Meet Kaitlyn Roberson | Hand dyed Clothing designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kaitlyn Roberson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaitlyn, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
What was your thought process behind starting your own business? To be honest I did not think I would have my own business. I started off by dying clothing as a hobby. I had a lot going on in my life, I needed to find something to distract myself from everything going on around me. I love bright colors and I love clothes. What girl doesn’t? I self taught. I watched a lot of tutorials on what to do and what not to do. I went out and bought Rit dye at first, I bought plain white T-shirts and just started experimenting with all these different colors. I did this everyday, for hours at a time. I started this hobby last winter, so it’s been a year now. I would sit outside for hours dying shirts just for fun. It really helped calm my emotions, it distracted my mind. It became my stress reliever. I started getting compliments on how good these T-shirts were coming out which pushed me even more to continue dying clothing. I finally found something I was really good at! I continued to self teach, I had trial and errors but I never let that get me down. I kept going. I would see colors around town and think “Wow! These would look amazing together!” I would go dye a shirt with those colors, I just seen. it just made me so happy. The feeling of that excitement when my thoughts were put on a T-shirt, got rinsed out and dried, to see how beautiful these colors came out together. I love what I’ve started. I continued to get so many compliments, I also started getting comments saying, “you should sell these!” “People would absolutely love them!” Tie dye has been very popular this past year, but I didn’t go into this wanting to make money. It just made me happy and feel better about things. Knowing I was actually good at something and you really can’t “fail” at this. Every tie dyed item comes out differently. The more I dyed, the better I got. With that trial and error I learned to get better products. I stopped using Rit dye, and started using Soda ash and powdered dye from a large Tie dye company. It took off from there. I started selling my Tie dyed clothing! Not very much at first but here and there I would sell a T-shirt or two. I seen my progress with how good I was getting in such little time, it made me feel amazing. I then started thinking, “maybe everyone is right? Maybe I should turn this into a business.” I already work a full time job. I’ve been at the same job for 4 years now. I love my job, my bosses have been a huge help in my life. They brought up that I could start selling my T-shirts there at work! I work at Soapy’s laundromat in Arizona. This excited me even more! I thought to myself “this is really about to take off!” More people will get to see my work! It made me excited but nervous. Why would it make me nervous? I was worried strangers wouldn’t like my work. I was literally putting myself out there to the world! Not just close friends and family. I needed a name for my small business. I decided (BabyK’sTieDyeBoutique) I believe it fits perfectly. My name is Kaitlyn and I started my own tie dye boutique. I not only was dying T-shirts, I started dying, dresses, baby clothing, pants, socks, sheets for bedding, anything white that I seen could be dyed, I went for it. This is the happiest I’ve been in so long! Having my art out in the public for complete strangers to see has been the best most motivating thing that’s happened to me. I get so many compliments on how amazing these items are. People saying “I’m very talented.” “Everything looks professional.” “You’re going to go far!” It’s an amazing feeling that I turned a hobby I started just to help out my mental health, into my own small business and it’s grown so much in such little time. A years worth of time, hard work, self teaching, growth, in myself and learning how to start my own business. I now have two incomes to care for my son, myself, my grandfather and my business. I want my son to know he can do anything he sets his mind to. I want him and other people to be inspired, to believe in themselves. If you can imagine it, you can live it. I will have my own store, selling my own hand dyed clothing in a few years. I want my son to have everything I couldn’t have growing up, that is a reason why I will not quit until I get to where I need to be. I want him to be inspired and learn from his mother and maybe he can take on his own business just from a small hobby he enjoys. I believe everyone should love what they do. If you don’t love what you do, you’re not really living life. Don’t stop until you get to where you want to be.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I love what I create, I love my art because people can wear it out and show it off to the world. For me, it’s different because I started all of this to better my mental health. I believe bright colors can make people happy. It’s a beautiful thing to look at and go “wow these colors are so beautiful together.” You just smile and admire it for a minute. Can you really believe someone hand dyed this shirt, or hoodie, whatever it may be. It’s amazing what people are capable of! At times it has been difficult because there is trial and error when you’re learning something new but I didn’t want to give up. I enjoy teaching myself and learning how to make the colors brighter, and the different folding techniques, color combinations, it’s all a fun learning experience that has really impacted my life and my mental health. The joy I receive when someone loves my art and purchases it for themselves or as a gift for another person is the best feeling. It keeps me going on this journey with my small business.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The most fun, interesting places to go with a friend, for me would be out in nature, going on a hike to places we’ve never seen before. Or maybe to little shops that aren’t so popular in town. Exploring a new town we’ve never been to before, trying new foods, learning new music, Vegas is always a fun experience. Going to museums, walking the beach. That’s what I find fun and exciting with friends.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a huge shout out to my grandparents for letting me use their shed and yard to start my business, and dye my clothing. Rest is paradise, Nana. She would be so proud of me for getting as far as I am right now. I want to thank my bosses for letting me use their shop to put out my clothing and sell them. They encourage me to keep going. All of my friends and family, my little sister, my mom, all of my friends who tell me how proud they are of me for doing something this big with my life. Everyone who pushes me to keep going and never puts negativity on what I love to do. Everyone who has purchased clothing from me and promotes my business. I appreciate every single one of you.

Instagram: BabyK’sTieDyeBoutique

Other: Email Babykstiedye@babyktiedyeboutique.com