Katie Sands, a fashion, beauty, lifestyle influencer and founder of Honestly Kate, spoke to Newsday on Monday about her new athleisure collection in collaboration with NYC-based activewear manufacturer Phat Buddha. Credit: Randee Daddona
By Anne Bratskeir Special to Newsday
Updated August 13, 2020 5:00 AM
When Katie Sands, 27, the lifestyle influencer behind the @honestlykate handle says she wants your opinion on something, she really means it. During her several-month quarantine at her folks’ home in Locust Valley where she grew up, she tapped her almost 280,000 Instagram followers for their thoughts on what would make a perfect athleisure line. And then, in a collaboration with NYC-based activewear manufacturer Phat Buddha, she created a one: HKxPB — Honestly Kate by Phat Buddha — a collection of bra tops and leggings in rainbow colors that her audience helped design. “It was the second week of March and I was fully quarantined and I got to thinking that people really wanted to connect with each other beyond talking about working from home or baking banana bread. So, I thought, ‘let’s get my audience involved in designing a collection so they could have something to do every day.” She began by asking if they’d be interested in the process on Instagram. "I thought, if they reacted positively, we’ll continue and if they were not interested we’ll put this to bed.”
The reaction was seismic and Sands’ followers enthusiastically weighed in on every step of the process. “It was such a collaborative experience,” says Sands who put comments she received up on a mood board for inspiration and dubs her collection, “For You, By You.” She says her “fellow creators” even chose the colors in the collection via Instagram polls. Typically, a fashion launch may involve glamorous photo shoots — hair, makeup, maybe a wind machine and an exotic location — but in the midst of a pandemic, these niceties were unavailable. Most of the campaign is shot in Sands’ backyard or at the beach in Sagaponack by her sister, Gracie, 20, who also modeled the clothes. “This was not glamorous at all. I actually changed in the car,” says Sands of her beach looks. To prove the point that e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y can wear her new capsule collaboration with Phat Buddha (HKxPB), influencer Katie Sands (@honestlykate) got her grandma, Anita Sands, 83, to model it. Credit: Katie Sands @honestlykate
The end result is 17 pieces in different colorways divided to create three separate drops. The first comprised of six items is already out and comes in brilliant shades of yellow, pink, blue and natch black, which actually sold out, says Sands “in two minutes.” The others sold out in two hours but she was able to order restocks on them and some are still available. The second collection will be available in late August-September and the third in October. Sands says the bra in the collection is “the hero piece and can go from street to sport and fits everybody.” And even before this collaboration, she was a fan of Phat Buddha because, “they have a patent on the most incredible, seamless fabric. It fits and molds to everyone’s’ body type.”
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Get the scoop on events, nightlife, day trips, family fun and things to do on Long Island. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy . All the pieces in the collection are under $100 and available at phatbuddhawear.com and later this month will be sold at Bandier stores in Manhasset and Southampton. Because Sands is an advocate for mental health, a portion of the proceeds from the collection will be donated to the JED Foundation for mental health awareness. By Anne Bratskeir Special to Newsday

