Even though you aren’t one of Sarah Maqsudi’s grandchildren, she’ll knit you a winter hat.
But it won’t be out of the goodness of her warm heart — rather, it’ll be for cold, hard cash.
Maqsudi is one of nine retired grandmothers that an NYC-based fashion startup called Wooln recruited this year to help knit their latest line of beanies, snoods and headbands by hand.
In order to find their knitters, Wooln founders and France natives Margaux Rousseau and Faustine Badrichani scoured every senior center in the metropolitan area and posted Craigslist ads to secure their first four employees. They then relied on word of mouth to help fill out the team.
“The drive and motivation to work with seniors came from the assessment that we did not see nearly as many seniors out and about in the city, as compared to France, and that they were not part of the city life as much as it is the case in Europe,” Badrichani told Forbes. “We want to change this. We really want to bring their talent to the forefront.”
The knitwear line — which contains items with names like “Off-Duty Model,” “Netflix Addict” and “Coffee Roaster” — is made from ethically sourced cashmere, Alpaca fiber and Merino wool, and each of the pieces ($65-$195) has a tag saying who knitted it so customers can look up their bio.
For example, Maqsudi’s bio contains this nugget: “With Sarah we exchange finished items for yarn and money in the back seat of her car in Brooklyn. We feel like we are drug dealers!”
If you’re jonesing for a homemade yarn fix, shop the collection here.
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