Sustainable Knit Brands

  
  
  I could not attend seminar2, but I looked at the file of seminar2. Kirsti Reitan Andersen's projects are very interesting. I learnt that there are many kinds of approaches to improve design toward sustainability in fashion industry. In the file, she mentions about GUDRUN & GUDRUN, a knitwear brand based at the Faroe Islands, as a good example of sustainable fashion brand. I am really interested in this brand, since I study knitting now. 

  Knitting needs a range of professional  techniques and a lot of specific knowledge. Now, a lot of useful and helpful knitting techniques for sustainable design have been invented. And  also many kinds of eco-friendly yarn have appeared. So, I researched UK and Japanese knitting brands which relate to sustainable design, including GUDRUN & GUDRUN. 

・GUDRUN & GUDRUN (http://www.gudrungudrun.com)

(Gudrun&Gundrun, traditional sweater, 2013)

  Gudrun&Gundrun, founded by two Faroese women, Guðrun Ludvig and Guðrun Rógvadottir, is known for their hand-knit designer clothes. Inspired by the nature surrounding them, the label is popular in large cosmopolitan cities, like New York and Tokyo. But actually I did not know GUDRUN & GUDRUN until I looked at the seminar file.

  I will see some representative of their garments as a example. This white & blue sweater is one of the traditional line's items. The traditional styles are handknitted from 100 % organic Faroese wool which is neither dyed nor treated with any chemicals. The colours are the natural colours of the sheep.  And the price is EUR 310. 

(Gudrun&Gundrun, collection2013)

   

   And other example is this  amazing colourful sweater made of mohair, wool and alpaca blends and also hand knitted.  The price is EUR 350.

　They do not make only women's wear but also men's wear and kids wear. The following pink cardigan is their kids wear. This is made of 100% wool trim 100% alpaca, and the price is EUR 130.

   

(Gudrun&Gundrun, kid's line2013)

   I felt impressive, when I saw Gudrun&Gundrun's products and designer's concept. Despite using eco-friendly organic materials and natural dyes to make products, the design of their products is very sophisticated and fashionable. I think Gudrun&Gundrun is not just a sustainable fashion brand.

  What the most surprising for me about Gudrun&Gundrun is that all their products are hand knitted. As you know, hand knitting takes a large amount of time to make just a sweater, but hand knitting has a warm heart and smooth texture. Therefore, usually price of hand-knitted products is more than twice of machine- knitted products. However  the price of their products is affordable price. Personally, I think it is too cheap in good way. Although the price is not too expensive, they used high quality materials like organic wool, mohair and alpaca as a main material. 

  I thought why they can sell hand-knitted product made of organic materials  for below-retail prices. One of the possible reasons I considered is that the Faroe Island where Gudrun&Gundrun makes their products mainly literally means Sheep Islands. It’s located between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean and is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. There are about 90,000 sheeps in the island and their wool is very soft and warm.  In addition to this, the island is famous for traditional knitting. So people in the island are familiar with hand-knitting since their childhood. That is why Gudrun&Gundrun can get good quality materials for low cost, and they can make their products using all hand-knitting.

  Generally, if people would like to make fashion products, they could chose a big city such as Paris, New York, or London as main location to make products. But Gudrun&Gundrun daringly chose their home town as a main place to produce their products. I suppose the reason why they choose the Faroe Island more than Paris, New York, or London is that they consider making products which have good quality, a warm heart and affordable price is important factors to keep using their products for customers. In fact, their products have been loved in the world including big cities like New York, and Tokyo, even though their products are born in the small island. It could be said that if products and designer's thought are attractive and fantastic, which place products made in does not matter, even it is a small island. 

(Gudrun&Gundrun, video of making garments)

・knitchy (http://www.knitchy.jp)

( Knitchy, collection2013)

Knitchy is a Japanese men's knitwear brand. They used Japanese high-quality knitting technology, and they stick meticulously to choice of yarn. But price of their knitwear is affordable price and their knitwear is durable.  



   In Japan, there are knitting factories which can make high quality knitted products. However the number of such factories have decreased from year to year. That is a serious problem in Japanese manufacturing industry. Products of Japanese manufacturing industry must be known as high quality in the world. So, I think that Japan should make efforts to protect high quality techniques of manufacturing industry.

・YUKI FUJISAWA (yuki-fujisawa.tumblr.com/‎)

(Yuki Fujiwara, collection2013)

Yuki Fujiwara is a Japanese artist. She got vintage sweaters and then she re-knited them, fixed their size,  and printed on their surface. So, every sweater is one-off products.

・Here Today Here Tomorrow (http://www.heretodayheretomrrow.com)

(Here Today Here Tomorrow, collection2013)

Since 2011, Emma and Anna of HTHT spent a month in Kathmandu working with the Association of Craft Producers (ACP), a not-for-profit fair trade organisation and a member of WFTO, providing opportunities for low income, primarily female artisans in 15 different districts of Nepal. Each product in the HTHT collections is handmade and provides the artisan who made it with economic and social support.

・TRAIDremade (http://www.traidremade.com)

(TRAIDremade, collection2013)

TRAIDremade makes clothes ethically in the UK – reusing unwanted textiles and producing in their Dalston studio and a small factory in Tottenham, London. Buy online or in-store at TRAID Dalston and TRAID Camden. They also do clothes collection service.

・From Somewhere (http://fromsomewhere.co.uk)

(From Somewhere, collection2013)

The new AW13 From Somwhere collection is a heady remix of classic FS imbued with new energy by designer Brandy Easter (fresh from BA Womenswear at CSM) and talented pattern cutter Jack Kindred-Boothby, who reworked luxury pre-consumer fabrics such as proofs, swatches, end-of-rolls and off-cuts reclaimed from the world’s leading design houses and mills.

References
・From Somewhere (2013) [Internet]. Available from :<http://fromsomewhere.co.uk> [Accessed 10 December 2013].

・GUDRUN & GUDRUN (2013) [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.gudrungudrun.com> [Accessed 10 December 2013].

・Here Today Here Tomorrow (2013) [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.heretodayheretomrrow.com> [Accessed 10 December 2013].

・knitchy (2013) [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.knitchy.jp> [Accessed 10 December 2013].

・TRAIDremade (2013) [Internet]. Available from :<http://www.traidremade.com> [Accessed 10 December 2013].

・YUKI FUJISAWA(2013) [Internet]. Available from :<yuki-fujisawa.tumblr.com/> [Accessed 10 December 2013].