TWO university freshmen transformed their passion for design and the creative arts into a profitable business with their clothing brand, Wicked Dye.

The lessons taught in visual arts class in high school matured into more than just a class project, leading to a profit-making business and a productive pasttime activity for friends and co-founders, 22-year-old Nastassia Singh and 21-year-old Jada Campbell, who ventured into tie and dye T-shirts.

“We like graphic T-shirts and certain designs — I think it really personalises someone’s personality,” said co-founder Nastassia Singh in an interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Similar to numerous small businesses, the tedium brought about by pandemic lockdowns in 2020 motivated the two entrepreneurs to channel their creativity into a business endeavour. Initially a fun hobby, their entrepreneurial ambitions caught the attention of their parents who recognised their business acumen and invested in their venture, providing support and encouragement.

“We had support; everyone was really excited about us starting and they were willing to assist us,” said Singh.

Despite the challenges of managing their business alongside the demands of university studies, the duo remained dedicated, consistently finding time to market their products. The demand for their shirts grew steadily, indicating the potential for success. Three years in and the two have not departed, despite discovering the pressures of academic work upon entering university, while juggling the operations of a business.

“Whenever we don’t have school to worry about we do find the time to market, and we get more requests for shirts,” said Singh.

Crafting a single shirt required approximately three days for the dye to soak in while bleached designs took around two days. The intricate process resulted in a slowdown of their business operations as they prioritised academic commitments. Nevertheless, their determination to persevere led them to develop an efficient system of designating certain days strictly for dyeing.

“If one of us had a more hectic schedule, the other would try to fill in more by doing more shirts so that the business wouldn’t suffer,” Singh explained.

In addition to time constraints, sourcing the most important ingredient in a tie and dye business was also challenging. According to Singh, the vision was there but the available dye products locally were not capturing the vision of bright and durable colours.

“We had problems sourcing dyes because the dyes they had here weren’t strong so we had to import; and we would usually get our shirts from Sun Island, which would sometime run out,” she said.

Still learning how to operate a business, they did not give up on the first challenge but rather kept testing to determine optimal quantities to purchase, and by when they would need to restock so as to meet demand and keep up with inventory, in case of any shortage with suppliers.

Throughout 2021 Wicked Dye’s sales averaged between five to seven shirts per month. In response, they re-evaluated their input costs and adjusted their pricing accordingly.

“Seeing that we order stuff from abroad, we had to increase the price and we are now seeing profits. We started marketing better also and friends and family members got more interested, and in Christmas of 2022 we sold over twenty shirts “said a proud Singh.

This consistent growth in profitability during the first year brought immense pride and motivation to Nastassia and Jada who have continued to devote their efforts to the business in 2023, witnessing gradual improvements in their monthly profits.

With relatively low start up costs and the convenience of operating from home, fulfilling orders at any time was feasible. The duo discovered that one particular tie-dye style, which they named Rockaz, garnered significant attention and is their most popular design. Another design called Konoko is a close second, both generating eighty per cent of their profits.

“It [Konoko] is a crumpled dyed shirt with whatever colour you decide,” said Singh.

Inspired by their genuine interest in Jamaican culture they named these designs accordingly. “We are both very artistic — we’re dancers and we love music and nature — so we named our shirts off of a Jamaican theme,” Singh explained.

They do occasional pop-ups from where consumers can purchase their products, and they intend to continue with these showcases.

Although their primary focus remains on T-shirts, Wicked Dye aspires to expand into other apparel.

“We plan to extend into dresses and shorts and totes [but] for now we are working on how we can improve the T-shirt,” she said.