above: The Prepchester line includes accessories for racquet sports and golf. Prepchester photos by Julia D’Agostino and Neil Landino
It’s been five years since Julia Zottner moved to Westchester to start a new life and a new business—but our towns will always hold a special place in her heart.
Zottner is the founder of Prepchester, a line of golf and racquet accessories, whose style is inspired by some of the coastal communities dearest to her heart—Darien, Rowayton and now Larchmont Woods in Westchester.
Having grown up in New Jersey, Zottner attended Villanova University and spent her early fashion career working at Ralph Lauren in New York. After leaving the city, she and her husband moved to Darien, his hometown. “We were just starting our life there,” Zottner says, when he was diagnosed with cancer and sadly passed two years later.
Zottner relocated to Rowayton and began working with New Canaan’s Krista Fox of Krista Fox Interiors. “I loved the area,” she says fondly of her former home, where she enjoyed the quintessential coastal lifestyle—soaking up the beach and riding her bicycle everywhere.
Fortunately, she found love again and married Tommy Zottner outside her home at Five Mile Landing, followed by a intimate family gathering at Rowayton Seafood.
The couple moved to Larchmont Woods to start their new life together, which now includes two children: Teddy (five) and Emmeline (nine months). Zottner found there were a lot of parallels between Rowayton and her new home—sailing, golf, paddle, tennis. “I saw a need for accessories that married that modern nautical and preppy vibe,” she says of launching Prepchester in 2024.
She started by designing a paddle racquet cover after being disappointed in the materials and zipper on one she had purchased. She added pickleball accessories next, as there were limited stylish accessories for the rapidly growing national craze. Zottner has since included golf and tennis items to Prepchester’s expanding product line, with her new crossbody tennis bag featuring interchangeable straps available in late June.
As her business and family grows in Westchester, Zottner remains connected to her former home, attending Noroton Presbyterian and participating in local events—including sponsoring Darien Depot’s pickleball fundraiser (see page 46). It seems, for Zottner, her compass always points toward the coast.
Learn more at prepchester.com or follow @prepchester on Instagram.