Long Islander designs her own clothing line while quarantining in childhood home

Phat Buddha Productions got its bare-bones start 20 years ago in co-owner Brad Goldenberg’s basement. Today, it remains one of St. Louis’ most popular recording studios, with a client list that includes Nelly, Lil Wayne, Panic! at the Disco, Travis Barker, Jill Scott, Kevin Gates, Wale, Rick Ross, Fantasia, David Banner, Yo Gotti, Son Volt, George Clinton, Waka Flocka, the Ying Yang Twins and even Sade. +3 
Will.i.am at Phat Buddha (undated). Photo courtesy of Phat Buddha
“It was a long trip to get here,” says co-owner Mike Landau. “It feels like we came a long way, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
Goldenberg agrees. “We started so young. We got 20 more years to go. Every year feels like we just started. We both still have that drive.”
On Saturday, Phat Buddha celebrates with a party at .ZACK, featuring Hot House Sessions, Decadent Nation, Scrub and Ace Ha, Fresco Kane, Brother Francis and the Soultine, who all have recorded there. Goldenberg and Landau — who attended Horton Watkins High School in Ladue and Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., together — figured they needed to find a way to pay the bills when they decided to create the studio, Landau says. The first year, the company was heavily into multimedia, 3-D animation and web technology. They kicked off the music with a jazz act, John Thomas and Friends, followed by recording the Big Wu at the old Firehouse venue. The pair, fans of hip-hop and jam bands, really wanted to get deeper into analog and digital recording and beat production. And they were outgrowing the basement, where they worked for a year. “There were 10 people working out of the basement,” Goldenberg says. “The web was taking off, and it was time to move out of the house. We got to a point where we had to get out.”
Goldenberg’s father bought the building at 1901 Locust Street, which serves as the current home of Phat Buddha Productions and its Blayzer Digital Marketing Group. They moved in 1999 and officially opened the studio in 2001. (Goldenberg owns the building now.) Work at Phat Buddha moved into a new dimension when St. Louis rap superstar Nelly recorded his portion of 2002’s “Roc the Mic” remix there, though Landau wasn’t sure it was really going to take place. The session was scheduled to start at 8 p.m., but Nelly didn’t show up until after midnight. “He showed up, and he was super amped,” Landau recalls. “To see him work, I gained a lot of respect for him. He was all about work and really did his thing. He made us step up our game.”
Recording Nelly was strange for Landau: Nelly’s lyrics dissed KRS-One, one of Landau’s favorite rappers. And to this day, he says, the session was never paid for. The real payoff eventually came in other ways, as a steady stream of hip-hop acts would pass through the doors, starting with Nelly’s entire Derrty Entertainment and a slew of other St. Louis rappers including Chingy, Murphy Lee, Ali, Potzee, Jibbs, Baby Huey, J-Kwon, Hakeem Tha Dream, Gena, Taylor Gang, King Jacob, Prentiss Church and Chocolate Thai. Phat Buddha eventually became known as a hip-hop recording studio, though it was never that, and Landau and Goldenberg didn’t want that label. They tried to break that perception over the years, though it still exists. “We would never turn our heads on hip-hop,” Landau says. “At the same time, we want to open doors to other avenues.”
Sade came just before her 2011 concert at Enterprise Center (then Scottrade Center) and recorded two songs that never were released. Panic! at the Disco was working on an album in the mid-2000s and visited Phat Buddha to do some mixing. Travis Barker stopped at Phat Buddha while touring about a decade ago with Blink-182 to track drums for the Rihanna/Jay-Z “Umbrella” remix. Landau and Goldenberg say he was nice and invited the staff backstage for the concert. They say Fantasia came in 2005, not long after her “American Idol” win, to lay down vocals for a Missy Elliott song. The Black Eyed Peas came in around 2007 or 2008. The pop-rap group was in town for a robotics convention and flew in Jaden Smith to work on a track. Will.i.am needed every keyboard Phat Buddha could provide, and Fergie couldn’t stay out of the nightclub across the street. Lil Wayne was in the house a couple of times, once in 2006 when they were in involved in a celebrity basketball game together, and again several years later during which his recording featured ad-libs provided by others in the session with him. Goldenberg and Landau, who also teach audio engineering and production, say they were doing it long before Nelly’s Ex’treme Institute. They joke that the school, which recently closed , stole their idea. Next, they’d like to try their hand at becoming a blues label and are sealing a deal to team with Marquise Knox and Alonzo Townsend, owners of Knox Entertainment. They’re seeking accomplished artists as opposed to raw talent. “There’s a huge niche for this, and St. Louis needs something like that,” Goldenberg says. “We’d like to build our brand.”
What Phat Buddha 20th Anniversary with Hot House Sessions, Decadent Nation, Scrub and Ace Ha, Fresco Kane, Brother Francis and the Soultine • When 7:30 p.m Saturday • Where .ZACK, 3224 Locust Street • How much $5-$7 • More info 314-534-1111; metrotix.com
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Phat Buddha Productions turns 20: 'We've got 20 more years to go'

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The Phat Buddha collection of fitness wear offers men and women a wardrobe meant for more than just the studio, utilizing a cool, cosmopolitan approach to fitness wear. The Phat Buddha collection features a selection of unique tops, shorts, capri's and pants for both men and women.

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