Photography by Superfecta Management
When Kristina Collins married and moved to Saratoga from the Boston area, she was a software engineer with a degree in math and computer science. “It was a great job,” she says. “But when we started a family, it became obvious to me that I was content…but I wasn’t really happy with my career choice.” So, she switched gears.
Her course change to fashion design wasn’t as radical as it sounds. “I was raised in a very creative home,” she says. “My father was a carpenter, my mother was an artist, and when my parents had an idea, they made it. It was really a beautiful way of growing up.” The career change, she says, was a big pivot in the sense that she had no formal fashion education, but on the other hand, she had been working with textiles since she was little. “I love constructing clothing,” she says. “I love problem solving.”
What Collins lacked were the connections and training in the many things that come with manufacturing clothing—specifically, running a business. “That can be intimidating,” she says. “But if we all get intimidated by that, nobody’s going to start a business. Nowadays you can pick your dream and pursue it.”
And pursue it she did. Collins is now the owner of Kristina Collins Clothing (kristinacollinsclothing.com), a collection of 13–15 jackets, blazers, and outerwear pieces produced in upstate New York and northern New Jersey.
“I have a studio here in Saratoga,” says Collins, who has four employees. “We do all of our own cutting, piecing, and sewing. We’re involved in every part of the garment’s construction. I do have a production partner that we started contracting with because we just can’t make enough ourselves, and there are some skills and equipment we just don’t have. So, I partnered with a facility that I can go and visit in New Jersey, right over the border. It’s a small group, it’s a mighty group, and they do beautiful work.”
Collins’ collection includes everything from a sleek corduroy blazer that falls below the hip to a denim biker jacket and cropped wool trucker coat. (She’s dubbed a wide-collared navy-blue wool coat with ribbed cuffs and corozo buttons The Saratoga Coat.) “I needed to home in on what I really enjoy doing and what my skills are as a designer,” she says. “And it was always the jackets.”
But selling high-end, handmade coats and jackets wasn’t enough. Kristina Collins Clothing also offers repair services on all their items, and this spring will take their sustainability efforts a step further: Starting in February, the brand will launch a garment circularity program called The Edit. “When you invest in a piece with us, I want you to wear it for years—I’m purposely designing it to last you years—but you may get tired of it,” Collins says. “The idea is, you sell it back to us, and you get a generous percentage off your next purchase. Your pre-loved jacket gets cleaned up and serviced (in terms of tightening buttons and fixing anything that’s wrong) and then goes in The Edit, allowing another opportunity for someone to invest in the piece at a reduced price.”
And Collins has even more up her proverbial coat sleeve for 2026. “A big part of our brand ethos is how we can work within our local economy and collaborate with community members and artists to make things together and to help support each other’s businesses,” she says. “We have over 800 sheep farms in New York State, and yet local woven woolen fabric is not readily accessible for garment construction. There’s a good number of farmers who do their own dyeing and their own weaving, but that’s a far cry from having woven yardage—having a long length that somebody could cut and sew.”
Collins’ mission: to create a jacket made from New York wool, and in turn strengthen the regional supply chain, celebrate local agriculture, and create fashion that’s inextricably connected to the place from which it comes. She’s calling it the Local Wool Initiative, and has already begun working with Anchorage Farm out of Saugerties and Bear Farm in the Finger Lakes region.
“The Local Wool Initiative is a project that’s been years in the making,” she says. “We have some very high-quality fiber in New York State. I’ve been to the farms that are providing wool for this project—I’ve met the sheep, I’ve met the farmers, I’ve seen their practices. I’ve seen how well their animals are cared for.”
By nature of the product, Kristina Collins Clothing skews more toward fall and winter wear (though springtime in upstate New York often requires a jacket, too!). But Collins says there could be an expansion of sorts on the horizon.
“We are exploring some things that we can start doing for warmer weather,” she says. “But as a designer, brand owner, and business owner, you don’t want to divulge all the plans you have in the works. I’m very excited for the next few years—people should expect to see the brand and the product offerings evolve.”
