With fine Italian wool and a little Ridgewood resourcefulness, Laetly began manufacturing and selling their unique line of scarves priced at a competitive $100 or less in September.
Since then, the small brand has been picking up momentum through word of mouth and seeks to be the antidote to the run-of-the-mill scarves one is likely to find for an equally low price on marketplaces such as Amazon, but with much higher quality.
Joe Losardo, from the Bronx, started the venture with two other partners he has worked with the marketing industry, Vanessa Bailey from the Bay area and Michael Castellano from Middle Village.
“We think scarves are kind of this fun accessory, the fun exclamation point to your winter outfit,” Losardo said. “So we really wanted to infuse some fun and bold designs into our scarves … Our scarves are meant to be unisex. We really wanted to provide this universal comfort in how they feel but then allow people to interpret them into their own clothes and styles.”
The scarves have a variety of elaborate designs that are soft to the touch, according to Losardo, and some items feature figures of skeleton keys, octopi and another with the phrase “phone, keys, wallet,” taken from the Comedy Central show “Broad City.”
The wool comes from Merino, Italy, famous for producing soft wool, and Laetly has sourced the yarn specifically from a century-old mill, Losardo said.
“That kind of marries old-world craftsmanship with sustainable, current manufacturing of the garment,” Losardo said. “We have the yarn sent to Ridgewood where we really wanted our scarves to be made in New York.”
Losardo views the small company’s involvement with Simply Knitting Mills at 683 Woodward Ave. as more of a collaboration and with the shop being located near where the three business partners live, they can have a hands-on relationship.
The scarves are available on laetly.com.
