We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nancy Prado a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nancy, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

The idea came to me during the pandemic. I started to knit more than usual to help me relax and manage stress. Before, I would do knitting for gifts to my loved ones. During the pandemic, my youngest daughter, Saby, suggested I could knit the hats, scarves, and headbands, etc to sell to the public. With her help, we took photos, she did the branding because she’s a graphic designer and she helped me open an etsy shop. Throughout the years, I always received compliments on these knit pieces while living in New York. That is why I thought this would be a good idea for a business. The most exciting part about this new endeavour was getting my work out there for people who would enjoy it.

Nancy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My business’ name is Knitsy. The name was born from a combination of Knit and Nancy (my name). Through etsy I sell handknit scarves, hats, headbands, and earsavers. The scarves come in 3 different designs. Living in New York, I lost many scarves myself. To solve this problem – my scarves have a lock point where the ends cross each other so you don’t lose them. What my customers love the most about my work is the variety of colors, styles and the lockpoint. The style names for the scarves are: checkerboard, leaf, and bow (the frontal part). The checkerboard scarf lock mechanism is woven together in a checkerboard pattern from the beginning so you don’t have to undo it. The leaf scarf lock mechanism works by grabbing one end of the scarf and going through a little tunnel so it locks in place at the base of the leaf. The bow scarf lock uses the same mechanism as the leaf scarf.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I don’t manufacture, my products are 100% hand made by me. To make a set of a hat and scarf, it takes me around 12+ hours.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I funded this business on my own. At the beginning I had 3 colors for my products: ruby red, electric blue, and chrome gray. As I started gaining sales, I invested it back into the business by adding more colors and now I offer my products in 12+ colors.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/KnitsyNancy
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knitsynancy/?hl=de