Keeping College Close to Your Heart

BY HUNTYR KEPHART

Timelessness, tradition and community are ideals that have inspired a stylish new way to carry your college memories with you after graduation. Pushing back on the limits of a malecatered industry and reinventing a world where collegiate jewelry can be sophisticated and have a feminine touch, cofounders and childhood best friends Kyle Garcia and Penn State Alum Elizabeth Shirley along with her sisters-in-law have built their brand, Kyle Cavan, from the ground up. The idea for the brand came about after Kyle felt that she didn’t have a memorable piece of college to take with her besides an old Duke sweatshirt. The typical chunky class rings and cufflinks were geared toward men, outdated and gave off a vibe that just didn’t apply to every college graduate.

What began as just a recognition of the lack of inclusivity within the collegiate jewelry industry became the foundation for Kyle Cavan. The brand came in with a completely different approach looking to craft timeless pieces that could be worn for all of life’s big moments.

“We wanted to create something that works for an eighteenyear-old going into college and then someone who’s eighty and celebrating a monumental moment like — say her and her husband met in college or her granddaughter is going to the same school that she went to,” says Garcia.

Implemented in every piece is a token representing big accomplishments and monumental events within your life. This feeling inspired the namesake behind the brand as an ode to Garcia’s grandfather whose uplifting nature had a great influence on her — Cavan roots back to a county in Ireland where her grandfather was from.

“He [Kyle’s Grandfather] walked into the room and you were in a room with a hundred people and you all felt like you were part of something bigger than yourself — he just had that ability,” says Garcia. “We’re trying to create that feeling like you’re a part of something special, you’re part of something that is incredible.”

After the initial idea, Garcia and Shirley united to get their start-up off the ground but as they moved farther into the college licensing industry, they began to unfold more and more barricades. To be able to use different university names and logos, they had to get licensing which was the opposite of easy with only about 20 percent of companies obtaining approval.

Initially, Penn State even denied their request as they have strict regulations on who is able to represent and use their brand. As Kyle Cavan became more and more established, colleges and universities opened up and today the brand pairs with almost a hundred different schools and counting.

“What really sets us apart and what sometimes has allowed us to work with schools really early on in the process is that we develop architecture pieces for them,” says Garcia, “This was part of who we were since we launched but we only did it for a few schools because we wanted to make sure we talk to the audience and are doing the right pieces.”

Rather than replicating every jewelry microtrend, Kyle Cavan is focused on creating timeless pieces that their audiences actually want and will hold on to forever. Their first collection was inspired by vintage coins with emblems of the seals and logos from different universities that were the opposite of the typical masculine jewelry we would typically see and instead highlighted smaller, dainty jewelry that signifies a huge moment in your life. “These are forever pieces, it’s not a fast-fashion jacket that you want to be on trend with,” says Garcia. “It needs to be able to be forever and that’s what we wanted to represent.”

This idea of everlasting class jewelry continued within every collection that was created thereafter, and with every new collection came hours of thought and sentiment into all aspects of the brand.

To find out what exactly was pulling on students’ heartstrings, the co-founders went straight to the source asking students exactly what they wanted to see and what part of their universities left an imprint on them.

From the Sunburst and Florentine to the 7-Point Diamond Necklace and custom-drawn Architecture pieces, Kyle Cavan offers students completely customizable college jewelry that is made to represent some of the most significant mementos you have during your college career — whether it be a building like Old Main or a saying that empowers unity like “WE ARE!”

“This is a really major moment and influential time in college students’ lives — it shapes you,” says Shirley, “you should be able to wear gorgeous pieces that represent that.”

Not only does Kyle Cavan represent the impactful moments in your life — but they’re also making their own impact every step of the way.

Each piece of Kyle Cavan jewelry is created from responsible and ethical factories where each piece is handcrafted by different workers. This makes their products much more sustainably sourced than most other jewelry brands, which was a crucial factor to the owners who work with the same manufacturer that has done work for colossal jewelry brands like Tiffany and David Yurman.

“It’s so important to remember that people are making these things behind what you’re buying,” says Shirley. “It’s just a good reminder as consumers.”

It was also important for the brand to give back whenever they were able. Partnering with organizations like No Kid Hungry, Girls Who Code, UNCF and Penn State’s THON™, Kyle Cavan donates a portion of their proceeds to help students have the resources they need to succeed. As a woman-owned company, Kyle Cavan has made it their mission to uplift and encourage women in any way they can. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the day that Title IX, a law prohibiting educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on their sex, was enacted. In celebration of this crucial moment in history, Kyle Cavan is launching a campaign to help young women learn more about financial literacy — something both Garcia and Shirley have become passionate about in their journey as female entrepreneurs.

Believing that women should have financial freedom and decision-making power was the inspiration behind a campaign that includes quick, informational YouTube videos to help women learn more about credit cards, taxes, APR and more knowledgeable tidbits that are important to know when becoming a young adult.

“For us, Title XI is just the next step that provided us with the education and the platform to go be successful and to go to the next step as women,” says Garcia. “Now, the next step is making sure we know what’s happening when we’re taking paychecks in from all these opportunities we’re going after.”

“It’s really just about opening up people’s opportunities and making sure the doors continue to be open for them,” says Garcia.

Continuing their work for women, Shirley holds the position of vice-president for Penn State Women’s Network in New York City where she hopes to host different events in order for alums to build off each other’s knowledge of the working world.

Kyle Cavan serves as more than just your typical collegiate jewelry brand — it’s pushing women to the next level so they have the ability to foster a sense of belonging wherever they may choose and hang a trophy of their hard work close to their hearts.