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Made in Colorado: Smeeny Made Wild Headware
Founder still makes roughly 1,000 hats a year herself
Eric Peterson //July 28, 2024//
Photo courtesy of Smeeny Made Wild.
Photo courtesy of Smeeny Made Wild.
Made in Colorado: Smeeny Made Wild Headware
Founder still makes roughly 1,000 hats a year herself
Eric Peterson //July 28, 2024//
Chereen Leong Schwarz turned her nickname, “Smeeny Beanie,” into her company’s flagship product in 2017. At first, making winter hats was her side hustle, but it’s been her full-time gig since 2020.
The wool yarn is “ethically and sustainably sourced” from South America, and Leong Schwarz makes most of the roughly 1,000 beanies that she sells annually by herself. “I just enjoy the act of knitting. It’s kind of like therapy for me,” she says. “And I just make styles that I want to wear myself.”
Beyond perpetual crafting, she has cultivated a loyal online community of knitters and adventurers and is hosting a creative retreat in Iceland in January 2025. “It’s definitely about the knitting, but it’s a lot more than just the knitting,” says Leong Schwarz.
Beanies: $59 to $95 retail.
Made by Smeeny Made Wild, Steamboat Springs, www.smeenymadewild.com.
