Nesušalk.lt: How one knitter brought Lithuanian warmth online

There are plenty of stories with happy endings, but fewer where a personal hobby grows into a meaningful business. One such story belongs to Silvija Puskunigienė from the village of Opšiūrai in the Vilkaviškis district – the creator behind the e-shop nesušalk.lt, this year’s winner of the Most Beautiful Lithuanian Internet Name competition.

What began as a simple pastime soon turned into a creative outlet and a small business. Encouraged by positive feedback on social media, Silvija decided to share her knitted baby socks more widely. With the help of a friend, she launched an online shop and chose a distinctly Lithuanian name that reflects both warmth and national identity – nesušalk.lt (“don’t get cold”).

First lessons from YouTube

While pregnant with her eldest daughter, Silvija bought some knitted socks from another woman on the Vinted app. However, after receiving them, she noticed that they were poor quality, stiff and made with too thick a yarn. Silvija thought that she could probably knit better socks, even though she didn’t know how to knit.

According to Silvija, she enjoyed knitting. It was all new to her, but she was doing well. She started by knitting baby socks, and then, after watching YouTube videos, she continued to improve her skills and knitted a blanket for her daughter. After her daughter was born, Silvija managed to knit a vest and a hat for the colder months.

Now, Silvija has two daughters. Taking up a knitting habit has helped her cope with postnatal depression, and eventually it grew so much that a young businesswoman created a Facebook page where she presented her knitted items.

Domain name as a statement about Lithuanian identity

According to Silvija, her social media page quickly grew as mothers began ordering knitted baby socks. To stand out in a crowded market, she started adding Lithuanian inscriptions such as “My first socks” and “Hello, world!”, which attracted attention on Facebook. However, communicating with each customer individually became exhausting. “It was very time-consuming – everyone wanted something slightly different,” she recalls. That is when Silvija decided to create her own online store.

“When I finally registered a domain and opened the e-shop, everything became more organised. Orders, payments, and deliveries could be managed in one place,” she says. Yet, choosing the name was more than a practical step – it was a matter of identity. “My products create warmth that protects you from getting cold. I didn’t want an English name; I wanted something Lithuanian, subtle, and clear. The .lt top-level domain represents Lithuania, so nesušalk.lt (don’t get cold, in English) felt perfect. Its registration through domenai.lt was quick and convenient,” Silvija recalls.

Still, she faces challenges promoting the Lithuanian name online. “Social media platforms don’t allow diacritics – I’d love to use Nesušalk on Instagram, but it’s impossible. On Facebook, the domain sometimes appears as strange code or is even blocked as unsafe,” she explains.

For Silvija, nesušalk.lt is more than a website – it’s a statement about preserving the Lithuanian language and identity in the digital world.

The owners should register both names – with and without diacritics

Vaidotas Jakuška, Marketing and Communications Specialist at the Internet Service Centre DOMREG at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), acknowledges that domain names with diacritics, such as in letters ą, č, ę, ė, į, š, ų, ū, ž of Lithuanian alphabet are rarely used due to inconveniences in displaying IDN (Internationalised Domain Names) domains on social networks, email, and other systems.

According to him, the number of such domains is growing, with businesses deciding to use the correct names for their websites and online shops instead of diacritic-less ones. To date, more than 2,000 IDN domains have been registered.

Jakuška says that even when using the diacritic-less domain, its equivalent with specific Lithuanian letters should also be registered. With both domains, one of them can be redirected, making it possible to access the website or e-shop using both diacritic and diacritic-less domain names. Like a trademark, a domain is a valuable asset; therefore, it is important to strive for business protection and not only for the convenience of users when typing the domain name. In some cases, a domain with the same name in diacritic form is registered and used by competitors, e.g., svarstyklės.lt and svarstykles.lt, bitėms.lt and bitems.lt.

Last year, a survey of the internet usage habits of the Lithuanian residents conducted by the public opinion and market survey company Baltijos tyrimai revealed that although 70 per cent of respondents do not use diacritics when typing domain names, 27 per cent use letters with ogoneks and carons in their addresses, i.e. they write domain names correctly, e.g. gražus-vardas.lt.

Opening your first e-shop? Here is what you should know

Donatas Bartusevičius, Head of Domenai.lt, a provider of web hosting and domain registration services, says that creating your own e-shop is easier than ever before – after registering a domain, you need to create your first email account with your domain name, for example, labas@tavodomenas.lt. Then start creating your e-shop, which, according to Bartusevičius, one can do in less than an hour using artificial intelligence (AI) website development tools.

He recommends first choosing a hosting plan for the start, which should cost approximately 3-7 EUR per month. With the increasing number of orders and website visitors, the plan can be upgraded.

One of the most popular is the WordPress content management system. Its biggest advantage is the option to manage all data on the website, export it to other platforms, easily integrate newsletter sending (Omnisend), payment options (Opay, Stripe), and SEO plugins.

“Of course, you can choose specialised trading platforms such as Shopify or others. They have advantages and disadvantages, but if their functionality, price, and design are suitable for you, that is great. However, I recommend you to carefully read the terms of service, who will manage the data, and what options are available for exporting goods, because you may want to integrate them into platforms such as Etsy, Amazon, etc., later,” Bartusevičius suggests.

According to Bartusevičius, although there is a wide choice, the fastest and best results are achieved using AI tools, and humans only need to make adjustments. There is a clear trend of artificial intelligence becoming our assistant and helping us achieve our goals quickly and easily.