I Love Mr. Mittens
I Love Mr. MittensMore Info
When Belgian born Stéphanie Caulier visited a small knitting cafe in New York back in 2007, she was reminded of her childhood passion of knitting. Growing up in a family surrounded by knitting and sewing, it was only natural that Stéphanie developed an interest in knitwear. It has been a labour of love over the years and from small beginnings of knitting for family and friends, the brand has evolved into `I love Mr Mittens`. Stéphanie’s passion for knitwear and design is clearly illustrated through her multiple social media avenues and her masses of followers built in the last few years.
Whilst not following traditional academic design study, Stephanie has honed her skills through years of experience in her chosen craft. She combines this knowledge with her keen fashion eye to create a line of unique chunky wool garments.
I Love Mr Mittens is not only a fashion label, it is a label based upon community and sustainability whilst maintaining timeless aesthetics. This ideal also flows through to the I Love Mr Mittens stockists. The I Love Mr Mittens range is available through a carefully selected array of stockists. Quality over quantity is Stephanie’s vision for her brand and this is seen through her select group of stockists across the globe. It is also important to recognise I love Mr Mittens “Heartworking” philosophy. Each garment is hand knitted with love by Stephanie and her team. This collaboration of small, independent businesses (rather than large conglomerates) completes the vision of I love Mr Mittens to create a brand that provides a genuine contribution back to the local community. University students and retired pensioners alike, work with a common objective of executing Stephanie’s vision of how knitwear should be, simple, elegant, timeless and fashionable.
HEAD OFFICE 101 Napier street Cottesloe WA 6011 Australia
Ariane Lespire
Ariane LespireMore Info
HISTORY
After graduating in architecture, Ariane Lespire decided to explore new paths. Her enthusiasm and never-ending creativity led her to her parallel career. She first created ceremony hats before switching to ready-to-wear and accessories. Her scarves, stoles, hats and beanies in boiled wool contributed to her first commercial successes. Her collections are currently sold in Belgium, France, United States… After a few seasons, she decided to add wool, cotton and other materials (such as leather) to her collections, as well as jewels. Ariane and two collaborators conceived and hand-make unique pieces and special orders in a cute Liège-based boutique. Two local ateliers produce the limited editions pieces or the small series. One of them is specialised in the vocational rehabilitation of women in needs. This ethic and social involvement is in line with Ariane’s strong desire to offer a high-qualitative product, which is contemporary, but also sustainable.
253 Rue Saint Gilles Liège B-4000 Belgium
Rue Saint Gilles 253 Liège B-4000 Belgium
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Aymara is the result of the love story between a Belgian engineer, Sven Van Gucht, who met Yannina Esquivias, a young Peruvian travel agent, during a sabbatical year and fell in love. Yannina and Sven quit their jobs and started a knitting factory in Peru together with Yannina’s family. In 2007, the knitwear label Aymara was born. The name Aymara refers to a native ethnic group in the Andes of South America.
Concept
The magic of Aymara lies in the combination of Belgian design and Peru’s extraordinary fibers and textile craftmenship. Aymara’s knitwear is produced in our own knitting factory in Arequipa, in the south of Peru, managed by Yannina’s family. Thank’s to our strong relationship with them and their unconditional commitment, this incredible intercontinental project could be achieved. We believe that in today’s world of fast fashion and mass consumption, people are looking for authentic products with a soul. When buying Aymara, you are sure to get longlasting, sustainable products with an extraordinary story.
Design
Excellent natural fibers play a key role and are the starting point of each Aymara design. This is why Aymara chooses to offer pure styles available in a wide colour palette of bright and soft colours. Our designers take into account the fashion trends but at the same time, we make sure that each Aymara product is timeless and longlasting. A lot of attention has been paid for the perfect fitting form and discrete refined details. The kids collection, designed by Yannina has a playful character whereas the women’s collection, designed by Saskia Van Herzeele is very feminine.
Fiber
Peru manufactures some of the world’s finest quality fibers. For our summer collections, Aymara uses Peruvian pima cotton which is considered to be one of the softest and finest cottons in existence. In winter, garments made of precious alpaca blends are always an important part of our collection. Alpaca is a cousin of the llama and is prized for it’s thermal properties, silkiness and durability. Alpaca is a fiber which does not come at the expense of the environment. In today’s world, dominated by artificial materials, alpaca is the natural option. Alpacas graze at elevations of 3500 to 5000 meters in the Peruvian Andes. This precious fibre is used by top designers world wide. Aymara only uses the finest alpaca fibers, called baby alpaca. In our winter collections we also offer garments made of fine merino wool from Argentina.
