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OUR STORY

​​KOUTURE was founded by Nelissa Nimi Dass-Claveria in 2007. The word KOUTURE is a variant of the French word “couture” or haute couture (French for "high tailoring") referring to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and crafted with extreme attention to detail and finish by the most experienced artisans, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques.  KOUTURE is interpreted in the same spirit without the high cost.  

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Nelissa chose the word KOUTURE as it embodies all but one of the aspects of the original word. KOUTURE  for her is “the philosophy of LUXURY with the utmost commitment to high quality, high fashion, high function details made accessible.” Nelissa further enhanced her concept with a strong combined identifiable Emblem and Logo, which are two stylized “K’s  and word KOUTURE." The two K’s back-to-back, insignia artistically capture Nelissa’s play with her branding of KOUTURE.   She also intentionally KOINED words with the letter "K" such as Kix, Kafé, Kuisine, Kosmetics, Kool, Kouleur, Kuddles, Kutie, and Kreateur just to name a few.

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Nelissa began her career in the optical industry, in various facets of the business, which catapulted her career in designing eyewear.  Below please find a brief summary of the milestones in her career.  

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  • 1989 - With Canada’s premier optical wholesale supplier of it’s time, Imperial Optical, as an CSR in the Optical Machinery and Supply Dept.

  • 1991 - In the retail aspect of the optical business.  

  • 1995 - With Marchon (one of the top 5 optical wholesalers in the world) as the International Administrative Manager.

  • 1999 – Founded NNDC to market boutique fashion optical products  to the Caribbean and Latin America.

  • 2007 – Opened a “state of the art” warehouse and showroom in North Miami Beach to accommodate the evolution of its business.

  • 2008 – Changed the name of the company to better reflect the concept of a Fashion House, passionately bringing new categories of                         fashion focused products to the KOUTURE enthusiast.

KOUTURE is owned by Nelissa’s company Kouture Ventures Inc. 

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