By Benjamin Leszcz
The Friends: Jessica Kennedy and Elizabeth Hudson, Nokomis Clothing
Jessica Kennedy’s first impression of Elizabeth Hudson was six years ago at the concert of Hudson’s future husband when she noticed “this really beautiful girl” in snakeskin boots. Hudson (a fashion designer who studied painting) just happened to be hired at Nokomis, the Edmonton fashion boutique where Kennedy (who has a BSc in Human Ecology, majoring in textiles, clothing and culture) worked. The pair bought the store in 2007.
Jessica Kennedy (left) and Elizabeth Hudson
Photography by Buffy Goodman
How did you guys end up owning Nokomis?
Jessica: I’ve worked at Nokomis since it opened in September 2002. I ran the store and Elizabeth ran the studio, because Virginia was a full-time mom. The original owner, Virginia Bray, always told me, “One day this can be your store.” When she moved away, it was natural for us to take it over. About six months later we realized that there was a lot more to owning a store than just working in it. That was kind of a bit of a shock to us, you know the financing and the long term visioning. That kind of stuff.
It’s tough to buy a small business on a retail salary, no?
Elizabeth: The bank wouldn’t even look at us. We had to talk to our families.
How has your vision for Nokomis evolved?
Jessica: We have stayed true. We feature exclusively Canadian design.
Elizabeth: The look of the store has gotten more elegant. It’s fancier.
Jessica: And I think that the transition was a little more natural because I think that our customers have progressed.
Elizabeth: They’ve grown up a little bit.
Edmonton isn’t really considered a fashion-forward city by the rest of Canada.
Jessica: Customers here respond well to fashion and they are willing to spend money on it. And they are willing to seek it out and experiment.
Do you have the same vision?
Jessica: It’s funny, because we didn’t really talk about it before we bought the business. It was just…
Elizabeth: …intuitive, like we knew…
Jessica: …Of course we should be business partners. Of course we’re going to have an online store…
Elizabeth: …of course we’re going to paint the walls this colour.
What do you fight about?
Jessica: It’s emotional; it’s never about business decisions. When one of us is tired and grumpy and we can tend to be short and the other person takes it personally.
What about the adage that the best way to ruin a friendship is to go into business together?
Jessica: I maybe agree with that. I don’t know many friends that I would go into business with. I think because Liz and I met through the store…
Elizabeth: …we always could talk about this stuff.
How have your backgrounds helped you in this job?
Elizabeth: When I started here, I sort of got thrown into the studio, totally in over my head. I lied to Virginia. She was like, You can do a zipper right? And I was like, Of course, who can’t?
Jessica: But she couldn’t.
Elizabeth: I’ve always been good at figuring things out.
Jessica: I do the books and the buying, some of the marketing and planning, but I didn’t know any of that when I graduated.
Who works harder?
Jessica: On average, we both work about 60 hours a week. We each have very different busy times, so sometimes one is a little bit more stressed out than the other. But it all works out.
Elizabeth: We have very different jobs. And there’s lots of shitty stuff in both.
Jessica: Stuff like cleaning the toilets.
Elizabeth: It sucks, but we both do it.
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