Production
Aymara’s knitting plant is fully integrated and employs about 60 persons on the pay roll. This assures us to be in complete control of the production process and the quality of the garments. Although the knitting process itself has been industrialized, the production process is labour intensive and still requires a lot of manual operations. A lot of attention is been paid to the linking and finishing processes. Aymara garments are fully fashioned ; this means that the cutting and overlocking process is avoided as much as possible. By doing so, Aymara’s customers are getting a high quality product with one of the finest linking and finishing standards on the market. Turn your Aymara garment inside out and you will see what we mean !
Although most of the collection is produced on industrial knitting machines, each winter season Aymara offers a small theme of hand knit accessories. This enables women to generate an income by hand knitting at their home while taking care of their children. For a lot of these women it would be impossible to work inside a company because of their family situation and the lack of childcare. You can recognize these products by the “Aymara hand knit” hang tag. We are currently investigating how this could be integrated into a wider social project.
Head office & International Sales Aymara bvba Bornem 2880 Belgium
Showroom Aymara Antwerp Kielsevest 70 Antwerpen 2018 Belgium
FIBR
FIBRMore Info
OUR MISSION
MEET FIBR. THE FAIRCHAIN ALPACA SWEATER. SOFT ON YOUR SKIN AS EASY ON YOUR CONSCIENCE. FIBR BRINGS RADICALLY COMFORTABLE BASICS, YOU ARE PROUD TO WEAR.
The fashion industry has some of the most complex and unfair supply chains in the world. FIBR believes that creating transparency is a first step towards fairness. Today, only 7% of fashion brands know where their materials come from.
Some room for change, if you ask us.
THE FIBR SUPPLY CHAIN
FIBR IS FAIRCHAIN KNITWEAR: FAIRNESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL, ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE VALUE CHAIN.
Fairchain knitwear takes it a step further, rethinking the entire value chain from the source of the raw materials right to your closet.
FIBR connects three strong local players in PERU, all doing their part to make the Peruvian alpaca sector more fair. By connecting these dots, we managed to set up our own value chain and bring you a product of which we know exactly who made it, where it has been and of which we can be sure that everyone is treated well.
OUR PRINCIPLES
QUALITY IS WHERE IT STARTS
We bring you a timeless sweater made from 100% alpaca fibre, a natural fibre which is praised for its robustness and warmness. This sweater is made to last! And if not, a repair kit will teach you all the tricks.
TRANSPARENCY TO THE BONE
Discover where your money goes to, and all the steps your FIBR sweater has been through. No need to hide our imperfections. We rather would like to share them with you and show where improvement is still needed.
EVERY SWEATER COUNTS
We know that we won’t change the world (although we would love to). But we do know that big changes are made by many small steps.
Leading by example, we tell the clothing industry to dive into their supply chains and show more ambition. We are convinced the fashion sector needs small disruptive ideas to evolve and innovate. Every sweater sold means that another person is inspired by our story. Which is something huge!
PRE-ORDER
AT FIBR WE WORK WITH A PRE-ORDER SYSTEM. THIS MEANS THAT WE ONLY START PRODUCTION AFTER A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF PIECES IS ORDERED. TO CONTRIBUTE TO YEARROUND WORK STABILITY FOR THE KNITTERS, PRODUCTION IS IN LOW SEASON, FROM FEBRUARY UNTIL EARLY APRIL.
Tarbotstraat 10 Ghent 9000 Belgium
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About Ellen
Ellen Kegels’ passion for knitting, baby alpaca yarn and Peru, led to the launch of a heartwarming knitwear brand in 2011, now known as LN Knits.
From the age of 16, Ellen started building her fair fashion knitwear brand by knitting beanies for family, friends and relatives. Before she knew it, she was knitting over 300 beanies herself and to complete the orders she created a warm platform of knitting grannies to help her out.
A few years later, she travelled to Peru to help launch a knitting atelier for a good cause, which led to the production other first real collection of handmade luxury baby alpaca knitwear.
Almost 10 years later, LN Knits gives honest work to over 350 women in Peru. Not only by offering them an honest income, but also by providing them with extra services such as daycare, medical check-ups and care.
