Introducing Dee Kapadıya
Tell us what you do? and how you came about your side hustle(s)?
I am a CEO and creative director at Dee Kapadiya, my own contemporary women’s clothing brand.
I have always been a very creative person. Drawing, painting, and art have always been my strength. I had always dreamed to be a designer but life took its course and I focused on raising my family being a newbie immigrant to Canada. Being from Mumbai I had firsthand experienced latest in fashion, strongly felt the absence of modern Indian aesthetics/silhouettes of fashion in Canada. I found it very difficult to find an outfit that pleased my aesthetics. That’s when I decided it was time to start my own label “Dee Kapadiya”.
I am a CEO and creative director at Dee Kapadiya, my own contemporary women’s clothing brand.
I have always been a very creative person. Drawing, painting, and art have always been my strength. I had always dreamed to be a designer but life took its course and I focused on raising my family being a newbie immigrant to Canada. Being from Mumbai I had firsthand experienced latest in fashion, strongly felt the absence of modern Indian aesthetics/silhouettes of fashion in Canada. I found it very difficult to find an outfit that pleased my aesthetics. That’s when I decided it was time to start my own label “Dee Kapadiya”.
What about your work brings you true joy?
Being a creative person, I love, love, love designing and creating new silhouettes and outfits. To me, designing is a means of expressing myself. This also gives me an opportunity to meet new people leading to creating meaningful relations! I am so grateful to have met some amazing personals throughout this journey!
What has been your most valuable learnings?
My most valuable learning is that we only have limited time on this earth so we should make the best use of it! Love hard, laugh hard and just be kind to others! Most importantly, don’t let others opinion change who you are. Workwise, believe in yourself, don’t overthink and be consistent!
If you could learn to do anything, what would that be?
That’s an interesting question. Honestly, I want to learn to play guitar!! I love to listen to upbeat music. Every time I feel low emotionally, I remind myself to put on an upbeat music and instantly it boosts my energy up emotionally as well as physically. Music is a stress reliever for me and I feel I can instantly disconnect if I could play a guitar. Hopefully one day!!
If you could be any fictional character, who would it be and why?
I don’t want to be 1 specific character as I love bits and pieces of so many of them. I would love to be little bit of Elastic girl for who she is as a mom very supportive, always standing strong for her kids, letting them be themselves and accepting who they are and Edna E Mode for the fashion mogul she is! Both characters are from Incredibles!
Can you describe an experience/incident that happened that made you a stronger person?
Two years back, one incident affected me mentally and emotionally. One client found me through social media and booked an in-studio appointment. I always instruct all new clients to go over our online store to see our designs and get acquainted with our price points. When she arrived, she loved so many outfits and she even tried few of them and fell in love with them. She finalized few outfits and then inquired about the prices. As soon as I told her the price points, she stormed out of the door with these words, “Oh you make outfits for the riches”, I stood there like a statue and didn’t had a word to say. My tears started to roll out. I couldn’t believe what I just heard. I have always wanted my brand to be very transparent and I am very strategic when it comes to pricing our outfits. There are so many hours of labour that goes into each outfit not just by me but my entire team and I want to make sure I value in that effort! I strongly believe in maintaining my brand to be ethical and want to make sure I pay fair to all my employees. That day I took time to think about it and told myself, I will never get affected by such opinions/views because those are not mine to have and they come from a person who maybe is going through a hard time or a bad day which has nothing to do with me/our brand.
If you could give your past self any advice, what would it be?
If I have to give my past self any advice I would tell her to believe in herself and don’t let others define who you are. No one knows what you are capable of doing so you need to believe in yourself and keep doing what you good at and one day you will be proud of yourself for not giving up and believing in yourself.
Cover banner photo courtesy of Dee Kapadiya