Personalized Preppy

His Abercrombie-esque advertisements may have caught your eye on Facebook, but Kiel James Patrick (pronounced like Kyle, not like Kiehl’s) is more than just a Bruce Weber poster boy – he’s the designer of the DIY-yuppie accessory of the moment. Designing under his namesake, the brand has expanded from customizable grosgrain and madras wrist cuffs, to Chuck Bass-worthy wool and silk scarves. Patrick and his team recently set off to Hawaii to shop around their product – as this label finds its way into preppy boutiques from New England to Oregon – but first, he sat down with the Luxury Spot to discuss what makes his brand tick.

RR: Well first of all, how did the idea to make bracelets come to you?

KJP: It started off four years ago, when I was doing modeling and I lived in Rhode Island. I was used to the preppy ribbon belts, and I thought they were cool looking, but as a guy, you can’t see it from under your shirt, so I’d wrap them around my wrist.

And from there?

It dawned on me about two years ago that I could actually make money off them. I designed about 150 of them and brought them to a local arts and crafts show and sold out immediately.

Where do you find the fabrics that you use? Are they vintage? Do you design them yourself?

They’re vintage fabrics. We travel all over New England and hit up vintage shops. We’ll find an old herringbone jacket and get about a hundred bracelets out of that. We also try to find old silk ties from the 40’s and 50’s to produce cool patterns and textures.

What was the turning point that made you branch out from just bracelets into clothing and other accessories?

We had an abundance of sales for the bracelets and customers were questioning if we were going to come up with new products. I’ve always worn pocket t-shirts but I would take off the pocket and stitch in a different material for the pocket. We created t-shirts with the same concept, and they started selling just as well as the bracelets. We’re continuing to expand the line [with henleys and scarves) but want to keep up with the whole New England/London feel.

You’ve created quite a buzz for yourself using social networking websites, such as Facebook, how do you think this has shaped your consumer base?

Facebook was the way to go, we were hitting like 100,000 people on Facebook and the percentage of people visiting our website [by way of Facebook] was incredible. We are currently developing an affiliate program, integrating our customers to promote and sell the product. It’s a grassroots way of utlizing the internet for both networking and marketing.

And how do you foresee the future of the Kiel James Patrick brand?

I like creating products that don’t exist. I was an artist in the past and I want my fashions to be very detailed. All the stitching is very intricate and the fabrics are hand-picked. I want [this tradition] to continue with each piece. I want to become a fashion brand but I was everything of ours to be clearly Kiel James Patrick.

Find Kiel James Patrick products at: https://www.kieljamespatrick.com