According to what she discovered, Longe went through five iterations before her staff decided to completely remove the color and create the dress in light cotton. The hectic response has caused them to shorten the black version and add more colorways to the range, going from XS to 5XL. According to her, “It might outsell Gaia by the looks of it,” she says of the sell-out kaleidoscopic marble dress that helped to launch her brand in 2020, thanks to Saweetie and.
Kai Collective began as “my like text to women”, she explains. “Artistically, there’s so much enthusiasm that I take from standard Nigerian washing. We’re often in our best. There is no ‘I don’t want to be overdressed.’ “Everyone is overdressed … Growing up in is essentially overload. There’s so much developing and there’s so many different colors, on the streets, in the industry, so I absorbed so much from that.”
All of this helped her to develop “main personality clothing.” She sees Kai Collective as a means of combating the masculine world she witnessed growing up. She says, “I have always wanted to create something that will make women feel like their most self-assured selves. Not feel like they have to dim themselves down or avoid the limelight, but take up space,” she says. When people wear her models, they eventually knowledge “the Kai impact”, she smiles. “You’re gonna find remarks. It’s quiet – people notice”.
She started selling her companions’ old clothes online after moving to London at the age of 15 and has been an entrepreneur since secondary school. “I generally had more expensive style than money”, recalls Longe. “I wanted all the custom products, so I used to get it on eBay.” The material lover would travel and create her own items, such as an enormous coat with exaggerated shoulders, a violet chiffon top with extraordinary sleeves, and a printed bandeau and skirt set, while initially working as an accountant. Her giant impulse started to take hold as she noticed how many people stopped to inquire where she’d bought them.
And thus, in 2016, Kai Collective was born. Longe had anticipated immediate success, but it took four rough times for it to truly get its foot. Longe feels the same way about her own personal fashion. Although she has the most desirable set of clothes, including Alaa and Issey Miyake, which she mixes with Kai Collective, she truly developed her passion of styles and designs in 2020. “My personal style is a celebration of the way I see the world”, she says, before dishing out her best fashion advice: “Don’t be afraid of colour or print. Let your imagination run wild and dress according to your feelings or your ideal woman. And have fun! Wear something that you can trust.”