Let's start by talking about you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Kyle and I grew up in Houston, Texas. I graduated from an art college with a degree in Photography. In my downtime, I love playing games, making my art, and travelling.
Kyle from It's My Obsession
Awesome and when did you start collecting pins?
When I started my Pokémon Influencer accounts on social media platforms, I was seeing lots of enamel pin designers and their artworks and started collecting. The collection grew so much so quickly.
What pins do you collect?
Mix of fan art I see on instagram & Disney pins I see at Disney World.
Do you have a favourite pin?
UP Disney pin
Katy Perry fandom pin
Sobble fandom pin
Kyle's favourite UP pin
Where did the idea for It's My Obsession come from?
The name “it’s my obsession” came from the emotional state I want everyone to have when they talk and display their fandoms on the pin collecting merchandise.
The idea for the backpacks & switch cases came from my own struggle of displaying my enamel pins and the lack of options within the market for pin collectors.
Currently, there are two types of pin collector bags: 1)fast fashion on Amazon that won’t last a long time and are very generic 2) artisan designed bags that are usually 1 note designs based on a character from a franchise and cost 3 figures.
It’s My Obsession wants to be the happy medium where the products are functional, universal, and easily obtainable. Each product is designed for different customer’s life story and the usability in everyday use.
I really like the name and the idea of being a happy medium, I understand you started by crowd sourcing. how did you find using Kickstarter to, well, kickstart the company?
Kickstarter was / is a great way to test if my ideas would be well received. It also allowed me to reach people that I could not reach alone due to social media advertising or people not wanting to wait to get their order. I think 2-day shipping has sorta killed patience.
The community on Kickstarter is a lot more sympathetic for beginning brands or people with creative ideas and I’m very thankful for every backer on each project.
How long have you been working on It's My Obsession?
The backpack idea started on March 2020, when Lockdowns were effecting the United States and the switch case followed around July 2020. It took the backpack 6 months to nail down, but the switch case was over a year due to molding measurements and deciding on what was the most environmentally sustainable design for the switch case.
Which backpack do you personally prefer?
I love the blue frame backpack. It’s a very cool blue with magical details. Also goes well with any Pixar fandom, like Toy Story or Up!
I have to say I love my yellow one! Do you have any tips for keeping the backpacks and the pins inside them looking their best?
Hang up the backpack! The backpack has detachable straps to hang flush on the wall to look like a genuine frame to display your enamel works of art. Besides that, soap & water is your best friend.
Do you have plans for other form factors or colours?
Currently, we are working on the pin collector messenger bags. It’s a great crossbody for people who carry a lot of items for the day to day but also want to showcase their whole pin collection. We will have a standard ( fitting 17” laptops) and a mini (for tablets).
That is awesome, I actually experimented with turning the backpack into a messenger by arranging the straps differently, we are getting near the end of the interview now, but I have to ask, What is your favourite Switch game at the moment?
The game I play daily is Pokémon Unite.
A cool game that has really sparked my interest is Disney Dreamlight Valley.
The Blue Switch case from It's My Obsession
Thank you so much for answering my questions, my final one is, is there anything else you'd like to say or share?
Hollywood studios is the best park at Disney World! Toy Story Land forever!
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Love it! Thank you so much to Kyle for answering our questions, if you have any questions for Kyle about his pin bags, reach out on their Instagram or leave a comment below and we can pass it on!
