Harry Styles, Michelle Obama help knitting’s popularity surge as Gen Z looks towards traditional crafts that reduce stress and waste

Fitting into a larger trend toward traditional crafts and hobbies, knitting has been growing ever more popular among young people during the pandemic

Perceptions of the craft had already been changing, in part because consumers were waking up to the environmental impact of fast fashion, one insider says

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More people than ever are turning to knitting as a way to pass the time during the pandemic. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:15am, 6 Apr 2021Updated: 8:55am, 6 Apr 2021

Definitive proof that knitting was no longer the domain of blanket-on-the-knees nana’s churning out bootees for their grandchildren came in July last year when British singer Harry Styles wore a rainbow-hued patchwork cardigan from JW Anderson’s spring 2020 men’s collection and it went viral on TikTok.

The cardigan, a piece that the brand’s founder, Jonathan Anderson, told Vogue Business he loved because it felt “rather authentic and almost home-made, like your grandmother could have made it … at the same time, it feels a little deconstructed and punk”, tapped into the cool-kid #craftcore challenge trend on the social media platform.

The hashtag #HarryStylesCardigan has since accumulated more than 55 million views on TikTok as crafters around the world had a crack at DIY-ing the cardigan themselves.

Anderson later released the pattern for the cardigan online free of charge.

But resourceful Gen Z-ers (those born in 1995 or after) on social media aren’t the only ones picking up the knitting needles and crochet hooks.

Throughout these homebound times amid the sourdough starters, the Zoom quizzes and the banana bread there has been a trend toward traditional crafts and hobbies.