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A Knitwear Revolution

April 24, 2018

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This week marks Fashion Revolution Week 2018, where Fashion Revolution run the #whomademyclothes campaign, which falls on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, which killed 1138 people and injured many more on 24th April 2013. During this week, brands and producers are encouraged to respond with the hashtag #imadeyourclothes to demonstrate transparency in their supply chain.

In recognition and celebration of this incredible movement, we look at 5 designers and brands who create beautiful knitwear product, transparently and ethically.

Here Today Here Tomorrow

Founded by Anna-Maria Hesse, Julia Crew & Katelyn Toth-Fejel, a collective of socially and environmentally conscious designers, Here Today Here Tomorrow collaborates on the ground with fair trade artisans in Nepal to create its geometric and colourful hand-made knitwear. Using only certified 100% non-mulsed wool, which is coloured by ACP (Association for Craft Producers) in Kathmandu with low chemical AZO-free dyes, HTHT offer fun and contemporary knitwear pieces designed to be cherished, that actively provide female artisans on low incomes with economic and social support. FAIR TRADE

CROP

Earlier this year, we featured our conversation with Kate Morris, founder of CROP, a cruelty-free vegan knitwear brand, with a commitment to waste-free, and environmentally low-impact production. Kate’s commitment to her ethos ensures that the consumer can be sure that her product has been made with maker, environment and end-user at full focus.

Having collaborated on the ground with the R Collective, to create a 15-piece knitwear collection, created using waste yarns from garment factories in Hong Kong, we eagerly await CROP’s first production run so that we can wear Kate’s fun, state-mental yet truly wearable pieces with pride!

Genevieve Sweeney

Genevieve’s eponymous knitwear label, has gone from strength to strength since its foundation in 2015. Genevieve works with artisanal knitwear manufacturers in the UK, supporting the heritage of British knitwear manufacturing. Across her marketing, Genevieve regularly showcases the people and processes behind her luxuriously crafted knitwear pieces.

Known for her contemporary geometric intarsia designs in high quality fibres, Genevieve’s knitwear is designed to keep and cherish, whilst supporting the deep-rooted knitwear community engrained into the history of British manufacturing.

Mandkhai

Mandkhai Jargalsaikhan is a Mongolian designer, who, following her parents who set up a cashmere factory in post-communist Mongolia, launched her knitwear label Mandkhai, launching in 2017. Mandkhai is passionate about the cashmere industry, which heavily impacts Mongolia, where over a third of the world’s cashmere is supplied from.

Mandkhai has full control over her supply chain, from ensuring that the goats supplying the cashmere fibre are well looked after and free-roaming, to acutely monitoring the dyeing and production of the yarn at the brands self-owned factory.

Mandkhai design and make contemporary, highly creative cashmere knitwear, underpinned by full transparency, from animal to wear.

Everlane

US-brand Everlane, have raised the bar in terms of transparency of where, how and the costs of making it’s products. Working tirelessly to source and developing true partnerships with it’s suppliers around the world, Everlane believes in an open-access to this background, where we can immediately discover the factory who makes each piece it sells through their website. Creating finely-tuned every day knitwear pieces that I designed to transcend seasonal trends, and manufactured to last, Everlane offer knitwear with a conscience at ethically affordable prices.