k ko: From Donating Rags to Retailing Riches

On Friday, May 28th, 2004, Kelly Frame opened the doors of her new business, k ko, a high-end specialty clothing boutique. The opening marked the end of more than three years of tireless market research, diligent business planning, countless visits to potential retail sites, and frustrating financial rejection. k ko’s opening also marked the fulfillment of Kelly’s lifelong love of creative and interesting clothing and accessories.

k ko, short for the Kelly Collection, was originally the nickname for Kelly’s own clothes that she donated to domestic violence shelters and to her friends and family. Far from the original hand-me downs and donations, k ko is now home to an array of unusual clothing lines and accessories ranging from colorful silk sweaters to hand-embroidered Chinese silk jackets, displayed under mother of pearl pendant light fixtures and surrounded by fresh flowers.

“I’m not an artist, I just love creative things,” says Kelly, “I could never sit behind a desk pushing paper.” With a BA in Art History in hand, she initially felt encouraged to start her own business, but decided to acquire additional design and sales skills working for the Boston-based interior design firms Haworth, Inc. and Bergmeyer Associates.

Now that she began to make her move toward entrepreneurship, she quickly learned that transforming her business idea into an actual retail store was not as easy as it appeared. Finding a location for k ko proved to be a lengthy and sometimes disheartening process. “Realtors would hang up on me the minute I said I was a start-up business owner,” Kelly recalls.

With only 20% of the funding she needed in start-up costs and discouraged by stories of other small business financial failures, Kelly turned to the Center for Women & Enterprise in October 2002 for assistance in fine-tuning her business plan, reviewing her financing options, and gaining legal advice on her business venture. Thanks to a CWE partnership with Testa, Hurwitz, & Thibeault, Kelly also received invaluable legal advice about leasing a space and real estate issues from the CWE legal counselor-in-residence. CWE financial services managers further assisted her in constructing a viable business plan with strong financials, and introduced her business to a network of potential lenders.

With CWE’s help, Kelly secured a SBA-backed $135,000 small business loan. “I wish I had come to CWE sooner. I really don’t think I would have secured a loan without their help.”

k ko is located at 652 Tremont Street in the South End. k ko can be reached at 617-247-4200.