Good Cause
You can read more about our core values in our sustainability report. Taking care of our planet is crucial and therefore LN Knits designs, creates and works as sustainably as possible. We only work with natural materials and have a zero-waste policy. Left over yarns becomes a beautiful collection of DIY & Home products. To date, LN Knits is sold in over 35 boutiques in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and the United States.
Ellen not only has her wonderful Peruvian woman to think about, she also has the very important job of bringing up two lovely young girls. As a dedicated entrepreneur and equally dedicated mother, she has worked hard on finding a healthy balance between the two.
She shares her own personal experience in the hope that other mothers see that it is possible to balance the two and really have quality time with loved ones.
Not one to shy away from a challenge, Ellen has often step away from the trodden path.
Building a sustainable alpaca imperium, and showing the world that if you stick to your core values, you really can build a sustainable enterprise. As a pioneer of sustainable knitwear in Belgium, Ellen will forever be grateful to her warm and loyal customers who have shared this journey with her.
For you, dear customers, she will continue to design timeless collections, and keep you all warm in LNKnits’ soft, anti- allergic, handmade and sustainable designs.
Oude Baan 43 Brasschaat 2930 Belgium
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ABOUT CESAR
In addition to being a model, food lover, traveler and proud author of my two cookbooks Model Kitchen and Cesar’s Kitchen and the travel guide Trippin, I have launched the Cesar Casier Knitwear Collection. While growing up, I was always surrounded by fashion. My mom owns a high-end fashion boutique “OONA” in Ghent and my stepmom is a fashion designer. They were my biggest influencers and shaped my views on fashion while growing up, the logical next step was to start my own collection.
100% MADE IN BELGIUM.
KNITWEAR COLLECTION
The Cesar Casier Knitwear Collection is 100% made in Belgium, something that is very rare nowadays. Everything I design is produced in a small family owned factory located in Sint-Niklaas, a city between Antwerp and my hometown Ghent. Fact is that back in the days there were about 300 factories located in this area and now there are only two left, a sad reality. Therefore, it is important to support the revival of Belgian knitwear as much as possible!
GENDER NEUTRAL FASHION
Next to my roots, my brand represents Gender Equality. A human right I hold dear and it is something I stand for. I translate this into my designs, as they are mostly unisex. I want my brand to lead the way in gender-neutral fashion. In my opinion, gender no longer dictates the way people dress and it does not force anyone into a box. That is why I try to design as much gender neutral pieces as possible, this allows us to express ourselves exactly the way we all want to. My designs are timeless, comfortable and basic, yet fashionable and with an eye for detail and great quality
CHARITY
I’ve always loved nature and even more, the animals who live in it. That’s why, for every sold item on my website, I’ll donate 1 euro to a charity. For my previous collection I’ve donated money to help save the dolphins, The Great Barrier Reef and the Giraffes in the wild. By donating money to a good cause, I want to send awareness to the public about the beauty of nature and to support animal and nature welfare!
Hubert Frere Orbanlaan 629 Ghent 9000 Belgium
Howlin’
Howlin’More Info
ABOUT
We are an Antwerp based knitwear brand.
Since 1981 we have been producing quality knitwear in Scotland and in 2009 we launched our new label Howlin’ (scottish slang for smelly). The way of manufacturing remains traditional but Howlin’ offers more room for fantasy in shape and pattern.
At Howlin’ we strive for timeless, playful products that are made with care. So whether it is a scarf or a shaggy waistcoat; all our products are individually manufactured and hand finished by traditionally skilled craftsmen in either Scotland, Ireland or Belgium using the highest quality yarns possible.
Small is beautiful.
MADE IN SCOTLAND
Scotland has a long history of producing the best knitwear in the world and we are happy to be involved in it for over 30 years.
Since the start of Howlin’ our goal was to bring a fresh somewhat twisted approach to Scottish knitwear while respecting its rich heritage. Keeping the best of the old techniques and mix it with new technology, patterns, colors and ideas.
In an ever faster and more automated economy we are happy to slow things down and have our focus on well made products. It’s a niche, we know, but we like niche products, a lot. Just like a small record label doing hand stamped 7 inches with personal liner notes. It’s the beauty in the details.
Each Howlin’ garment is handled individually and tenderly, throughout its entire production, from the first precise stitch to the delicate pressing and folding.
All our yarns are carefully sourced according to their quality and sustainability standards. Our beloved planet earth has a special place in our heart and we think it’s the best planet out there (as far as we know) so we want to have the lowest impact on it as possible.
