‘Karnival King’ strikes again with P-Kut stockings

Changing the way that women experience carnival once again, Kandi King is set to release her ‘P-Kut stockings’. Last year the carnival veteran unleashed her patented ‘V-Kut’ Stockings. This seemingly obvious update mimicked the shape of the traditional carnival panty, hiding the unseemly waistband.

Building on this concept, the next strength of the garment will combat another issue that has long plagued female revellers.

“I am launching this weekend, a new version of the stocking,” she began. “This new version of the stocking will have an opening where the girls can pee. Not just an opening, a snap opening, think of [it] like a baby onesie with the snap so you can open it and pee and close it back. I am launching that this weekend.”

Recalling her long history with road marches, she explained that this is just another necessary adjustment for women.

“For years, we can’t pee and we used to just cut the hole in the stocking to pee so again its another problem that needed to be solved. Girls have to pee. To be quite frank... I don’t have to pee very often on the road and a lot of girls don’t but a lot of girls do. And its very often [that] people would message me and be like, how do I pee?”

In the same vein of solving an intimate problem, King recently released her ‘Knipsies’, a triangular nipple cover.

“As you guys know, I’ve been in the carnival industry for quite some time. I have played mas all over the Caribbean and even the States. I intimately understand what it takes to put on a costume. And it’s more than just dragging on that bra and that panty. Sometimes the costumes are skimpy and you need some undergarments whether that be a very tiny panty or like the nipple covers. Now, previously the nipple covers came in like [a] floral shape and the wire bras if you know are all sorts of shapes, but mainly they are triangular. So I always thought to myself just like the stockings why can’t we make a shape that better suits the carnival girls and the carnival wire bras. If it was in the shape of a triangular it would be easier for it to not show under a wire bra. That’s how the idea was born.”

She continued, “There is absolutely nobody in the industry that is thinking about carnival the way that I am thinking about it. Nobody else is trying to solve a problem. Everybody else is trying to sell something and just make money and that is just the realest answer. I’m actually not very focused on making the money. I am very focused on fixing the problem. I just focus on solving the problem and that is how I’ve been able to innovate.”

Available in four colours, the covers make obsolete the need cut to the pasties into shape.

As the self-proclaimed ‘King of Karnival’ told The Gleaner, her drive to innovate comes purely from her passion.

“Honestly it stems from a place of passion. It stems from I understand what you are going through, I have been there with you and want to help you to make it better. So it comes from a place of passion. I love carnival, I have always loved carnival, and I just wanna help the girlies, man, honestly.”

She went on, “There’s always carnival happening. Carnival is a niche market and people always say to me ‘this is seasonal, how do you make money?’ After Trinidad in February, there’s Jamaica Carnival in April. After Jamaica, there’s Cayman, all of the small islands litter the summer, then we have Miami in October. There is always a carnival happening and let me tell you something, the girls pay for carnival, they really do. They invest in their look, they invest in their make-up, they invest in their hair, they wanna look good on the road.”

shanel.lemmie@gleanerjm.com