Meet Kitri: the affordable, quality dress brand that's probably your new best friend

Are you feeling too old for Topshop, but not quite flush enough for Fendi?

Finding beautifully-crafted, chic clothes with price tags that don’t make you want to crumple on the floor and let out a small sob can sometimes feel like an insurmountable task.

It’s one that Haeni Kim, founder of contemporary womenswear label Kitri, came to know well as she reached her late twenties. “I didn’t really know where to go to shop anymore,” says the 31-year-old London-based South Korean. “We all love Zara but I think there comes that point when you’ve had a rough day at work and you have a nice event to go to in the evening and you want to put on a special piece that is well-made, that’s going to make you feel great and is not at a price point that is going to make your eyes water.”

And so, with no formal design training, Kim set about creating a brand to cater to women who felt lost in the chasm between Primark and Prada.

And boy did she succeed. Kitri clothes are fashionable without being too slavishly on-trend and the quality is a cut above anything you’ll find on the high street. The best bit however is the prices, which at £80 for a blouse and £150 for dresses and jumpsuits, are quite frankly amazing given how the clothes look and feel.

Kim has great working relationships with the factories in China where most Kitri clothes are made thanks to the five years she spent working for a garment manufacturing company in Hong Kong before she moved back to London to start the business in 2017. This, combined with the largely online-only business model allows Kitri to keep costs down. “The manufacturers understood the quality we wanted and what we were trying to achieve and have supported us from the beginning,” she explains.

The name Kitri comes from Kim’s first career, as a professional ballerina. It’s the name of the powerful female heroine from the ballet Don Quixote, her first solo dance. “If you think about ballet then you think of quite passive female characters,” explains Kim. “But Kitri is this wilful, feisty heroine figure. It’s quite a meaty character to get into and I wanted to embed that spirit into the brand.”

“When I think about the kind of woman I want to see in Kitri, I see strong, professional women who are leading their way in industry. They marry for love, not money and they are creative, strong… they have their sh*t together.”

In this sense, Kim is the living embodiment of the Kitri woman. In 2017 alone she launched a business (in March), organised her own seriously fabulous wedding in June (covered by Vogue) and then launched the brand’s first ever pop-up in August. Her husband Mike runs the business with her, focussing on operations and finance – “it can be intense but we have a common goal and work really well together,” she says.

Kitri not only differentiate themselves on price but also exclusivity and only make a limited batch of each style - anything from 50 to 500 depending on the item. “We wanted to create classic, playful styles and make them in limited quantities,” says Kim. Buy Kitri and it’s highly improbable you’ll ever be faced with that all too familiar three girls at the party in the same Zara dress scenario.

This means sometimes a style will run out, as it did when fashion influencer Charlotte Groeneveld (@TheFashionGuitar) wore their green dress in a paid-for Instagram post last year. The resulting hype was so great that Kitri couldn’t keep the dress in stock. “It’s amazing how people responded to that,” says Kim. “I’m still surprised and humbled by the reaction. It was a major turning point for us.”

The dress, which is available online now, was so popular Kim decided to make an exception on the limited stock run policy. “We really don’t believe in creating thousands and thousands with no reaction or demand, and then having to try and flog them. I think that’s really wasteful.” Says Kim. “That said, we need to find the right balance of keeping limited edition runs but also making a product available if there is a demand for it. The response from our customers reminded me of the emotional side of fashion – if they cannot get their hands on a dress, they’ll be upset.”

Kitri have this week opened their second ever pop-up shop in Soho’s Brewer Street, with gorgeous lavender and green-hued interiors designed by creative agency of the moment Campbell Rey. Not only does the super-Instagrammable space give people an opportunity to touch and try on the clothes, but it’s a great way for Kitri to get to know their customers –“we’ll be listening to what they have to say, getting their reactions to new season styles.”

If you are already a Kitri girl, it’s a lovely space in which to plot your next purchase, if you're new to the brand, might I suggest a visit. The good money says you'll find a super-chic wardrobe workhorse that will put you off fast fashion for good.

As Kim says: “We are not trying to create a revolutionary new silhouette. We are trying to give modern women things to wear that are versatile, things that provide wardrobe solutions.”

Kitristudio.com