Dress to De-Stress with Cardi Craze
Dopamine dressing at its best, Cardi Craze's creations are just too cute
Based on the ethos that what you wear should make you feel good inside and out, local business Cardi Craze is helping customers to shop mindfully and choose mood-boosting options that reflect their individuality. Offering a unique range of cardigans (and with an expanded range planned for the summer), Laura and the team want to help people be their authentic selves.
Tell us about your background and how you came to Cardi Craze.
We started out knowing that we wanted to make products that made people feel good inside and out, and that began as a wellness brand with the hope that what we sold would improve people’s mindfulness and bring some stillness to their lives. When we introduced cardigans, it clicked for the business and we decided this is what we wanted to be selling because when we thought about ourselves and our customers, what stood out to us was how different we all are, and how different our personalities are.
Part of mindfulness is knowing who you are and what you like. When we started selling cardigans we wanted them to be bold and colourful, just like the personalities that we saw. We wanted people to express themselves through their cardigans and feel confident and comfortable in who they are.
How does mindfulness help your business and design process?
Even as business owners we don’t want to rush our progress. We want space and time to figure out what works best for us, what we want to sell and what designs we want to do. We always start with a brainstorming process and ask our customers over social media what kind of designs they want to see in the future. We do sketches for future designs too.
How do you view the relationship between fashion and mood?
If you know what you like and you see something that you like, it improves your mood. Especially if it’s something comfortable, and when you wear it you love how you feel – more confident and more like yourself. At markets we see groups of friends walking by and saying ‘that’s so you!’ and pointing at one of our cardigans. All we really want is for people to find a piece of themselves in one of our designs.
What are your bestsellers and personal favourites?
People love the golden petal cardigan with orange flowers but my favourite is the brown vegetable cardigan (called the brown harvest cardigan).
What are your plans for Living North LIVE and beyond?
This summer we want to make more vests – like a sleeveless cardigan for the warmer weather. We also are already looking forward to some new designs for autumn and winter. At Living North LIVE we will be selling our signature cardigans, and will have the knitted vests too. Even if people don’t come to buy something, or if they already have one, they can just come and chat with us.
Tell us your favourite local independent store.
Flaura Rose.
What’s your favourite local beauty spot?
Jesmond Dene waterfall.
Who’s your favourite designer at the moment?
I can’t choose!
