De’Tis Kinore 1718 Clothing is an up and coming fashion label in ‘the Black Mecca’, Atlanta, GA, and has been described as ‘the evolution of fashion’ by its two creators, Curtis Kinsel and De’Shun Kilgore. The two 25-year-olds, who both attended South Carolina State University (SCSU) for undergraduate study, initially met through pledging Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
The label’s name was a joint effort in which Kilgore took half of his and Kinsel’s first names (De’Tis), half of his and Kinsel’s last names(Kinore), and combined their [fraternity] line numbers (17 & 18) to form De’Tis Kinore 1718 Clothing.
“I graduated before De’Shun, and moved to Atlanta to work. He came down after me to pursue modeling and we ended up sharing an apartment,” said Kinsel. “We wanted to invest in something and we were looking at a list of ideas; De’Shun said he could make a shirt, so we picked clothing.”
Since the line’s inception in July of 2003, the team has participated in fashion shows at Georgia State University, a designer competition and other talent showcases. “[Fashion] is a hard industry to tap into; you have to dare to be different. There’s a lot of competition, but I personally don’t think that we have any because we have a different style,” said Kilgore.
Kilgore, a native of Greenville, SC, has always been creative, and realizes that he has been interested in fashion since middle school. As a mechanical engineering major at SCSU he also got to explore the elements of design and mechanics. Furthermore, his HBCU experience taught him to be independent and made him more aware of some members their target market. “Black people like to be different, which is our focus with the clothing line,” he said.
Kinsel, who realizes that one must stay innovative to succeed in the fashion industry, learned a valuable lesson while he was a marketing major at SCSU. “It was networking; getting to know people and professors. You have to network to get what you need out of people,” he said. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Kinsel attended predominantly white institutions for the majority of his life and headed to SCSU to get as far away from home as possible.
In trying to keep up with the fast pace of today’s fashion industry, the duo is looking for manufacturers and willing investors. “To manufacture, you need a believable product and financial backing,” said Kilgore. While their line becomes a buzz in Atlanta, taking orders may become an issue. “It’s in-house right now. If we were asked to deliver 50 pieces, we’re only two guys, there’s no way to make that order in the time they’d need it,” said Kinsel.
Also described as a hybrid of high-end fashion mixed with a casual, urban look, the label features the first short-sleeved blazer, which was an original design by Kilgore. “It was just a sketch,” said Kinsel. “Then I saw a performance by Usher and he had a blazer with the sleeves pushed up. When I saw that, I told De’Shun, ‘let’s make the short sleeve blazer’, and the rest is history.”
The designers anticipate big success in the near future and in Kilgore’s words they may be the next ‘number one designers both nationally and internationally’. So remember the name; De’tis Kinore.
To get more info, visit:
www.myspace.com/detiskinore http://photos.yahoo.com/detiskinore1718 or email:
detiskinore1718@yahoo.com
Posted By: Daniel Moss
Friday, April 28th 2006 at 9:00PM
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