During Melbourne’s brutal lockdowns as the pandemic raged, a trip to the dog park was a real treat and it’s where Cat Bloxsom and Morgan Collins received lots of great praise.
But it wasn’t with their dogs, instead the duo had taken up a slightly toasty habit during confinement: knitting.
“When lockdown came in 2020, like everyone else, we were trying new things and neither of us are great in the kitchen and we’d already thrown away half our clothes by then and watched all of Netflix,” Ms Bloxsom told the news. .com.au.
“We were looking for something to keep us connected, creative and something to calm us down in a stressful time, so we ordered some things online to try knitting.
“We got on YouTube and taught ourselves how to knit and we really liked it and we wore our creations to the dog park and got lots of comments about how cool our sweaters were.”
But the journey into knitting was not without hilarious missteps with Ms Bloxsom creating a jumper where the sleeves only reached the elbows.
“I guess for people who have never knitted, which is a lot, there’s a lot of knitting jargon and jargon and it feels like you’re trying to learn another language or read code,” she said.
“As beginners we knew there would be other people who would have the same kind of trouble understanding the patterns.”
A business idea began to form mainly because they also wanted to inject a modern style into the world of weaving.
“For relatively young knitters, a lot of the styles and patterns we saw were quite punchy and neutral,” Ms Bloxsom explained.
“We saw an opportunity to design things we wanted to wear and modernize incredible craftsmanship that tends to feel stuck in the past.”
It led the duo, both in their early thirties, to start their business called Cardigang, although the timing wasn’t perfect.
Cardigang launched in the Australian summer in December 2020, six months after they picked up the ‘sticks’.
“It was actually the hottest day of the year that we launched,” Collins added.
The friends each donated $4,000 to fund the business after doing three or four jumpers.
From there, they began writing their own patterns, sourcing 100% Australian coarse wool and creating their own custom colours.
It saw them launch knitting kits initially for sweaters in five patterns and eight colors before expanding to cardigans, vests, tops, hats and scarves.
The coarse wool was a key part of attracting customers, according to Ms Collins.
“We’re reasonably impatient and didn’t want to knit something for six months on tiny needles,” she said.
“We wanted instant gratification and wool and kits made it really easy to learn because there’s less room for small mistakes.”
Depending on the style, a beginner jumper can take as little as a weekend to create with about 12 to 16 hours required on the poles, they said.
Their initial aim was to sell 40kg of wool they had stored in the spare room of Mrs Collins’ house.
But since the launch, the friends have sold more than 5,000 knitting kits that include 5 tons of wool, which is equivalent to 10 million meters of wool.
“The wool sold so far is the weight of an adult elephant, which we were excited about,” Bloxsom added.
One of the most popular products has been their Betty sweater, which features a prominent balloon sleeve with signature contrast ribbing and retails for $245, while they recently released a knit kit called the Olivia, which is a style of asymmetrical color block.
“Their pastel combination is muted and it looks quite bespoke. It’s not something you can buy off the shelf and wear very proudly and say it’s the first thing I’ve knitted,” Ms Bloxsom said.
“In terms of colours, we have over 30 colors when we started with six or eight and the greens and pinks are always very popular.
“A lot of the brand is about an explosion of color and dopamine. Customers gravitate towards bright colors, we have a few neutrals but they’re not the best sellers.”
Beanies have become very popular, Ms Collins added, as they can be “a little less daunting than knitting a sweater” and can be completed in just two to three hours.
Cardigang has been a resounding success so far. The friends made $500,000 in revenue the first year and will double that to $1 million in the second year.
But Ms Bloxsom said this success has forced them to take some massive risks.
“We made a 10 percent deposit on our next order knowing we didn’t have the balance in the bank and we had to hurry to earn that money so we could continue buying stock,” he revealed. “The business grew at a rate where we kept selling and had to go into pre-sales, but we had to be comfortable taking risks and ambiguities that allowed the business to grow very quickly.”
Despite feeling “trepidity”, the women also quit their full-time marketing jobs in March this year.
The friends are grateful for their “cheer team” at the dog park who made them believe they could make Cardigang a success.
“We both had puppies from Covid and we didn’t get to see family or friends as they didn’t live within our perimeters, so we got very familiar and friendly with our friends at the dog park,” Ms Bloxsom added.
“Everyone was in head-to-toe black and a puffer jacket and we strutted around the park in bright, bold knitwear and stood out like a sore thumb. But we wanted to be asked about our jumpers so we could show off and be ask us where we got it from”.
They said that since then people sharing their masterpieces on social media has been one of the key factors in their success.
Now, they are looking to expand their brand beyond a “winter sport” by creating summer patterns using merino wool and are also developing a chunky cotton option.
“We will be releasing more summery patterns in terms of styles and we are looking at other techniques; as many customers crochet and we want to see what it might look like,” Ms Collins said.
“We’re looking to knit things that aren’t seasonal like baby gifts.”
Key to its long-term growth strategy will be capitalizing on the winter market in both hemispheres.
With 5% of sales already coming from abroad, it is aiming for greater penetration in key markets such as the US and the UK.
“We know many people associate winter with knitting, but knitting isn’t just a winter sport. We think it’s really important to create offerings that showcase anything that can be done all year round,” she added Bloxsom
“I think for us we have big plans and aspirations for Cardigang to become the most used and loved DIY fashion brand, not just in Australia but globally.”
Read related topics: Australian Small Business Melbourne