Laizer Mangel never set out to build a business. He just wanted yarmulkes with a logo for his parents’ Chabad dinner gala. Today, he ships custom yarmulkes and Judaica textiles to customers in every U.S. state and dozens of countries around the world.

Growing up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Laizer’s parents ran Chabad of Cherry Hill. As a bochur, he became increasingly involved with mivtzoyim, activities, and general programming at the Chabad House. When his parents put together a gala dinner, Laizer needed yarmulkes with a logo for the event and came away frustrated with the price, quality, and quantity he found when he tried to order them.

The experience left him frustrated. The suppliers he found either charged high prices, offered poor quality, or required large minimum orders, making it difficult to get exactly what he needed.

“I felt there had to be a better way to do this,” Laizer tells anash.org. “If I was struggling to find good quality yarmulkes at a fair price, other people had to be dealing with the same thing.”

He had already gained some import experience a few years earlier while on Shlichus in Miami, manufacturing custom leather tefillin bags for the local bochurim and importing them from Pakistan. Navigating the complexities of international shipping and customs- including overcoming an import hickup by working with a customs broker to clear his shipment- gave him the confidence to begin importing yarmulkes on his own.

He tracked down a supplier who had previously made yarmulkes for a shliach, confirmed the connection by phone, and placed his first order: 500 pieces for his parents’ Chabad House. From there, word spread. Uncles and aunts wanted their own orders, then their relatives did too, and he began charging modestly.

“It basically started as an unofficial nonprofit,” Laizer jokes. “I was charging cost price, donating my time to place these orders.”

At the time, Laizer was still a bochur. The moment it became a real business, he said, was the first order he got from someone who wasn’t a relative.

“I was sitting in the car pulling an invoice template off Google Docs, and I had to figure out what to call this thing,” he recalled.

Since he’d already branched out beyond yarmulkes into matzah covers, havdala pouches, and challah covers, he landed on the name KippahsPlus. It stuck.

Within about a year, dozens of shluchim were ordering regularly, with demand peaking in the summertime as shluchim prepared for the Yomim Noraim crowds.

Heading into Rosh Hashanah season with a record number of orders, Laizer’s supplier disappeared. Laizer quickly switched suppliers, but a communication gap over sizing specifications led to a serious problem. The new yarmulkes came out oversized, some unwearable, especially in standard sizing.

He had to remake every affected order, absorbing both the money already paid to the vendor who vanished and the roughly double cost of an expedited remake with the new supplier.

“I was five times in the red because of the losses,” Laizer told anash.org. He chose to cover the cost personally rather than let customers down, calling it a difficult, high-pressure few weeks for a young bochur running a growing operation.

He expected the episode to cost him customer trust. Instead, he said the opposite happened.

“Sticking through it with honesty and transparency actually built more trust, because people saw that I’d follow through no matter what went wrong.”

Laizer’s relationship with his current supplier is now eight years old, something he describes as a genuine partnership. His Crown Heights office holds what he estimates as thousands of physical yarmulke samples, spanning tens of thousands of color and material combinations across hundreds of swatch books, including cotton, linen, suede, faux leather, and burlap, plus 2,000 embroidery thread colors.

Add in options like dual-color yarmulkes, custom trim, double stitching, and different inner linings, and Leizer estimates over 2 million possible combinations. “That’s not an exaggeration,” he says.

Over the years, KippahsPlus has produced over half a million custom yarmulkas for shuls, schools, Chabad houses, camps, simchas, organizations, events, and businesses around the world. Their free international shipping included on every order makes it accessible to hundreds of shluchim and mosdos across the globe.

Conveniently located in the heart of Crown Heights, KippahsPlus welcomes customers and visitors who want to see samples, discuss options, and get personal assistance with their orders.

“We order all of our kippahs from KippahsPlus. Their customer service is fantastic, and the entire process is always quick and easy. No matter what style, color, or custom design we’re looking for, they always find a way to make it happen. Definitely the best place to go for custom kippahs,” said Rabbi Shmuli Novack of Chabad on Campus, UNF Jacksonville, FL.

“We requested something that he didn’t have in existence, and he wasn’t afraid to try something new or different than usual. His priority is that you are happy,” said Rabbi Yosef Gutierrez of Chabad La Paz, Mexico.

“We’ve been ordering from KippahsPlus for over six years, and they’ve been incredible every step of the way. The quality is great, they’re always willing to accommodate our requests, and they’re a pleasure to work with,” said Mrs. Sarah Rosenfeld of CYP Pittsburgh, PA.

What began serving only shluchim has since expanded well beyond Lubavitch, reaching country clubs, professional organizations, and customers who have never set foot in a Chabad House.

“My country club ordered over 100 kippot with the club’s logo for Seder. What a hit, and now it’s revered as a collector’s item,” said Harold Cohen, Esq. of Voorhees, NJ.

“We love our kippot. The quality is unmatched, and the ordering process was easy thanks to great customer service,” said Maty Gumbiner of West Hills, CA.

Growth, Laizer said, has been almost entirely organic, driven by word of mouth from his parents to relatives to their relatives.

As the business grew, Laizer put real infrastructure behind it, building out systems for storing orders, files, and design assets, and bringing on an in-person assistant in Crown Heights to help with design, color selection, and customer service.

“Bringing on another team member also helped us stay on top of something we feel is very important: providing fast and efficient communication to our customers”, Mangel said.

Because the wide range of options can be overwhelming, the team guides customers through every step of the ordering process, making sure everything is clearly understood and that customers know exactly what they’re ordering. About 99 percent of orders are handled remotely through WhatsApp and email.

A new website currently in development is built around walking customers through the ordering process, given how many options exist, which, according to Laizer, could be a potential game changer.

Laizer says KippahsPlus stands out for its pricing, service, and fast turnaround, with some orders completed in as little as 11 days. Almost all orders are between $3.35 – $3.85 per piece, depending on whether the yarmulka is personalized on the outside, on the inside, or both.

For no extra charge, that pricing includes a free clip, design work, multicolor yarmulkes, contrast trim, different lining colors, multicolor logos, and free worldwide shipping, a rarity in the industry.

Beyond yarmulkes, Laizer has since expanded to challah covers, matzah covers, Havdalah cases, tzedakah pouches, seder items, backgammon sets, and other textile and swag items. He also runs a wholesale Mishloach Manos business with his brother and sister, every year creating and designing beautiful packages so that hundreds of Shluchim can rely on them to have their shalach manos needs covered.

“My biggest hope is that every yarmulke we send out helps another yid feel a little more connected,” Laizer said. “Whether it’s with a shliach outfitting his community or a family celebrating a simcha, it is a zchus to run a business revolving around the act of connection to Hashem.”

To order custom yarmulkes or other items for your community, family, or institution, click here. You can also get in touch with Leizer directly by calling or messaging him at 469-547-7247.

You can also email KippahsPlus at [email protected], follow them on Instagram, and connect with them on Facebook.