Who is Philomina?

Meet Philomina Kane, Founder of KIN Apparel!

About KINApparel

KIN Apparel is revolutionizing haircare with fashion and inclusion and in doing so, helping people to feel seen and heard. The brand offers hoodies, hats, and other accessories lined with satin, a soft and smooth material that interacts with hair in a gliding motion, so natural hair stays intact and protected. Whether it be a fro, twist-out, braids, curls or locs, KIN innovates its products with haircare in mind. KIN Apparel is here to disrupt the hair care-fashion space to affirm who people are, naturally.

Philomina’s Journey

Philomina traces her entrepreneurial path back to her freshman year at Princeton. “I grew up in The Bronx with a family full of hair stylists who took care of my hair. Suddenly, I’m on my own, stressed, and without money to pay for treatments – my hair starts to fall out. There’s a saying, ‘When a girl cuts her hair, she’s about to change her whole life.’ And that’s exactly what I did.” Philomina completely gave up relaxers that chemically altered her hair’s natural texture. “I became obsessed with natural hair care and started a YouTube channel to document my natural hair journey. This is a collective experience Black women share. Through my channel, a community known as the ‘KINfolk’ was born.”

Philomina’s YouTube channel reached 188,000 subscribers and she started selling satin merch to her audience. “I didn’t set out to start a brand,” she admits. “But they say when you are walking in your purpose, things fall into place. KIN is an acronym for ‘Keep It Naturally.’ KIN Apparel evolved very organically.”

Asked what excites her about working in e-commerce, Philomina answers, “This space allows me to connect with the KINfolk community in a way that wouldn’t be possible in a brick-and-mortar store. I love putting my marketing skills to use, and seeing them resonate, excite, and convert people. There’s no better feeling than coming up with an idea, making a video or meme, posting it and people becoming engaged.”

Launching KIN Apparel: Brand Identity & Strategy

In 2020, Philomina left her full-time job working as a marketing director to completely focus on KIN Apparel. Leveraging solely off her YouTube channel and marketing skills on Instagram, KIN made $246,000 in the first year. A major turning point came in 2021 when Philomina was invited to appear on Shark Tank (season 13, episode 1). “We got a huge boost from the show,” she says. “It gave us incredible exposure, organic traffic, and credibility as a brand. Sales have increased every year – we have reached $8 million lifetime sales so far.”

As the face of KIN Apparel from day one, Philomina believes that storytelling and authenticity have been crucial to the brand’s success. “Many entrepreneurs are afraid to put themselves out there. Who better to tell your story than you? I have an inviting personality that people vibe with – my goal has always been to personally connect with our customers.” 

Drawing from her marketing background, Philomina strives to create content that entertains, inspires, and/or educates her target audience. “I am not going to post just to post,” she says. “My content needs to have substance. I look at trends and think about how we can insert KIN, push a product, and communicate our message.”

KIN Apparel’s Team Structure

In addition to Philomina, KIN’s team consists of 5 full-time and 3 part-time employees, all of whom work remotely. “In the beginning, I was answering all the tickets. As KIN grew, I had to hire people, but we are still a small company.” She values the efficiency of the KIN team and has no plans to expand any time soon. “My marketing manager and I are based in Philadelphia. Our director of operations is in Delaware, production manager is in Norway, and our communications lead is in Nigeria. I love that with a remote structure, I can hire talent from all over the world.” They are supported by a part-time social media manager and 2 customer service representatives.

Driving Revenue and Customer Retention with Product Innovation

“We are seeing 20% to 30% of our customers returning from month to month. They are coming back because we are innovating and offering new products – 1 to 2 new products each quarter,’ Philomina says. She reveals that innovation starts by “thinking about my day-to-day life and where I rest my head. I’m always asking, ‘How can I incorporate satin to protect my hair?’” KIN also listens to its customers – data and feedback are collected through surveys, Instagram posts and stories, and website reviews. “We’ve gotten a lot of great ideas from the KINfolk community. Anything that we bring to market has to resonate with them. Great examples are our satin bonnet pillowcase, a travel pillowcase, and satin car headrest cover, which offers protection while driving.” 

Thinking of KIN as a seasonal business that fulfills the varying needs of customers year-round has also led to product innovation, and ultimately customer retention and increased revenue. “We are constantly asking, ‘What problem related to protecting natural hair are we solving this season?’ Someone may buy a satin-lined hoodie from us to keep warm during winter and realize they want the satin bucket hat for summer. We are getting ready to drop a satin-lined windbreaker for spring – no one has thought of it, but once they see it, they want to have it. This keeps our customers excited and coming back to see what's next.” 

KIN’s CX Philosophy and Approach

Evolving from its community-based roots, KIN’s CX is guided by a philosophy described as “by the people, for the people.” Philomina explains how this carries over the brand’s approach to customer service. “We want to really understand our customers – how they found us, their buying habits, and what they want right now in terms of protection and style. To do this requires that most of our customer interactions be handled with personal touch.”

To answer repeated questions from customers quickly and efficiently, KIN uses Gorgias to generate macros (pre-made responses). KIN also understands that natural hair care varies by the individual, and trains customer service representatives so they can provide accurate responses and information. “We are a very kind, welcoming, and fun team,” Philomina adds. “We want this attitude reflected in KIN’s CX.”

Looking Ahead

KIN will continue to cultivate a personal approach to customer service by training representatives to provide thoughtful and specific responses. Additionally, the brand is transitioning to having its representatives answer tickets 7 days a week (they were previously available 5 days). “People shop on the weekends,” Philomina points out. “As we grow, I want to maintain the same specialized coverage that we started with. At the end of the day, we are nothing without our customers. It’s important to serve and respect them.”

Tech Stack

Gorgias

Loop

Shopify Plus

Attentive