ASBURY PARK - Kristina Panettiere, owner of Kased Clothing, has been toiling to find her place in the fashion industry for years, starting her clothing company while working at another job, and now finally opening a store of her own.

“Ever since I got into fashion from an early age, I’ve committed myself to doing everything I could to thrive within the industry itself,” Panettiere said. “I started out on the low end of the totem pole and worked my way up, just hustling as much as I could to get to where I am today.”

Panettiere grew up in Freehold and spent most of her youth working for a family-owned restaurant that she enjoyed, even though it wasn’t her family.

“I worked as a hostess and waitress at Court Jester,” Panettiere said. “It was all family owned and it was a great experience. The people I worked with started off as just co-workers but became my family as time went on. I got to know a lot of the people in Freehold and I made a lot of friends. That’s the gist of my start doing something that I enjoyed.”

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Panettiere worked there for eight years, learning how to deal with people and develop a strong work ethic that would carry on to her own business.

“Everyone should be in the service industry at one point or another their lives,” Panettiere said. “It teaches you how to think on your toes and go with the flow. In a restaurant, one day it’s slow and the next it could be fast. You never really know what you’re going to get.”

'I didn't give up my dreams'

Panettiere worked there through high school and most of college at Kean University.

“I always knew I loved fashion,” Panettiere said. “I didn’t go to school for it, so I didn’t know if I could pursue a career there, but I loved it so much that I didn’t give up my dreams to do so. I knew I could do it and saw myself having a future in this business.”

After graduating from college, Panettiere got a full-time job at Pride Products, a promotional products distributor’s office in Union, at age 22, where she worked for the next three years.

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“We put logos on different things and made all different types of swag and style,” Panettiere said. “Our main niche was companies like law firms, where we put their brands on pens and tote bags. I learned how to do branding and understood the value of that type of business. There was a whole science to something like a logo on a pen sticking out in someone else’s mind. It was a form of subliminal messaging, and I really enjoyed it.”

But Panetierre never stopped chasing her dreams of being in the fashion industry and got a job at a multiline showroom.

“We worked the major shows in New York City like the Javits Center,” Panettiere said. “I represented different brands for that showroom, and I got my exposure to fashion there. I learned how to place orders and how long things take to come in. I understood the corporate end of fashion, as opposed to just the retail end. Although I loved that job and the experience I gained there, my time was short-lived because we lost one of our main clients.”

Panettiere found another job with a company called Premiere Living Products.

“We were a home décor distributor,” Panettiere said. “I worked there for about three years as an account executive and oversaw all the off-price retailer accounts. It was a production-based company, so that’s where I learned how long it takes to get a sample and how to design things. I learned about dealing with factories and the logistics of importing the products.”

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'It's been a long time coming'

But in her off hours, she began designing and selling her own clothing, creating what she called Kased Clothing. The name stands for kreative (a creative spelling), athletic, successful, empowered and dauntless, which she says is how she wants women to feel when they wear her clothes.

“I started Kased Clothing at night and on the weekends,” Panettiere said. “This was all going on while I was still working for these other companies. I slowly built myself up and sold directly from my website. I finally just opened my storefront recently on March 1st, 2023. I am lucky to have a plethora of other businesses around me since opening recently. They are very supportive, and they bring the same great customers to my business as well. I couldn’t ask for a better turnout.”

Panettiere sells all women’s clothing that can be dressed up or down depending on the preference.

“It’s all leisure wear,” Panettiere said. “The whole point of the brand is women’s empowerment and helping them feel comfortable in their own skin, no matter what size they are. I carry clothes of all sizes and I look to draw in all types of clientele based on what clothing appeals to them. We want to carry variety of all kinds.”

Although Panettiere is relatively new, she has big plans for her future.

“Besides focusing on the brick-and-mortar location, we want to grow our wholesale accounts,” Panettiere said. “I want to grow that space, so that I get cased in other boutiques around the country. “It’s been a long time coming, but I’m here now and I will continue to achieve success going forward.”

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Kased Clothing

Location: 658 Cookman Ave., Unit 7, Asbury Park

Phone: 732-688-9153

Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays

Website: www.kasedclothing.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Kased Clothing sells women's leisure wear in Asbury Park NJ