Aronowitz is clearly mad about knits and although the young designer has been working his magic for a decade, it was his exposure to the product development side of the industry that helped him to hone in his focus and which sets him apart. “I just recognized that I ’m more of a creative type and wanted to take the reins on that instead of doing it for someone else,” he says of his decision to return to school and major in knitwear design at FIT. Previously, he’d majored in East Asian Studies and French Literature at the University of Delaware. “It was definitely a tough decision because I had a nice career,” says the designer. “But it was worth everything.”
Constant experimentation with new techniques has lured in a loyal custom clientele that values quality and is also willing to take certain fashion risks (see an otherwise classic cable fisherman’s sweater with inset brass rings to reveal areas of the body most would prefer to keep covered). Perhaps his most whimsical work to date is a gauzy mohair crewneck embedded with tiny air plants. Like many succulent-crazed millennials, Aronowitz loves taking care of plants. While researching a 1970s knitwear designer who double knitted tiny pockets into her garments in which to house rocks and crystals, he had an epiphany. “I still have that sweater, hanging on my wall in front of my window and I just spray it with water every week,” he says. “It melded my two passions, mohair, and plants, which makes me really happy.”
