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Lexington entrepreneur Katie Sharp, pictured here, started a vintage kimono business after becoming enamored with the beauty of kimonos while living in Japan. Photo by Sarah Caton
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Lexington entrepreneur Katie Sharp, pictured here, started a vintage kimono business after becoming enamored with the beauty of kimonos while living in Japan. Photo by Sarah Caton
Though somewhat difficult to accurately translate, the Japanese concept “wabi sabi” refers to the art of embracing imperfection in everyday life – imploring people to find beauty in flaws, rather than frowning upon them. The concept is manifested in various elements of Japanese art and culture, such as the 15th-century art form kintsugi, in which broken tea bowls are repaired rather than discarded, the cracks filled with an adhesive laced with gold paint.
The concept of giving new life to something old or broken is deeply embedded into the mission of Lexington-based vintage kimono business WabiSabi Threads. Founded in 2017 by local entrepreneur Katie Sharp, the brand centers on an online shop featuring authentic vintage kimonos. In addition, Wabi Sabi stays true to its name with a weekly podcast, launched last month, that empowers women and encourages them to embrace their uniqueness and imperfect beauty.
Sharp, who studied fashion and business at Ohio State University, moved to Japan in 2015 with her husband, who works for Toyota. When her sister-in-law came to visit, she wanted to look at kimonos – but with brand new kimonos often costing upward of $1,000, purchasing a new one felt out-of-reach.
“I took her to a secondhand store and saw all of these beautiful, real kimonos,” Sharp explained. “Every store has some version of the kimono – when I saw these real ones I thought, ‘why can’t we wear the real thing in a new way in Western culture?’”
Soon after seeing the vintage pieces, Sharp started outlining a business model, spending a few months securing buyers in Japan before returning to the United States in 2017. That summer, she launched an online shop selling vintage kimonos and haoris (a shorter version of the traditional kimono). Today, most of Sharp’s sales take place at pop-up markets and other temporary shopping events, as she transitions to primarily making sales online.
All of the pieces available from Wabi Sabi Threads were hand-selected by Sharp when she was still living in Japan. She brought back nearly 200 of them when they returned to Kentucky.
In addition to kimonos and haoris, Sharp also sells handmade rattan purses – also known as “Bali Bags” – from Indonesia, one of her favorite places to visit while abroad. But the business has always been about more than retail for Sharp.
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While an e-commerce shop selling authentic vintage Japanese kimonos is central to Wabi Sabi Threads’ business model, the company also has a strong focus on empowering women through a new weekly podcast and donating a portion of proceeds to female-centric organizations. Photo by Sarah Caton
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While an e-commerce shop selling authentic vintage Japanese kimonos is central to Wabi Sabi Threads’ business model, the company also has a strong focus on empowering women through a new weekly podcast and donating a portion of proceeds to female-centric organizations. Photo by Sarah Caton
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While an e-commerce shop selling authentic vintage Japanese kimonos is central to Wabi Sabi Threads’ business model, the company also has a strong focus on empowering women through a new weekly podcast and donating a portion of proceeds to female-centric organizations. Photo by Sarah Caton
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While an e-commerce shop selling authentic vintage Japanese kimonos is central to Wabi Sabi Threads’ business model, the company also has a strong focus on empowering women through a new weekly podcast and donating a portion of proceeds to female-centric organizations. Photo by Sarah Caton
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While an e-commerce shop selling authentic vintage Japanese kimonos is central to Wabi Sabi Threads’ business model, the company also has a strong focus on empowering women through a new weekly podcast and donating a portion of proceeds to female-centric organizations. Photo by Sarah Caton
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While an e-commerce shop selling authentic vintage Japanese kimonos is central to Wabi Sabi Threads’ business model, the company also has a strong focus on empowering women through a new weekly podcast and donating a portion of proceeds to female-centric organizations. Photo by Sarah Caton
The business donates a percentage of all sales to different organizations that are run by and/or focused on women – Ampersand Sexual Violence Resource Center of the Bluegrass, First Generation Women Achievers of the Bluegrass and Grameen America are among the organizations that have benefitted from Wabi Sabi Threads’ proceeds since its inception.
In February, Sharp launched a weekly podcast called “Flawed and Fearless” in an effort to establish a community of women who embrace the Wabi Sabi concept. The podcast focuses on real conversations among women, in a way that seeks to “bridge the gap between only seeing the ‘highlight reel’ online with real life,” according to its iTunes description.
“The goal is to bring the community together that we’ve been creating over the last year and a half,” Sharp said. “I’ll be interviewing women locally, and hopefully outside of our city, who have done interesting things and really live out that confident Wabi Sabi way of life.”
Though the project is still in in its infancy, Sharp plans to release new episodes on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Facebook every Wednesday. The podcast can also be found on iTunes and Google Play.
The new project has certainly kept her busy with learning new skills and technologies, but Sharp is ultimately excited by the opportunity to use unique and beautiful vintage clothing as the base of a platform she hopes will help bring women together.
“There’s still this underlying competition between women,” she said. “But there is room for everybody in their journey and their success.”
Visit wabisabithreads.co to browse and shop the current collection of kimonos, or follow @wabisabithreads on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with news about the podcast episodes.