Fort Greene Fashion Designer Crafts Sweaters for Furry Friends
Winter is almost here, and for many Brooklyn residents, this means bundling up in warm sweaters and down jackets to avoid the chilly breeze. Even the shortest walk to the subway is filled with biting winds and harsh temperatures.
And if it’s that cold for humans, imagine the strain it puts on our furry friends. To help them stay warm and fashionable through the winter season, Fort Greene fashion designer Paula Cheng has created a line of cashmere and wool pet sweaters.
“I saw these little dogs while I was walking, shivering in the winter,” said Cheng, who studied design at Parsons the New School for Design and noticed the trend when she moved to Downtown Brooklyn. “Owners bundle themselves, but dogs are shivering. You should be putting things on your pet to protect them.”
But she wasn’t only worried about dogs she saw walking down the street. Cheng has a dog of her own – her beloved Chihuahua, Monkie – and her boyfriend has two more. The women’s knitwear designer couldn’t find quality sweaters that kept Monkie warm in the winter months. And because of his small size, the sweaters she did find often didn’t fit him well. So, as a side project, she started Monkie and Co. to fill the need she saw in the pet-wear market.
“I saw a problem out there that I wanted to solve, especially in Brooklyn because it’s windy,” Cheng said.
Her sweaters, which are currently only available for purchase online, are entirely handcrafted locally in Brooklyn. She uses luxury yarns, such as cashmere, wool, baby alpaca and silky mohair – all imported from Italy – to craft the sweaters, which are so soft that it is “almost like hugging a teddy bear,” Cheng said.
She also uses animal-free fibers, such as polyester and shiny viscose, in her work. The materials are durable and don’t lose shape after pets have worn the sweaters. She calls them “memory sweaters.”
“Came from idea of memory foam – how like it memorizes your body. In this case, it stretches to your dog’s size,” Cheng said. “It fits snuggly around the body and feels like you’re giving your pet a hug.”
The fabric is able to stretch to twice its original size, conforming to any pet’s specific body type. The chest is crisscrossed, meaning there’s double fabric in order to keep pets’ hearts “super warm,” Cheng said.
She also makes scarves for pets – and a matching one for owners, so winter-walk apparel can be coordinated. She plans on releasing a sweater for owners, too.
“It’s really to develop the relationship you have with your pet,” Cheng said. “We know how precious our pets are – they’re so precious to a person. You tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their animals.”
The Monkie & Co. pet products, which retail for between $15 and $90 each, will be available for purchase at Artists & Fleas in Williamsburg in Dec. 21 and 22 and again on Jan. 4 and 5.