What began as a small idea has blossomed into a lucrative business venture for Kesi Asher, who is now reaping much success.

For the past two years, Asher has been working feverishly to master the art of running her own business, a task which she is handling extremely well as managing director of Yaad Cloze Designs, a company that designs and sells ladies' shorts and underwear.

"We design the shorts locally ... they are sewn here and we print our logo as well as catch phrases on them. The panties, on the other hand, are not sewn here. We get those from a supplier, but we print little catch phrases on them," Kesi explained.

The underwear line includes thongs, full-fitting panties, ladies' briefs, produced in different sizes and colours and 100 per cent cotton.

Asher pointed out that the panties were done to fit every female contour and are available in different styles for all women.

Very fond of underwear

Citing her reasons for doing underwear and shorts designs, she notes that "I thought about underwear because I am very, very fond of underwear. I like the very nice looking ones and I find that a lot of the panties that are being made now are very lacy and uncomfortable, so I decided to go with cotton, as it is very hygienic and takes the print a lot better than other fabrics."

"As for shorts," she continues, "I like the small, sexy ones and I find that not a lot of that is on the market now, so I decided to do that as well."

Explaining how her business operates, Asher noted that while she outsourced the sewing and printing to a local factory, she conceptualises the designs for her underwear and shorts lines. "I am the only person in the company, so I come up with the design, the catchphrases and how the product is supposed to look. I source the material for the shorts right here in Jamaica from the regular fabric stores and tell them (the factory) what exactly I want and they do the sewing and printing," she says.

Asher's clientele range from ages 18 to 40, mostly women, although there are a few male customers who purchase items for their better half.

She explained that her business was seasonal, with three collections annually - Christmas, Valentine and summer - which she promotes and markets through summer and Christmas shows.

At Christmas, she participates in the JBDC's annual Christmas fair and marketplace, Kumba Mi Yabba.

Collections unique

She says that it is through the shows and all the other media that she markets and get sales for her collections.

Asher boasts that her collections are unique, as each year she produces different pieces and never repeats a design.

"Once you buy something from either our Christmas or summer collections, you can rest assured that you are probably one of 10 people in the entire island that has that piece," she affirms.

Even though Asher holds a first degree in English literature and sociology and never got formal training in design, she maintains that it is an area that she loves and has a passion for, and uses as a means of challenging her creative side.

In terms of the growth, she says that her client base has moved from 30 persons in the initial stage to 200 currently.

She gives high praise and credit to the JBDC for giving her both the technical and financial support to establish her business. The company provides development assistance for micro, small and medium size enterprises.

Future looking even brighter

At the birth of her business, Asher says that the corporation gave her the opportunity to participate in the Kumba Mi Yabba show, from which she made "her first big profit".

"I would encourage every business interest to seek the support of the JBDC because they give you both financial as well as business development support, and it is not just when you are starting but they continue to support you throughout," she said.

The future is looking even brighter for Asher, who is poised at growing and strengthening her business. For more information call 397-8732 or email: yaadcloze@hotmail.com.