Lisa Armstrong finds the best-quality knitwear – including cashmere for £79
In the best of times, I’d be able to report that British fashion is booming, young people are flocking to be skilled up in traditional crafts and that the industry has found a guilt-free way for us all to shop to our hearts’ content.
As you may have noted, these are not the best of times. But one speck of light keeps flickering: the knitwear renaissance. Granted, the combined turnovers of the indie brands featured here wouldn’t amount to a flea on the dung heap of Shein. But small ripples, etc.
Take &Daughter, a 10-year-old company set up by Buffy Reid. Everything about &Daughter is great – top-quality yarns, beautiful colours, cuts that look classic but always have just the right degree of slouch, an interesting collar, or a raglan sleeve where others might have simply plopped on a set-in sleeve. Everything, that is, except the lack of a physical shop, so you have to order online and can’t always appreciate just how good the colours and cuts are.
Lambswool cardigan, £350, & Daughter
Cashmere scarf, £295, Hera Cashmere
When I recently visited the &Daughter HQ in south-east London, in an old Peek Frean biscuit factory, Reid was about to jaunt off to the US to flog some wares at a pop-up. This is what many of our indie labels now do. Europeans are broke but Americans are still buying four cashmere cardigans at a time, and then picking up an extra one for their nanny.
Luckily, they adore the stuff from Blighty, which is progress. Not long ago, British knits (unless cashmere) had a reputation for flaying off half your skin. The introduction of the bluefaced Leicester sheep has transformed British wool. I, a self-confessed princess with major pea syndrome (I can’t be in the same room as mohair, I’m allergic), now love a bit of lamb or sheep wool.
The good stuff is niche, built to last and designed to be repaired. Navygrey now offers an elbow-patch service on some styles, using leather from pasture-fed British cattle, which creates a more diverse eco system, which in turn produces higher-quality leather. “A bespoke steel knife was created to cut the leather to the ideal shape to minimise waste and cup the elbows comfortably,” explains founder Rachel Carvell-Spedding. “Each patch is then hand sewn on by London knitters.”
Superfine wool cable crewneck, £285, Navygrey
Cashmere roll neck jumper, £95, Marks & Spencer
You don’t get this kind of service from the big luxury fashion labels, who all charge four times as much.
I’ve included mass-produced knits here because – hello, price. Not everyone can shell out £350-plus for a jumper. Uniqlo, M&S and Boden offer value for money. I fret about the welfare standards of anything mass, although M&S is supposed to be better than most.
By the way, The Seam does phenomenally good invisible mending on all kinds of clothes, including knits. So cherish them. They really are things of beauty.
Lisa wears: wool blend cardigan, £259, Sandro; wool blend and satin kilt, £150, Jaeger; leather shoes, £325, Russell & Bromley; gold vermeil and sterling silver earrings, £148, Astley Clarke; left hand – brass and pearl ring, £95, Sessun, and smoky quartz ring, £500, Jean London; Rright hand – gold and silver plated ring, £78, Shyla, and yellow quartz ring, £345, Jean London; emerald cuff, £115, Edge of Ember. Hair and makeup: Oonagh Connor at Joy Goodman using Hourglass Cosmetics, Color Wow Hair. Styling: Sophie Tobin. Stylist’s assistant: Alice Dench. With thanks to the Old Sessions House.