Our natural yarns come from local mills, some even complete all the stages of yarn production under one roof. This includes grading, scouring and dyeing fleece before colour blending, carding, spinning, twisting and balling to produce this unique 100% pure Shetland yarn.
A quality which is often imitated but never duplicated.
MADE IN IRELAND
Over the years we have been working closely with a small Irish family run company established centuries ago.
Together with these master crafts people we produce the highest quality knitwear with local Irish yarns.
We have to admit, at first we got strange looks when we came up with our ideas but that changed over the years, now it’s simply that classic smile when they see a new Howlin’ design.
We are very happy to contribute to this unique art and craft which is not only beautiful but also important culturally to remain alive.
Producing in Ireland (and Scotland, and Belgium) not only means you have a truly unique product in your hand, it also means that the people making your goods are well paid and looked after.
MADE IN BELGIUM
Next to our Scottish and Irish knitwear we are happy to create products in our home country Belgium.
Together with several small factories in Belgium, each carefully chosen for their own speciality, we managed to make a diverse range of products which include lighter weight knitwear, jersey and towel fabric garments.
Our goal was to create durable, functional and original products which far outlives seasonal trends.
All pieces are produced in small batches and with close attention to details.
Extra special is the fact that for our jersey we don’t import fabrics but that we knit everything entirely in-house.
Therefore we can proudly say that all our Howlin’ products are truly 100% produced in Belgium.
Nationalestraat 20 Antwerpen 2000 Belgium
Kopstraatje 3 2000 Antwerp Belgium
Vest
VestMore Info
Vest, by Veerle
VEST: on the cusp between creativity and traditional craftsmanship
Slow fashion is gradually gaining more ground and is now firmly embedded in the concept of sustainable thinking. VEST, the Belgian knitwear label by Veerle Stubbe, is a prime example of what happens when sustainability and creativity converge. Her hand-knitted sweaters, cardigans and accessories are statement pieces to enjoy for many seasons on end. VEST brings the concept of luxury back to the essentials.
The clicking of knitting needles is one of the earliest memories that Veerle cherishes of her mother and grandmother. A sound that always filled her with a sense of tranquillity, it still makes her feel very ‘zen’ despite the immense list of orders. VEST has fans all over the globe, from Belgium to Japan. The Belgian knitwear label owes its success to a combination of authentic hand-crafted products, executed in the right colours with deluxe yarns and featuring easy-going models that tie in perfectly with today’s Zeitgeist.
For VESTimentary seekers of added value
Veerle Stubbe, mother of two young men, discovered her calling in fashion only at a later age. Or not entirely: drawn to creative professions early on in life, she decided to bring her own artisanal knitwear collection to the market three years ago: VEST.
She sought and found the most beautiful yarns in Italy, including a soft blend of mohair and silk, and set to work independently. Her sweaters, cardigans, shawls and beanies quickly gained in popularity and she soon needed several additional pairs of hands. A sweater or cardigan requires eight hours of manual labour, after all! Thanks to a team of knitters she is now able to keep up with the demand.
HOF TER EKEN 1 LAARNE 9270 Belgium
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A STORY OF KNIT AND FAMILY
It all started in 2000 when Alain and Caroline Eaton decided, after 15 years as agents for several ready-to-wear brands, to launch their own label on the Belgian market. The very first collection consisted of 10 jumpers in a wide range of colours. Fancy knitwear is Jeff’s DNA. Loyal to their agents, the buyers took a chance and from the first season onwards, Jeff was found in 50 multi-brand shops in Belgium, the gamble paid off.
From season to season, the couple continued to develop pretty knits and then, little by little, the collection expanded to include floral prints, linen and T-shirts. Jeff is a feminine and casual collection, trendy without being too sharp, which dresses all women. The brand is now distributed in more than 100 shops in Belgium and from 2008 onwards it started to export to Europe and the world. In 2013 Victoria Eaton joined her parents and brought a young and creative touch to the collection. The brand continues to evolve to keep up with the times. More and more present internationally, in 2018 the online shop is launched and the flagship store relocated to the centre of Brussels at the Sablon.
25 Rue Joseph Stevens, Sablon, Brussels 1000 Belgium
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Knitto is a Belgian company specialized in knitwear design founded by Nathalie Bouhana & David Sdika.They design knitwear for major brands in luxury and fashion as well as their own menswear and womenswear label,Chauncey.
rue des anciens etangs 40 Brussels 1190 Belgium