Meet Bailey Kennedy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bailey Kennedy.

Hi Bailey, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m the creative mind behind Smallest Dad Studio. I officially started this business two years ago in the Spring of 2019 – but I’ve pretty much always known I wanted to start my own business. I was raised by a family of entrepreneurs, so the idea of working for someone else and not pursuing my dreams never really occurred to me.

I’ve always had creative tendencies as well, painting and drawing from the time I could hold a pencil, so I’ve done whatever I can to pursue both passions. I attended UNCW, where I majored in Business Administration and Minored in Studio Art, and about a year after I graduated in 2018, I started pursuing art professionally. Around this time is when I joined my family’s business, K5, where I began developing my skills as a screen-printer. This is where I’ve really been able to grow my business as I learn so much every day about printing, graphic design, and customer service, which has been invaluable to my own venture.

Now, I work at K5 part-time and dedicate as much time as I can to Smallest Dad Studio. I created an e-commerce site and am fulfilling online orders every week! I also have plans to attend several upcoming markets in Raleigh, including the Community Market at Ruby Deluxe on Saturday, June 26th.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Running a business by yourself is never easy, and I’ve had my fair share of struggles since I decided I wanted to pursue this career path. For one thing, my financial situation has been pretty rocky since I graduated college, and COVID didn’t do anything to improve that situation. Bouncing back from that and making enough to cover all my living expenses AND invest in my business has been challenging. Now that we’re entering the post-pandemic age, I’m booking markets and doing everything I can so I can make my business successful and move closer to my ultimate goal of running Smallest Dad Studio full time!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
On the art side of things, I’m an abstract artist – I create unique map-like paintings centered around the relationship between color, texture, and lines. My preferred media is gouache paint (sort of like a cross between watercolor and acrylic, it’s awesome) though I do occasionally incorporate collage elements and other mixed media. I’ve had my work in several shows over the past few years, my first being the All Student Show during my final year at UNCW. I still pursue painting whenever I have time outside of my day job and SDS and am always open to commissions!

The main focus for my business has become the screen-printed apparel, which I design and produce by hand from start to finish. I started with drawings I’ve created over the past few years, which I scanned into Photoshop and cleaned up before shooting my own screens and printing the designs on shirts, tank tops, hoodies, and more. I’ve become particularly good at creating multi-color prints with only 1-2 silkscreens by using several ink colors in one screen to create a gradient effect when printing. This is the process you’ll see most in the Pride Collection, which is what I’ve been working on over the past three months.

The main thing I believe sets me apart from others is my stance on inclusivity in my business. I currently carry sizes XS-3X, and I’m working on carrying 4X & 5X soon as well. I charge the same amount for my plus-sized garments as all the other sizes because I believe that’s only fair. I also use a diverse range of models when I shoot my clothes, especially highlighting those with varying body sizes, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ people (particularly trans and nonbinary folks). Representation is so important and unfortunately still lacking in the fashion industry, so I want to use whatever platform I have to make meaningful change in regards to that.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Apps: Lightroom and Snapseed are two apps I love to use for editing my photos from shoots, and the best part is they’re both free!

Books: If only I had more time to read… I’m not gonna lie; I’ve been working on the same self-help book about habits for the past six months at least.

Podcasts: Not technically relevant to my work, but I love listening to the Modern Love podcast on my commute to and from the printing studio because it’s entertaining as well as thoughtful and ultimately leaves me in an uplifted mood.

Pricing:

• Stickers: $3
• Mystery Apparel: $15.95+
• Tees & Tanks: $19.95+
• PRIDE Collection: $21.95
• CUSTOM Apparel: $25+

Contact Info:

• Email: smallestdadstudio@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.smallestdadstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smallestdadstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallestdadstudio/

Image Credits
Kendyl Joyce Photography