Fashion (role) models: How Love Spot KC’s simple statement tees inspire more than words

One of Kansas City’s latest apparel companies isn’t just another T-shirt shop — it’s a Black-owned, woman-owned empowerment engine that even a global pandemic hasn’t shaken, said Courtnee White. 

Courtnee White, Love Spot KC

“A business that is showing diversity in women, I think that’s a huge thing,” White, owner of the Love Spot KC, said of the brand’s mission to empower, inspire, and support women and girls through a curated line of statement tees. 

Emblazoned with such simple text as, “Be Kind Sis,” and “Brown Sugar Mama,” each shirt is created with phrases that come to White in passing and resonate with current trends and cultural niches. 

Click here for a closer look at the Love Spot KC and its current lineup of tees. 

“I just wanted something for women and girls to wear to feel empowered. Something that’s made to wear every day with jeans or a skirt. Something very simple that can make a statement,” she said, noting she hopes to debut new designs each week as the business comes online — having formally unfolded in January. 

As sales started taking off, White realized there’s more to the freshly printed side hustle than apparel, she said, pondering the long-term community impact the Love Spot is poised to stitch. 

“Growing up, my mom and my family were really inspiring to me and always uplifted me. I work with at-risk youth right now, and underserved communities, and a lot of them don’t have that role model in their family,” she said in reflection of inspiration points and a group of people who deserve encouragement, no matter what their home-lives look like. 

“As a community — especially in Kansas City — women need to come together and be that role model for girls,” White said.

Printing pathways to mentorship through events and programs under the Love Spot brand is high on White’s list of goals for the growing company and a key piece of strategy in her effort to make the apparel brand stand out in an oversaturated market. 

“It’s not just another T-shirt company,” she said. “We have to bring young girls together and bring some mentors out to just speak with them and uplift them and just make them feel like they have someone.”

Although it’s still early in her entrepreneurial journey, White hopes to eventually launch a retail space for the Love Spot, she said.

“That would be really big, futurewise,” she said of the potential to move beyond online-focused sales.

Click here to follow Love Spot KC on Instagram.

For now, White is enjoying the adventure as it unravels and relishing in the good she’s putting into the community one tee at a time, she said. 

“Someone actually wrote to me and told me that they were happy to see a female-owned brand that has shown all kinds of women [wearing Love Spot’s apparel],” White said, noting the rewards of being authentic in a crowded marketplace.

“Working a 9 to 5, when I get home, instead of just relaxing, I get right on it. I come up with new designs, process orders, and communicate with my print shop,” she added. “The biggest thing for me [in making the company successful] is doing the work and remaining consistent.”