was a good combination. “We didn’t have a lot of time with school, and there were money con straints on both ends,” Solanki said. Solanki says he began to take baby steps in the process since the idea first came up. Through sleepless nights and trial and error for the past two years, So lanki took what was once a simple idea of having a fashion brand and made it a reality. Saint Xavier had its first clothing launch on October 15. The moment the website became available to the public that day at 5 p.m., Solanki says he was immedi ately on Cioogle Analytics seeing how man)^ people were viewing the site. “Even if I sold a T-shirt or hoodie to five friends, that would make me happyr Solanki said. “Seeing that random people I don’t know buying our clothing is really uplifting, and > all of us are super ecstatic.” Building the brand As a business major who has had previous internship experiences in the fashion industry throughout his college years, Solanki was not new to the fashion scene. When starting the brand, he sought help from Mason Little, a friend with a fashion back ground whom he did business with in high school. “Both of us always had a business outlook,” Solanki said. “It just hap pened that both of our paths kind of led us into fashion.” Litde, who is now a business part ner in the Saint Xavier brand, also helps with the garment design and advertisement of the brand. Solanki and Little have led the project, while Andrada has taken an advising role. Since the brand is named after him, Solanki says all ideas and designs are run past Andrada for approval. When Solanki reached out to him with the idea of the brand, he says he trusted Solanki’s project because of the past network marketing and sales businesses they had done in the past. “Fashion is my number one true inspiration,” Little said. “It’s like ev erything I want to pursue it in life, and [Solanki] knew that about me, so he definitely knew I was in the field for a few years learning about streetwear, learning about how to make garments, how to advertise and how to get the right people.” Solanki says that as head designer and co-founder, he has been work ing on the brand conceptually for two years. As far as putting consis tent effort into designing and mar keting the line, the majority of the work occurred this past summer. The final designs of their first launch did not come out until two weeks be fore the Oct. 15 launch. The first launch of Saint Xavier was inspired by Philadelphia street- wear. It features hoodies, three dif ferent T-shirts, and hats. In accor dance with the colors and styles of streetwear, Solanki and Little kept the designs simple, with the “saint” logo and muted col ors such as blacks, whites and grays. Just like Chanel has one red statement handbag, Solanki and Little have one product in a different col or, a red hoodie. “There aren’t really many Philadelphia streetwear companies,” Solanki said. 1 “So, we kind I of wanted to I pay homage I to that by re- J ally attribut- I ing the place I we grew up 1 in our cloth ing.” When designing different THERE ARENT REALLY MANY PHILADELPHIA STREETWEAR COMPANIES, SO WE KIND OF WANTED TO PAY HOMAGE TO THAT BY REALLY ATTRIBUTING THE PLACE WE GREW UP IN OUR CLOTHING. KAVEEN SOLANKI SENIOR, FOUNDER OF SAINT XAVIER garments. Little says he is usually inspired by places, architecture and nature. “I just see that all around me, and I used that towards inspirations for my pieces, and sometimes it’s actual ly the community,” Little said. Saint Xavier has two T-shirts spe cifically linked to Philadelphia. One has an illustration of Rocky Balboa, a popular icon for the city. Another one has the word “jawn” on it, which is city slang that refers to a thing, per son, place, etc. Overcoming challenges When Solanki first thought of the brand, he wanted it to be made of fully sustainable materials, but the high price impeded him to do so. Getting all three business partners on the same page in regards to the different aspects of the business has not been easy. While working on the line this past summer, Solanki was interning in Orlando, Andrada was in California and Little worked out of Philadelphia. Therefore, commu nication was key in the designing and marketing of the brand. “Everybody is at different stages in their life,” Solanki said. “Not being together kind of hurts the process, and then I think the biggest con straint was really just from a mone tary standpoint.” Little says that competing with fast fashion brands like H&M, Zara and other up-and-coming Insta- gram brands is a challenge. We want to create some thing that’s more quality over quantity’ Little said. “We’re going to keep our brand very exclusive so not every- i one can get their hands on this stuff. But that’s going ^ to create more traffic, and that’s going to cre ate more hype.” Beside finding the means to sup port Saint Xavier, Solanki has strug gled to manage be ing a student and an entrepreneur at the same time. “I think it’s ^ super challeng- m ing, and it’s ■ definitely the hardest part of starting this brand,” Solanki said. ^ “It’s my senior year of college. PHOTOS COURliSY Of MflUm Above: Lowell Oakley T8 poses in the Saint Xavier “X Hoodie” for the brand’s promo tional photoshoot. Below: Senior Nabriya Ware poses in the Saint Xavier “Rocky Tee.” so the balance between school woric, work and fun is always a struggle." Planning, time management and knowing his priorities ^owed So lanki to find that balance. On tbeda; before the launch, he spent working on the line while also doing class assignments due that day, “Being an entrepreneur isn’t for everybody,” Solanki said. “You have to know that going into it. It’s a lot of work. But if you’re okay with that and then really getting after it and just chasing it is the biggest thing,” Planning the next steps Now that their first launch is done, Solanki is already figuring out what is next for the brand in regards to the next launch, building its rep utation and collaborations. Through the connections he and Little have made by working in the fashion in dustry, they have begun to reach out to media outlets, photographers, in- fluencers, models and celebrities to get more exposure. “I really want to give back to the communityf Little said. “Since the inspiration I got from Philadelphia is not exchangeable.” Little hopes that with the poten tial growth of Saint Xavier, they can donate some of the funds to charities that support the homeless and stu- j dents that attend under-resourced schools. I The long-term goal for and Solanki is for Saint Xavier to he made of fully sustainable materials. Both agree that this will set them apart from the competition. As start seeing the results of the nrsi launch. Little says the biggest rewar for him is seeing someone wearing something he designed. “That’s honestly the best feeling I could ever get from doing some thing I love,” Little said. Someone | is appreciating something I designs enough to wear it.” Building ones confidence through fashion is one Solanki first got into fashion. So him, the best part of seeing o ^ wearing Saint Xavier is customers feel confident and the way they look and fed ^ | wearing the clothes.
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Oct. 24, 2018, edition 1
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