The fashion industry is an ever-evolving space where survival of the fittest is the order of the day.

While popular stylists, fashionistas and socialites might make it look easy, the fight to achieve styles that are trendy, fashion forward and a true representation of one’s personality remains ongoing.

Guided by a mandate to provide access to bold, unique and colourful pieces, is style savvy Jamaican entrepreneur Kristia Franklin – better known by her Instagram handle @myrepeatoffender – the face behind the online clothing store, Tia The Clothes Girl.

Franklin, or Tia as she is otherwise known, is a graduate of the St Andrew High School for Girls and the University of Technology.

Hailing from Kingston, Tia has sought to shake up the country’s fashion industry with her distinct and vibrant sense of style, ever since her 2017 debut as the Campari Pop Style Most Stylish Female.

Speaking with Our Today, Franklin said her love and interest in all things fashion began while she was still a little girl, even before she’d been given the privilege of selecting her own outfits.

Though she had never anticipated as a child that the career path of a stylist would have been hers to take, the journey so far has been one for which she has no regrets.

A born entrepreneur, Tia recalls her earliest step into entrepreneurship as an ordinary, but no doubt memorable day on which she was travelling alongside her mother to Portmore.

“One day we were going to Portmore and I told my mother I wanted ice cream and she told me if I sold one shirt, I would get it. I sold three, and from there, I knew I wanted to be in sales,” she said.

In fact, it was this love for entrepreneurship that she encountered as a girl that followed her all through high school and university, that has led her to the business of fashion that she now calls home.

A testament to the early support of friends and family, the Tia The Clothes Girl owner credits the success of her business today to the continued patronage of lifetime friends, past classmates and university colleagues.

To describe the audience her brand targets, Tia says her clothing store is for “Women with a fashion sense. Women who definitely want to stand out, who don’t want to look like everyone else.”

When asked where she saw the Tia The Clothes Girl brand going within the next five years, her answer was simple: “In five years from now I want to increase my business presence online and have more people making purchases via the store website Tiatheclothesgirl.com.”

No questions asked, this feminine, unique and different brand will be one to watch in the years to come.