Shae NY Knitwear Fall 2012

Let's face it: good sweaters are hard to come by. The nice ones are always super expensive, and the cheaper renditions are incredibly uncomfortable (itchy!) and don't last past a season. In comes Shae NY's ultracool, quality-made knitwear to our Fall fashion rescue. Led by creative director Tony Smith, whose past resume includes working with heavy-hitting brands like Isaac Mizrahi and Billy Reid, and head designer Amber Hofmann, the newly debuted label is fresh, modern, and incredibly easy to wear. The best part? Most pieces ring in under $300 so you don't have to worry about busting your budget. To give you a better sense of Shae's cool-girl offerings, we met up with the two designers — who you can most likely run into at their favorite hangout spots, the New York Public Library (in the reading room) and Fette Sau in Brooklyn, to talk about the "Shae girl," their design process, and everything in between. Listen up, then click through the slideshow to see and shop our favorite pieces and see Shae NY's latest Resort '13 line.

Fabsugar: Describe Shae in 5 words.
Amber Hofmann and Tony Smith: New, unexpected, fresh, humorous, color color.

FS: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
TS: Life . . . and lots of food.
AH: Chicks on the street

FS: Who is the "Shae girl"?
AH: All the stylish chicks I know and celebrities like Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway, January Jones, Mila Kunis, Zoe Saldana, and Minka Kelly.

FS: Who are your fashion icons?
TS: Claire McCardell, Commes des Garcon, Martin Margiela, and Amy Spindler.
AH: Stella McCartney, Phoebe Philo, Emmanuelle Alt, and Cara Delevingne.

FS: Favorite food?
TS: FRENCH
AH: Pulled Pork

FS: If you weren't fashion designers, who would you be?
TS: Some sort of product designer or a farmer.
AH: An industrial designer — I love welding and woodworking.