His tank program, he says, has been instrumental in carrying his business for two years while he was figuring out what K.ngsley can and should be. More recently, the specter of the Trump administration tariffs has meant more financial juggling. “This time round [after the last Trump presidency] has been brutal,” he said. “I’ve learned that you have to be nimble—and thankfully, we design our clothes so that they’re kind of seasonless. Tariffs are one thing, but we’re also seeing a shift in our customer spend too. So things are tight, but again, I’m just thankful that I get to do what I do with the people I get to do it with.”

It’s that spirit, a kind of optimistic realism—or realistic optimism—as much as his terrific clothing that makes K.ngsley a vital part of New York’s fashion landscape right now. “I love that we have a brand which is youthful and courageous and smart,” a brand that can do things that speak to its following, like his PrEP-inspired jewelry, which draws on that small blue pill. “In our community, Black and brown people still have, even in 2025, the highest infection rate,” he said. “Creating this jewelry, I was saying, ‘I want you to be yourself—I want you to be sexually liberated, but I also want you to be safe.’”

“The biggest thing I want to say about the last five years is that it has been a journey,” Gbadegesin noted. “I am not going to lie: Every collection, every launch, every activation, every delivery: It’s your 10 minutes of fame. And if that is the only thing you are attaching yourself to, I am sorry, you’re not in a great place. It’s fleeting. None of this is easy. It’s not easy, and it’s not glamorous. You truly have to love this. I’m 32, and sometimes I feel like I am 55!” And yet, he said, “fashion raised me, in a way. It taught me how to show up for myself, and there was a certain growth and consciousness that came with that.”

There have been other highlights: His friends who work with him, for one thing. “They reach out and help season after season, and I could cry, because I really love them.” As to what else glows in his mind: contributing to the Beyoncé world tour; dressing Blackpink; having a K.ngsley-clad Lupita Nyong’o on the cover of Elle; and, oh yeah, the not inconsequential point where his brand reached $1 million in revenue. (“That was a number I never thought I’d see,” Gbadegesin said.) As to what’s next: a fifth anniversary show later this year—maybe, hopefully, during NYFW in September. Gbadegesin would also love to take on the creative directorship of a brand. And in the gesture of a fifth birthday gift, let’s put that last wish out into the universe.