Winter is just around the corner and with temperatures plummeting, we’re all reaching for our favourite knitwear to keep warm and cosy. If your knitwear collection needs an update, fear not. We’ve put together a list of the best luxury knitwear brands you need to know about this winter. Stay stylish, warm and cosy.
1. John Smedley
The oldest manufacturing factory in the world, John Smedley was established in 1784. The made in England brand was granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment as a “Manufacturer of Fine Knitwear” by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
John Smedley’s iconic styles include their best-selling polo shirt, unchanged since 1932 and extra fine merino wool jumpers.
The brand’s “Icons” collections are the place to shop for timeless and effortlessly stylish knitwear.
2. Barrie
Barrie is a Scottish cashmere knitwear manufacturer founded in 1903. In 2012, it joined the exclusive circle of the Chanel Métiers d’Art houses. Barrie’s artistic director is none other than Augustin Dol-Maillot, who worked at Chanel under both Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard.
High tech and craftsmanship, luxury fashion and heritage. Barrie combines worlds seamlessly and is the only manufacturer in the world which still judges the washing of each garment individually, and where every detail of the assembly process is done by hand.
Boasting a capsule collection with Sofia Coppola, Barrie is the perfect brand for fashion lovers.
3. Begg x Co
Responsible cashmere knitwear brand Begg x Co designs and manufactures knitwear, accessories and homeware for the modern lifestyle.
Celebrating boldness, encouraging self-expression and championing authentic living through artisanal products, Begg x Co embraces colours. The brand wants to make people feel good both physically and emotionally, knowing the products they buy have been ethically made.
Combining age-old techniques with disruptive design and cutting-edge technology, each collection is rooted in responsible craftsmanship, ensuring the highest social and animal welfare standards are maintained as each fibre is traced from goat to garment.
4. Waste Yarn Project
For knitwear lovers who want sustainability to be at the heart of their knits, Waste Yarn Project is perfect.
The brand is an initiative that repurposes surplus yarns to create one-of-a-kind knitwear. This means the design process begins with what they find, and the process is guided by a system of controlled randomness.
Developing their own system of yarn colour-and-ply-combining called the WYP Wheel of Fortune, the brand utilises “random” yarns determined by the Wheel to create their designs. While the yarns are “random”, however, once knitted together they are guaranteed to be harmonised with balanced material blends, ensuring an always-soft hand feel and durability in the final product.
5. HADES
Barrie has Sofia Coppola, HADES has Tilda Swinton. The brand’s collab with the actress who calls Scotland home took two years to develop.
Founded in 2016, HADES draws inspiration from counterculture, radical figures, ideas, and history.
While started as a knitwear brand, HADES has evolved and introduces ready-to-wear in 2022. But the brand’s commitment to quality, long-lasting products has not changed: their jumpers and scarves are handcrafted in Hawick Scotland, our cardigans are knitted in Spain and our skirts are constructed in England.
6. N.Peal
London brand N.Peal needs little introduction. Started in 1936 and worn by the who’s who of royalties and celebrities, the N.Peal flagship in Burlington Arcade has been is shopping destination since it opened its doors in 36.
“Movie stars will come to us even during a bad day. Sophia Loren consoled herself in buying N.Peal cashmere when her jewels were stolen. Travelling husbands know our shop – a gentleman always buys blue for his wife.” — N.Peal
7. &Daughter
&Daughter is a legacy brand, with founder Buffy Reid explaining: “My Irish Granny was an amazing knitter, she passed that knowledge and passion onto my father. He began his career selling the Donegal tweeds and Arans of his birthplace and made his life’s work Irish and Scottish knitwear of the highest quality. Now I am lucky enough to work with many of the makers and mills that he did.”
The brand works with five yarns, and five makers from Scotland and Ireland. The process is slow “because it cannot be fast”, with each piece of the jumper knit individually and then linked together and finished by hand.
8. Luca Faloni
Italian brand Luca Faloni only uses pure cashmere and silk-cashmere from Cariaggi, linen from one of the oldest Italian mills, brushed cotton from Grandi & Rubinelli, pique’ from a historic mill in Veneto and full grain leather from Santa Croce, in Tuscany.
With slow fashion at its core, Luca Faloni is a made in Italy brand that proudly champions Italian artisans and craftmanship.
The brand’s cashmere knitwear offers effortless comfort in luxurious two-ply cashmere, silk blends, and four-ply chunky knits.
9. Studio Nicholson
The “fabric-first” brand was launched in 2010 by Nick Wakeman after 20+ years in the design industry. “I’m not driven by the traditional fashion industry, merchandising-lead model, where range planning dictates what I design. Tactility and structure inform the end result; I create shapes according to how a cloth behaves, because after all, everything we wear is an engineered product – the raw materials must fit the end purpose.”
Inspired by Japanese architecture, interiors, grunge music, 1990s sub-culture and geological landscapes, Studio Nicholson rejects fashion in favour of timeless style.
With the idea of a modular wardrobe at its core, the striped back, luxurious and casual pieces of Studio Nicholson always work together ,season after season.
10. Johnstons of Elgin
Knitwear heritage brand Johnstons of Elgin has been around since 1811 and with a Royal Warrant, it’s one of the best knitwear brands around. Made in Scotland with the world’s finest natural, biodegradable fibres, the brand’s luxurious designs are soft, warm, and exquisitely stylish.
Johnstons of Elgin is also a Cert B Corp and committed to sustainable practices.
