Woman of the Week: Kathleen Kohut

by Melissa Bessey

It’s not everyday you meet a woman who’s passionate about fashion, that has a desire to help women of all income brackets to be fashionable. Meet Kathleen Kohut, owner, founder and CEO of Kathleen’s Closet, a Toronto based fashion consultation business designed to help women feel empowered through fashion.

As a personal image consultant, Kathleen recognizes that there are several key things she can do for her clients to make them feel more confident in their clothing. Kathleen’s expertise also doesn’t require a high end price tag to get it. She developed the idea of merging her passions into a successful business that continues to grow and help women in need today, by offering professional consultation services at affordable rates and giving clients an option to give their unwanted items to a good cause.

“I wanted to offer wardrobe services to the everyday woman, you know, someone who wants fashion help, but doesn’t have a huge budget. It works two fold because at the end of it, if they have clothing to get rid of, they can donate them to the non-profit program where we give specific clothing items to shelters with a high need.”

The key elements that Kathleen focuses on in her consultancy role are; looking at what you’ve already got in your wardrobe, assessing what works and what doesn’t, choosing pieces that you can tailor or have altered to better suit your personal style without breaking the bank, organizing your closet and finally shopping for new additions if necessary and if your budget permits. While Kathleen does love shopping and acting as a personal shopping assistant, she feels that often the most effective part of what she does is helping women understand their own style, being confident in it and also finding ways to get each woman organized with a method that works for them.

In addition to the consultation part of her business, Kathleen started Kathleen’s Closet, as a clothing swap host, realizing that she knew lots of women who needed clothes for a job interview or who simply had items in their wardrobe they never wore, that someone else could use. She also knew that as a society we’re so bogged down with the idea that everything costs something, she wanted to get women together in a way that is affordable and allow them to walk away happy with a new item.

Nearly two and a half years after her first swap, that part of the business has grown bigger than Kathleen herself and now her friends and associates also host swaps presented by Kathleen’s Closet.  The greatest unexpected benefit to the clothing swaps is the opportunity for women of different backgrounds to network and promote their businesses. At clothing swaps Kathleen suggests that everyone bring their business cards and she’s had several up and coming jewellery designers bring their work and sell their latest designs to women at the swaps.

If you’re a woman who’s either looking to revamp your wardrobe with help of a professional, or if you’re curious about Kathleen’s Closet clothing swaps, you can stay up to date with all of the organization’s events and get in touch with Kathleen at www.kathleenscloset.com

To any woman looking for fashion advice, Kathleen’s number one suggestion is to know your own style and make sure to have some classic pieces in your wardrobe . You can then mix and match with the latest fashion trends, without having to buy a new wardrobe every season.