Local woman launches Toxic Kitten Clothing

By: Rachel Nelson
www.amarilloscene.com

It is not uncommon to see pink Toxic Kitten stickers slapped on walls, signs and lightposts in Amarillo. But what does it mean?

According to Nina, an Amarillo local and creator of Toxic Kitten Clothing, the stickers and a dream were all she had to work with just over a year ago. She spent months working out the kinks: buying wholesale clothes, sketching design concepts, finding models, organizing promotional parties and meeting connections eager to help with screen printing and artwork.

"It's just a clothing line with an attitude," Nina said.

The idea to create a clothing line sparked when Nina began taking frequent trips to southern California.

"We used to go when I was little because my grandparents lived there, but I wanted to experience it when I was older," she said.

After connecting with friends on social networking site MySpace, Nina ventured to the west coast where she noticed several people have independent clothing lines.

"MySpace is awesome," Nina said. "I never thought in a million years that I would know the people that I know. I never thought that this is where I'd be right now at all, but it's mostly because of MySpace."

Nina said she was inspired to bring her clothing line ideas back to Texas, and a special man in her life who lives in California was instrumental in creating the name.

"He's so supportive of me," she said. "My pet name from him was kitten. He always called me kitten, and then we got into a huge fight and we kind of didn't talk for a couple of months and it drove me crazy. So I became toxic, and I put toxic and kitten together and that's how I got my name."

The first Toxic Kitten items emerged just before Christmas, and Nina said she is not stopping there.

"Right now I'm doing my summer line, and I'm really trying to stray away from
t-shirts right now," she said. "I already started on my winter line."

Current items are being sold through MySpace at myspace.com/toxxxickitty and at toxickittenclothing.com. The selection includes designer t-shirts, jewelry, hair accessories and belts. The shirts come in sizes small to extra large, and there are
clothes and accessories for little girls as well.

LaNita Diaz, a Toxic Kitten model, said one of the things she loves about the clothes is how comfortable and form-fitting they are.

"(Nina) knows what's sexy and casual, and everything she has is so comfortable," Diaz said. "She has different sizes that fit different body styles. It's kind of like naughty, edgy clothing without being so vulgar."

Nina said items to watch out for are Toxic Kitten buttons, booty shorts, dresses, hats, work shirts for males and items personally adorned by Nina with rhinestones, chains and other custom embellishments.

Deric Holland is a photographer and photo editor for Toxic Kitten.

"When Nina started talking about doing her clothing line, I basically just jumped right in and volunteered to help in any way possible," he said.

Holland said he believes the clothing line will be a success.

"(Nina) is very, very passionate about everything she does, and you don't find a lot of people who go into these kinds of ventures with a lot of passion."

Diaz agrees that Toxic Kitten has a bright future.

"I'm so proud of (Nina)," she said. "I'm flattered that I get to be a part of this journey with her."

Nina said long-term goals for Toxic Kitten are brewing.

"I'm really interested in doing an all-girl toxic kitten band and a quarterly magazine," she said.

Nina said a clothing store in Germany contacted her and is interested in Toxic Kitten. She said she also would like to see her clothes in Hot Topic.

"I don't want to get too overwhelmed or get myself under water," she said. "I'm excited at least the opportunity's there."

According to Nina, Toxic Kitten's first photo shoot was done by the daughter of Barbi Benton, Hugh Hefner's girlfriend through much of the 1970s.

Diaz said she will be modeling clothes for the next photo shoot, which will include new items.

Diaz describes herself as professional by day, but said when she puts on Toxic Kitten clothes it feels empowering.

"Every woman's got a little toxic kitten in them," she said. "Every woman's got that inner beauty that wants to come out in some form."

Toxic Kitten's progress is unraveling at a vigorous pace, Nina said.

"Things are going a lot faster than I thought, but it's good ‑ that's a good problem," Nina said. "I'm stoked about it. I still can't believe it. Like everything's just falling into place. It's really weird ... I'm just so positive right now all the time. I'm so happy every day."