There's a new brand in town... and I'm honoured to introduce you all to it. Cara & The Sky is a fresh and funky knitwear label that I am quite frankly obsessed with. Bright and bold colours, textures and styles – Cara & The Sky is your new favourite brand.
Cara & The Sky was founded by Cara who has over 10 years’ experience in high end, value and fast fashion brands, these include brands such as Ted Baker and start up Lost Ink. Cara specialises in knitwear and has in-depth knowledge of designing, yarn, gauges, fit and construction of knitwear garments.
Here's a little bit about C&TS
London born brand Cara & The Sky, with its collection produced here in the UK, is designed with free-spirited, knit lovers in mind who live life to the full and aren’t afraid to adopt the brand’s motto: Create A Right Attitude & Reach The Sky.
The brand's first collection is made up of 8 pieces including knitted jumpers, cardigans and dresses. With knitwear at the heart of the brand, each unique style has been carefully considered, from shape, to quality to fit giving each garment a bespoke feel. The production runs are consciously small just 300 units per style giving making the product feel more exclusive and to move away from volume buying. Once it’s gone, it’s gone!
With prices ranging from £45-£62, Cara & The Sky allows customers to be able to buy unique designed into knitwear at affordable prices, making knitwear with individuality accessible for all customers!
An interview with Cara
Mollie: When was Cara and The Sky founded?
Cara: The brand concept was born in April this year and the company was officially formed in September!
M: So, who makes up the team at C&TS?
C: Cara – me! – the Founder, CEO, Designer, Press & marketing, Logistics, customer services, events… one man band over here! But with a huuugeee support from friends and family.
M: What inspired you to start the brand? And what gave you the motivation to go for it?
C: Having worked in the fashion industry for over 10 years, life opened up a unique set of circumstances that allowed me to venture out on my own and create my own fashion brand! I’m obsessed with fun colourful knitwear and wanted to give people an opportunity to buy unique boutique style knitwear that was different from the high street and didn’t cost an alarming amount! Backed with all the knowledge and lessons I’d learnt from my past roles as a buyer for a variety of brands I decided to take a huge leap of faith in myself and launch Cara & The Sky!
Not only do I want to make really cool knitwear, I also want the brand to promote positivity, supporting each other and believing in yourself. The brands underlining ethos asks each and every one of you to Create A Right Attitude and Reach The Sky (C.A.R.A.. get it? 😉) which is how the name Cara & The Sky was born!
I truly believe if you have the right attitude and a positive mindset, there is no end to what you can achieve - the sky’s the limit!!!
M: Do you have any plans for stocking your gorgeous knits in high-street, department or high-end stores? If so, what stores would be the ultimate dream?
C: The plan is to stock in local boutique stores, and online market places. The brand itself is built on being unique & individual so to stock it in major department stores kinda goes against its own ethos! I could def see the brand in urban outfitters, or similar stores where they really support new up & coming brands, and of cause, if Selfridges knocked on the door I wouldn’t say no!!
M: Who are your main influences in the world of fashion and design? Are there any designers that you particularly admire?
C: YOU are my influence – street style and peoples own interpretations have a huge impact on how I design. Seeing what people actually want to wear, how they style it. I think now more than ever people have so much freedom with what they wear, going bolder and brighter. In terms of the big designers I absolutely love Gucci for its quirkiness and Batsheva for its nonconventionalness (if that’s even a word!!)
M: Where do you see Cara and The Sky in five years time?
C: I want to be a global brand, bringing fun colourful affordable knitwear all over the world! The brand would have expanded into spring summer, bringing in different product areas to give it longevity. But most importantly I want the brand to be fully sustainable. I think its so important that any new fashion brand makes a conscious effort to be aware of their fashion footprint.
M: How are all of your gorgeous garments designed, created and made?
C: Each collection is designed in London and made in the UK, and we use trusted manufacturers based in Leicester. We chose this specifically to support the UK made fashion industry, and it also helps reduce the carbon footprint of our garments - no airfreight for us! Each style is produced in small batches, we chose this method to ensure that no unsold stock ends up going to landfill. (That means once its gone, its gone!)
- All swing tickets and back neck labels are made from recycled materials.
- All packaging are fully recyclable and all our brand notes or vouchers are made from 100% recycled paper.
- We are continuously looking at ways to better ourselves, and this is a working progress, but here's where we are right now...
M: What designs and vibes do you have in mind for you SS20 collection? Has it already been put into production?
C: Actually we have skipped SS20 for this year (because realistically who buys knitwear in summer!!) and about to start designing AW20 this month!! Research and inspiration is continuously happening all throughout the year as I’m inspired by everything a see I do, form travel, to family, to walks in the country, to nights out in London. Street style captured at fashion weeks has a big impact, but as with the first collection, each style has been designed to be trend driven, yet trendless. I want each piece to be super cool but a classic, so you can wear it all season long, put it away and when you get it out for next season its just as relevant. I big on the slowing down fashion movement, and making more considered purchases so they love everything they own and wear it over and over again, rather than wearing it once and throwing away!
M: Is it hard to keep on top of the demand?
C: In a word – yes! As the sole member of the team right now there is so much to think of, and so much I probably should be thinking of but haven’t quite got there yet! So many parts of the business you just take for granted, but I’m loving every min of it. Every day is learning. There are mistakes, tears, anxiety, but there is also excitement, successes and huge sense of achievement! I’m also re-learning the work life balance, which is completely different when your running your own business, you literally never switch off. But its so important give yourself a break and still find time for friends and family. My and my (new!) husband (got married in September!) now make sure we have a proper dinner at the table away from the tv with phones away so we can really catch up.
M: What is your all-time favourite garment that you’ve designed?
C: I think it’s the rainbow stripe mini dress, OR the chunky oversized stripe cardigan in the beige. I love that you can chuck it on over anything and feel super cool whilst being snuggle warm!
M: What colours are your favourites to work with?
C: ALL THE COLOURS!!! Haha, I love working into softer tones with bright pops. I also love playing with different shades and textures, twisting unexpected colours together like the multi twist fisherman rib (the one with the fuchsia tipping)!I am absolutely obsessed with Cara & The Sky... I honestly think that this brand is going to get HUGE! Knitwear is ALWAYS on trend, and when it's this gorgeous?... What's not to love?
I'll be styling up one of Cara's garments soon... stay tuned!
Head on over to the Cara & The Sky official website and have a peek at all of the gorgeous garments from the AW19 collection. Also, be sure to follow C&TS on Instagram!
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading this post! Let me know what you thought of it below?