Souphak Kienitz ’16, co-founder of Jay Victoria, recently spoke with KARE 11 about the Minnesota-based clothing brand that she and her wife, Jamie, started in 2017. Jay Victoria is on a mission to make everyone feel seen, heard and confident in their clothing, while embracing sustainability by upcycling fabrics from other brands.
From the story:
The Minnesota-based brand creates shirts for plus women, nonbinary and queer humans.
While creating a clothing line was all new to the couple, Souphak graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 2016 with an undergraduate degree in business.
As an alumna, she received an email to apply for an accelerator program. Last summer, Jay Victoria was accepted into the gener8tor gBETA Accelerator Program alongside other alumni with start-up companies.
After completing the free, seven-week program, Jay Victoria received a $10,000 grant from the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship.
They used the money to soft launch their first production run in February with five different styles for button-up long-sleeved shirts. Jay Victoria also upcycles fabrics from other brands to create more sustainable clothes.
