Founders

Humble Beginnings

Co-Founders and great friends Roger and Patrice met in the retail industry in the late 1970’s when they worked as stock boys at a major department store. One day during their lunch hour, the two got to talking about Patrice’s love for drawing, and eventually began selling tee shirts with designs that Patrice had painted on them in Central Park on their days off. They later discussed using geometric shapes (based on the pyramids in Africa) to create designs for all of the sports in the Olympics. Roger bought a book with all of the Olympic sports in them and Patrice began to sketch them out, sometimes Roger would pose and Patrice would sketch a design based on what he saw. When they realized how great the designs were, they copyrighted them, and decided to silkscreen them on tee shirts, sweatshirts and sweat suits.

Patrice created and built a silkscreen machine and they were off and running. They bypassed the park and Roger began approaching retail stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn, selling the clothing on consignment. The stores consistently ran out of his merchandise and re-ordered. He did trade shows and got orders as far away as Puerto Rico. They knew they had a gem when they advertised in Ebony Magazine and received global responses. This followed with Essence Magazine featuring the designs on tee-shirts that bared the Essence name in their clothing catalog. The two friends parted ways as Patrice returned to his birthplace to learn the jewelry business from his father and Roger began to settle down and raise a family. They set the business aside to pursue their different paths in life, not fully realizing that it wasn’t quite the end.

More than ten years later the two reconnected in a wonderful way, the friendship bond between them making it feel like almost no time had passed. After hearing about their reunion, a spiritual advisor called them kindred spirits. Shortly after that they realized that what they had created was still very viable in this current market. So they decided to revive their business under the new trademarked name KhindredSpirit -promoting timeless, classic designs that are attractive to the masses, with a vision to support other creative artists in their work in the near future. Their business journey is an absolute labor of LOVE.