Harry Styles and Tom Daley have made cardigans cool again. Meet the designers using technology to fuel a knitwear renaissance
- Celebrities’ affinities with cardigans and jumpers has led to a surge in the popularity of knitted clothes, to which fashion labels have responded
- Designers are using merino wool, said to be ‘the original eco fibre’, and new technology to push the boundaries of knitwear, creating footwear, suits and more
Between Harry Styles’ rainbow cardigan viral moment back in 2020, British diver Tom Daley’s adorable knitting kits, Katie Holmes’ continued elevation of the cardigan, and the slew of Scandi “It” girls wearing kooky knits at Copenhagen Fashion Week earlier this year, knitwear has had a resurgence over the past few years.
The first chills of autumn have never felt more exciting as we dig our knitted clothes out from the back of the wardrobe.
What’s more, knitwear has now moved well beyond the humble jumper. According to John Roberts, CEO of The Woolmark Company – the global authority on wool – this is particularly true when it comes to merino wool.
Since the The Woolmark Prize was launched in the 1950s as a way to promote Australian and New Zealand wool, it has been won by fashion designers from Karl Lagerfeld to Gabriella Hearst.
The purpose of the prestigious prize is to celebrate designers thinking up ingenious ways to work with, and wear, wool. This year’s winner, British sportswear designer Saul Nash, created a range of cool active- and compression wear with wool for his winning collection.
It’s this thinking, aligned with shifts in values around craftsmanship and environmental preservation, that Roberts says is pushing the … er … needle on knitwear.