Free Fingers Fingerless Gloves Deliver Style and Hope

by Melissa Schweiger (Subscribe to Melissa Schweiger's posts)
Posted Mar 6th 2010 at 8:00PM

Free Fingers -- gloves you flaunt your manicure in. Photo: FreeFingersByNina.com

Free Fingers -- a four-month-old collection of one-of-a-kind fingerless gloves -- lends a very chic hand to the fight against breast cancer.

Free Fingers founder Nina Wexler, a breast cancer survivor, turned to knitting as a sort of therapy during her treatment for the disease, and what started as a hobby has grown into a thriving business, with 100 percent of the profit from all of her "topless" gloves generously going to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

"I thought fingerless gloves would be a functional, yet stylish accessory," Wexler, who also sculpts, paints and has designed a collection of decoupage handbags for Bloomingdale's, tells StyleList.

"For me, creating something out of nothing is so exciting. I don't work from a pattern, I just make them up as I go along," she explains.

Wexler has made over 1,000 pairs of gloves and just recently added a men's collection to her assortment. All her gloves, which start at around $150 a pair, are made by hand out of luxurious yarns, such as cashmere, merino, silk and alpaca, and come in stunning color combinations.

Wexler is working with event and wedding planners, allowing brides to order custom-made gloves as bridesmaid's gifts or to be worn in winter weddings.

Her son, musician Freddy Wexler, is also getting in on the charity act. He wrote a tribute song for her, "Mom's Song," which will be available for download on iTunes starting March 15, with all the profits going to the BCRF.

"As Einstein said, 'out of adversity comes opportunity,' and I guess that's what I've created here," Wexler observes.

Find a store near you that sells Free Fingers gloves.

And check out which famous glove was auctioned off at a whopping $350,000.

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