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SOUTHFIELD — A Southfield resident’s business has been picked up by Macy’s to sell its products online.
Kay Kay’s Fashion, a business owned by resident Kelechi Uchendu that mainly sells ethically and sustainably made hair scrunchies, has been operating since 2017. Those scrunchies became available at Macy’s for the first time May 13.
Uchendu said the deal to get her products online has been two years in the making, starting in 2020, though COVID-19-related issues with manufacturing pushed everything back. She believes that now is the best time to launch.
“I’m definitely very, very excited,” Uchendu said. “I definitely see my relationship with Macy’s growing and growing.”
Kay Kay’s Fashion first launched five years ago, and Uchendu originally had a dream to make a dress. Designing the dress led her to decide to start a fashion company. What she found early on, though, was that Uchendu had liked the process of creating scrunchies more than dresses, and so she pursued that endeavor.
“We probably might go back into the dresses … selling that and offering that, but I feel like the purpose of that was it was more of a catalyst into my business,” she said. Uchendu added Kay Kay’s would like to expand with other accessories, such as backpacks.
Before the Macy’s deal, Uchendu mainly was selling her scrunchies on her shop’s website, www.kaykaysfashion.com, before expanding into other sellers such as Amazon Handmade. She also attended some art shows to sell her wares as well.
In 2019, Uchendu took part in a program with Macy’s where she got to sell her scrunchies in an Atlanta store for a month. She was able to use the success from that opportunity to build a relationship with the brand and an in-house sales representative that led to her deal.
“He was able to reach out to Macy’s buyers and tell them … ‘Kay Kay’s Fashion did the … program, it was received well, I think we’ll be good for your store,’ and they automatically, like, that day, kind of picked me up,” she said.
Jane Mosbacher Morris, the owner of To The Market, a business that works with brands, retailers and corporations to source and manufacture more sustainably, began working with Uchendu after Uchendu needed help with production of her products.
Mosbacher Morris, who Uchendu referred to as a mentor of hers, said “Kelechi is her own best salesperson,” one who was having success in pitching her line, and Mosbacher Morris’ business had an opportunity to come in and support her growth by managing her production.
“Kelechi has an incredible vision for her business to really bring something new to the U.S. market that is missing and is doing it in not only a creative way from an aesthetic standpoint, but also in a way that is sustainable and ethical,” she said. “It’s aligned with her values in addition to being aligned with her aesthetics.”
As it’s early in the product launch, Uchendu doesn’t know how the scrunchies have been selling on the website, but she hopes any new attention will bring about success.
“It’s crazy,” she said. “We just launched. Things are very, very new, but I definitely see, like, it’s nice to get the word out about us, and I see us definitely really growing. I really feel that it’s going to take off in a really big way.”
