About
My name is Jason Emery, but you can call me “CHIEF J.A.E.”. I put in a lot of thought coming up with my brand name, Kiaayo. I wanted to use a name that most people haven’t heard of before. A bonus part of the name is that I love hearing people try to pronounce it; I get a good laugh hearing the different attempts. I got the idea of Kiaayo back in 2011. I started by putting a few things on paper but never made any major moves to bring the brand to life. I wanted whatever brand I made to be meaningful, so I couldn’t just pick anything. I was afraid of failure so I made sure to take my time in choosing a brand that had meaning. Fast forwarding 2 years, in 2013 I decided to push forward with my final idea of Kiaayo. From experience, I have learned that our personalities wants us to stay stationary, keep exploring our imagination, and not keep it bottled up. Understanding that, I took a chance and motivated myself to make Kiaayo become a reality. Kiaayo is a clothing line for any age group. The word Kiaayo is pronounced as “Key+Eye+Yo” and is derived from the Blackfoot Indian tribe. The word itself means “Bear” or “Bear Spirit”, which is why I use the bear as my logo. Kiaayo clothing is based in Connecticut. My mantra is, “Stay Hungry & Wear Freely”, meaning work hard and always be yourself. My objective is to work endlessly for customers, keeping them satisfied with the brand designs, and to encourage them to ‘Wear Freely’ by being themselves. Kiaayo pushes people to be themselves and follow their own hearts. Kiaayo designs display the Kiaayo logo, the motto, and pop culture themes. The designs are placed on t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, and tank tops. But, It won’t stop there! I am experimenting with other styles and a variety of clothing as well. Always keep your head up, Stay Hungry, and Wear Freely. Jason Emery, AKA “CHIEF J.A.E.”