Hi, it's Veronika here and I'm going to show you today another like-minded business owner who sells on Etsy - please let me introduce to you Lu and her shop based in England. Lu's wool-free knits caught my attention already when I was preparing my Christmas vegan show-off - as you can see here. So even though we're not today completely beach styled, when a winter is coming, we all like to wrapped ourselves into something warm and preferably cruelty-free. And as Lu offers custom orders, why not to ask her to make an ocean blue scarf for your winter walk on the shore?
But now, Lu, please let us know more about you and your brand and goals:
Hi, Let me introduce myself as Lu, owner, designer, creator of Let’s Go Baa-Less.
I live in Norwich UK, I have been vegan over 3 years now originally for the animals but now for everything, it stands for. Teetotal non-smoker but love of junk food :)
My other job is a Tofu maker! I must be a lucky vegan!
I’m an empath and suffer anxiety but my knitting really helps calm me!
I design, make and sell a range of wool-free, Vegan Knitwear aimed at adults primarily.
As well as selling ready made knitted items I sell Made to Order items made the way you want and I also sell the patterns to make your own, my range consists of bags, socks, scarves, hats, gloves and more!
My most popular type of knitwear is without a doubt... my socks.
Veronika: And gloves are good too =) Or shall I say armwarmers...?
I am currently adding my laser etched wooden tags to all of my knitwear so you can proudly show that you’re wearing wool-free knits.
But that’s not the best bit... I also offer to recycle any wool-free/vegan knitwear that you may own that’s seen better days, we don’t want to bin it and it has so much more potential in my hands! ‘How does it work?’ Easy, contact me via my Etsy shop BaaLess Knits or Facebook page LetsGoBaaLess or even vie my Instagram LetsGoBaaLess and tell me what you have to recycle, I will then give you a monetary amount to spend in my shop, you send it to me and I will clean and deconstruct it and turn it into something new, I will then sell this as a recycled item in my shop!
Keep it in circulation rather than landfill!
‘Why do I do it’
it started nearly 2 years ago, at this point I had been vegan for a year and I really wanted to buy a pair of hand knitted socks, but I couldn’t find any that didn’t contain wool! I was frustrated which turned to creative and taught myself how to knit using circular needles and ultimately socks! I’ve completely mastered that now as well as most things I put my creative mind (and hands) to.
I’ve spent many hours researching fibres and road tested most of them and have a pro/con list for most! You will hear some people say that synthetic is the worst and you should choose cotton or another fibre but the truth of the matter is
A - cotton is perfect for summer knits and bags etc but it’s not always suitable to keep you wrapped up in winter
B - it’s usually at least twice the price (so twice the cost to my customer) of synthetic yarn and
C - when [cotton is] intensively farmed it is still damaging to the environment and there are no assurances of the working conditions where it’s grown.
I have picked cotton as an example but I research everything. If you buy from me, it will usually be made with synthetic yarn, but you can request it in other (non-animal) fibres too! And for those of you worried about washing synthetic fabrics polluting our waterways, my Facebook page highlights a company selling a reusable bag that catches all microfibres in the wash that you just dispose of safely after washing... check it out!
So that's Lu and her wool-free story. And because Christmas and winter are coming, we should mention here also her hats and scarves, all wool-free, all vegan, exactly how we like it: