Katy Schormann opened up Kaitlyn Christine Co. through Instagram when quarantine hit at the end of March. It kept her hands moving through the stay-at-home months and some extra cash in her pockets, Schormann said.

“I never like not being busy, so when I’m not busy I get kind of anxious. I love having a purpose and making products has been really good for me,” Schormann said, “especially during the months I was at home.”

Schormann’s shop included custom water bottles, jean jackets, and door signs. She added masks when the public mask order went into place a few months ago.

“I started making masks to donate to hospitals and for my grandparents to make sure they were safe, but then I saw a demand for it when everyone had to wear them in public,” she said.

Over the course of the past couple of months, Schormann has seen a rise in mask demand and sales, specifically from her sorority Chi Omega.

“I really got into making masks when my sorority asked me to make them for recruitment. I made 100 masks in 36 hours,” she said. “I made it through three seasons of The Bachelor.”

Schormann did not charge her sorority for the recruitment masks, but said that most of her customers and requests for custom designs come from her sorority sisters and family friends.

In the past month she made 75 masks that sold for $8 a piece, not including the recruitment masks. In just masks alone she made a gross profit of $600 through the month of September. 

Schormann’s sorority sister Ani Vair, a sophomore psychology and criminology major, has bought a few custom products from Schormann.

“I really like her jean jackets because she does such cool designs and can customize them. I also have a custom blue tie-dye sweater with ‘Chi Omega’ on the back and a skull and cross bones on the front,” Vair said. “I wear the masks she made for our sorority recruitment too. They have a really cool Louis Vuitton look.”

With the increased interest in her shop, Schormann thinks that by November she will be able to take her social media store to Etsy and expand her customer base.

“I’ve seen a lot of growth the past couple of months. A lot of my sisters have been buying my products, and so I feel like I have the confidence and ability to open up my own shop now,” Schormann said.

Josie Thomas covers jobs and money. Contact her at [email protected].

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