‘Western lifestyle’ inspires new rural clothing boutique

It all started with a newborn baby, a maternity leave and the desire to learn how to sew.

For the past six months, Takaila Kendall and her sister Tori Kendall have operated their own western wear boutique, the T Lazy T Boutique.

The boutique is named after their family’s cattle brand, which consists of a T and a lazy left T.

“We both have a love for the western lifestyle,” Takaila Kendall said. “And we wanted to be able to express it through our clothes and with other people who are also in the western lifestyle.”

Born and raised on a mixed farm near Cadillac, Sask., Kendall and her sister grew up around western style clothing.

Although the Kendalls don’t hand-sew most of their products anymore, Takaila Kendall still creates many of their T-shirt designs. Recently, they have also started hand tooling leather.

The T Lazy T website calls itself “authentically rural.” Kendall said they try to show this idea through their clothing and their social media.

“We’re really trying to push our background,” she said. “The town we come from has like, 90 people, so we’re very rural. So, we’re really trying to express that in our clothing.”

T Lazy T Boutique opened in November 2020, and since then they have received support from people in Cadillac and across Saskatchewan. Even then, Kendall said COVID has made it hard to operate a new business.

“We’ve got quite a few repeat customers so we get to know them a little bit,” Kendall said. “With COVID, we haven’t been able to do much for pop-up shops and stuff, but we are hoping that in the future we will be able to see everyone’s faces.”

Kendall said getting your name out into the world as a new business is hard, especially during a pandemic. But they’ve been using the resources available to them to promote their business. One of these methods is by partnering with influencers on social media.

Alana Campk is one of the social media influencers they’ve partnered with on Instagram. Campk said it’s been an amazing experience.

“These girls continue to amaze me,” Campk said. “Takaila and Tori uplift other women, not only in the western fashion world but in everyday life.”

She said she’s happy to be a part of the team, and is looking forward to continuing to work with T Lazy T Boutique.

“I can’t wait to see where their creative minds take them a year or even months from now,” she said.

Kendall is making plans for those times, once pandemic restrictions are loosened.

“Our goal is one day to be able to go to the Canadian Western Agribition and have a pop-up shop there,” she said. “I think that would really grow our name.”