My name is Nathaniel King, a 22 year old Filipino entrepreneur combining my love for fashion, aesthetics, branding, and business to build the next *it* hoodie brand. When I found out that there was a real opportunity to merge fashion and business as a career path, I then studied Fashion Marketing at KPU's Wilson School of Design, where I learned the essentials of brand management. At 19, I invested nearly all my savings into launching my first venture, TOTO, a tote bag brand that debuted at the Richmond Night Market. I bought a small heat press, some vinyl, blank tote bags and a Cricut. After playing around with some designs on my laptop, I posted some drafts on Instagram stories on my personal account. I received lots of replies asking if I was selling it… and I was like? Should I pursue this small idea to the next level?

So I did. Coincidentally, I see an Ad for the Richmond Night Market - I immediately thought to myself that there is a real opportunity to make this side hustle work. The foot traffic, exposure and platform is exactly what I needed to turn this small idea into a legitimate small business.

Next thing I knew, I called the Richmond Night Market, and an hour later I was at their office. The next day, I emptied my bank account to pay the invoice to book a single weekend at the end of May 2022 (as I couldn’t afford the whole season).

So here comes opening day, I set up and the customer traffic was slow. But as the night progressed, more and moreeee people started to crowd around my shop, and suddenly, I’m more than half sold out of tote bags. Of course I was excited and relieved that complete strangers resonated with my minimal aesthetic designs and would actually pay money for it! Throughout the night, I was also recording a mini TikTok vlog of the whole day, then I quickly edited and posted it before I finally slept in.

I woke up the next morning, and my phone is buzzing with notifications. I’m like did I get cancelled? So I check… and that vlog of my first day at the Richmond Night Market went viral, reaching almost 50k views within just a few hours.

On the second night of the weekend, I swear to Lord the whole city showed up. Not really. But it felt like it. The success was shockingly immediate—thanks to that viral TikTok vlog, I sold out for the rest of opening weekend.

Driven by this momentum, I expanded the brand into apparel the following year, specializing in puff-printed hoodies that quickly gained a following. I invested more money this time to have a permanent stall at the 2023 and 2024 Richmond Night Market. Drawing from hands-on experience at Zara, Oak+Fort, and Aritzia, along with insights from fashion school and trusting my gut, I rebranded to KNG STUDIOS. While there were many achievements, I also opened myself up to lessons and failures that were essential for my growth and strategy.

The brand embodies minimalism, streetwear, and spirituality, with an overarching theme I call ‘aggressive optimism,’ a mindset I hope to inspire in others. Currently, I’m focused on scaling KNG STUDIOS’ e-commerce presence and continuing to grow my vision.

I am proud to see how far this little side hustle has grown - being able to use business as a creative outlet, is a blessing that came with a lot of hard work and sacrifices. Funding my dream of owning a clothing brand through serving at a restaurant, while attending school, truly displayed my dedication for building my own empire. I don’t see myself working in an office for the rest of my life; I want to be hands on with fabrics, machines, ideas, and collections - not a keyboard and mouse in corporate.

KNG STUDIOS is a Filipino-owned brand that explores the intersection of minimalism, spirituality and streetwear through apparel. As a small business we operate through a made-to-order system in an effort to practice sustainable fashion by producing limited quantity runs.

KNG STUDIOS prides itself as a Vancouver-based small business that started out in the Richmond Night Market in 2022. Formerly known as TOTO VANCOUVER and NOMADD GOODS (we had to rebrand twice), we received such overwhelming success in our opening weekend - and the rest is history!

Currently, we do pop-up stores throughout the city, mainly in Downtown Vancouver. We hope to pop-up in other Canadian cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton in 2025.

We currently do not have a permanent location, however we host pop-up stores throughout the year and a season long booth at the 2024 Richmond Night Market - follow us on Instagram for updates @kngstudios777

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