{"id":100806,"date":"2022-09-13T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interac1.wpengine.com\/?post_type=content&p=100806"},"modified":"2025-05-30T19:42:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T23:42:38","slug":"the-story-of-woman-owned-indigenous-brand-kel-tech-gear","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/www.interac.ca\/en\/content\/life\/the-story-of-woman-owned-indigenous-brand-kel-tech-gear\/","title":{"rendered":"From passion project to full-fledged business: the story of woman-owned, Indigenous brand KEL Tech Gear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Small businesses can grow from the most surprising places; for young Mohawk artisan Kelsey Deer, it happened at home. Kelsey graduated in 2019 after studying Technical Clothing Design and worked in the industry for a few years. However, clothing wasn\u2019t her preferred focus \u2013 after hours, she would experiment by designing and sewing bags as a hobby. This passion project eventually inspired her to start her own business featuring original designs, which became KEL Tech Gear<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set up in Kahnaw\u00e0:ke, near Montreal, KEL Tech Gear offers durable technical bags, including chalk bags for climbers as well as bike bags. From the design and marketing of the products to sewing, packaging and shipping, Kelsey does everything herself in her studio at home. Running a small business by herself is a big challenge for the recent graduate, but she\u2019s loving every moment of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A business shaped by a strong community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Growing up in Kahnaw\u00e0:ke and witnessing her community\u2019s creativity in action has fuelled her own. Kelsey is proud of her Mohawk roots, and being able to run a business from home adds to her passion. She says a lot of people in her community are very creative: everyone has a hand in something, whether it be traditional Indigenous art or other types of craft. \u201cI’ve always been very creative and Kahnaw\u00e0:ke definitely has shaped me. I’m not making traditional clothing, but I have grown up here and I live here, so it has definitely shaped the way I am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her community\u2019s impact on her business doesn\u2019t stop there: they were her very first supporters, motivating Kelsey to create an opportunity for herself, and give back and support those around her. \u201cBeing here my whole life has shaped and pushed me to make something myself. For the first few months, almost all my orders were from my community,\u201d she says. \u201cI work and live here, so everything I do, all the money I make, I put it back into the community. I support so many businesses in Kahnaw\u00e0:ke, and a lot of businesses support me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since she started selling mainly to fellow community members during the pandemic, Kelsey relied heavily on <\/em>Interac<\/em> e-Transfer<\/a> to collect payments for her products: \u201cWhen I first started, there was no physical money being used, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and everything was by Interac<\/em> e-Transfer. My business wouldn\u2019t have been able to survive if I didn\u2019t have that payment option.\u201d Interac<\/em> e-Transfer was also instrumental in helping Kelsey get KEL Tech Gear off the ground quickly, since she didn’t have to wait for payments to come through, and had no fees to pay for those transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n