When she arrived at the convention center in Orlando she noticed the neighboring space, three times the size of her spot, was vacant. McCarthy could only afford the tiniest booth size possible but she found a way to standout by tapping a bachelorette party photobooth specialist to deck out her space with an eye-catching pink and white striped carpet, a palm tree and a grass wall. ![]() Kilo Tangoįortune unexpectedly struck at the PGA Merchandise show last year where the brand debuted. Kilo Tango founder Katie McCarthy in her booth at the PGA Merchandise show last year. And while it’s since been knocked off a couple times since, McCarthy savvily takes imitation as a compliment. The flouncy look is the young brand’s runaway bestseller. McCarthy’s refusal to compromise on fit and fabric that wasn’t just right would pay dividends in the end. It took ten iterations, a costly endeavor, to get a versatile sleeveless racer-backed swing dress with a drawstring waist that can either be worn buttoned up mock neck style or v-necked and collared right. “People didn’t take me seriously because I look very young, so I often did calls off camera because I was 22 and trying to negotiate a big production run,” McCarthy explained. While passionate about fashion, McCarthy didn’t go to school for it, nor was she versed on making a product from scratch, so there was a learning curve to every step of the process from design and fabric selection to negotiating with manufacturers. People put that sticker on everything and I wanted something that could have that kind of connection,” McCarthy explained. Vineyard Vines does a great job with that cute little whale. “I wanted a wearable logo, something you could put on a hat or on your car as a sticker. She then landed on a pin flag shaped garnish pick bisecting a lime after drawing a crude sketch of the eventual design on her iPhone and getting a thumbs up from her dad. Early on in the ideation process she was spit-balling potential names with her brother, who is a pilot in the marine corps, and when she said ‘Kilo Tango’ he thought it was catchy and the ball started rolling. She still remembers sitting on a barstool at a friend’s apartment in March of 2021 and realizing that if she didn’t do this, somebody else would. She also noted that large athletic brands had confusing size chart variations between sports so you could be size X in yoga and running wear but a size Y for golf, the assumption being that “golfers were bigger.” I don’t know where that idea came from, but it was definitely designed for women of an older age who are less athletic and golf has grown increasingly athletic,” McCarthy explained. ![]() ![]() “I don’t think people would wear rainbow cheetah normally, but somehow if it’s in a pro shop, people do. While investigating the state of the marketplace, she found a lot of legacy brand fits to be too boxy and their prints were too loud. She felt the status quo wasn’t cutting it and there was an opportunity to fill a void in the marketplace by appealing to a growing cohort of new golfers who did not want to hit the links looking like their grandmothers. and a swing dress) hit the driving range. A trio decked out in looks from Kilo Tango's current collection (sleeveless polos, ruffle skorts.
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