NATCHEZ — Ashton James used one simple piece of logic to make two important decisions for the future of Kelly’s Kids.

“If you’re not moving forward, you’re going to move backward,” said James, the chief executive officer of the children’s clothing company founded in the Miss-Lou. “We knew things had to change, but none of the decisions we made were a spur-of-the-moment thing.”

Those decisions included moving a portion of the company’s operations to Austin, Texas, as well as changing the longtime business model for the company.

Lynn James — the company’s president and Ashton James’ mother — founded Kelly’s Kids as a cottage industry in 1983 in Waterproof.

The company has used a sales representative’s program since its creation as the base business model to sell its clothing.

Packages of children’s clothing would be sent to representatives across the country at the beginning of each season. The reps would then host parties in their homes to display the merchandise for sale.

“It was a bit more of a social-selling atmosphere, and when that rep was finished with their kit, they would send it to another rep,” Ashton said. “We had reps all throughout the county, and had a certain number of kits moving constantly.”

Ashton described that model as the “backbone” of their business for the longest time, but said the company needed to go a different direction.

“We saw where a majority of the business we were doing was moving steadily online, and people were ordering the material through their phones and tablets,” Ashton said. “It just got harder and harder to get people to the actual shows, and we had so much turnover getting new kits out all the time.

“We just couldn’t fight it any longer.”

Ashton said the company made the decision to abandon the representative model and move to a catalog and online only model.

Customers can request a catalog through the company’s website that showcases the newest clothing creations and orders can be placed online.

Ashton said the decision to make the business model switch was one that made sense for the company, but was still difficult to announce to the company’s loyal representatives.

“It was a pure business decision, but it wasn’t without a lot of thought, planning and consideration of those reps that had been with us for 5, 10 or even 25 years,” Ashton said. “We spent a great deal of time really trying to talk to as many of the reps as we could to try and explain the situation and let them know what was happening.”

While none of the reps were full-time employees of the company, Ashton said he realized the decision took away additional income for many.

“Our business model did provide our reps with a tuition payment or extra (bill) payment, and we knew it was going to be really though for them,” Ashton said. “It was definitely not a snap decision by any means.”

Ashton said the change to the company’s new business model of catalog and online sales would allow the company to offers its clothing at a more reasonable price to its customers.

“We have been able to lower our prices all across the catalog, so now pretty much every thing has a lower price,” Ashton said. “We also tried to take this time to make a few improvements in our fabrics, changing the printing process and anything else that would provide the best product.”

The other major decision made by the company, Ashton said, included moving its corporate offices to Austin, Texas.

The move came from a need to find and keep more employees in positions such as graphic design, marketing and graphics.

“Those were all positions we were able to fill in Natchez, but they were only there for a brief period of time and so we were spending a lot of time in employee development,” Ashton said. “Like any business, we have an administrative side, but a huge part of our company is creative work so we have a lot of creative necessities that can be met out here.”

The company will maintain its distribution center in Natchez, which includes returns/exchanges, monogramming and shipping departments.

“All the things going on in our Natchez facility are going great, and that’s an expertise that we don’t need to look anywhere else for,” Ashton said. “We want to keep a strong work force in Natchez, because our Natchez employees are professionals and know exactly what they’re doing to manage the warehouse and keep our distribution running smoothly.”

Ashton said he believes the move to Austin made by him and his sister, Caroline — who is chief commercial officer — will result in even greater things for the company.

“There are so many things in Natchez that we miss, so we definitely have some trips planned soon,” Ashton said. “But it feels like a fresh start and almost like a new beginning for us.”

For more information or to request a catalog, visit kellyskids.com.