My Favorite Knitwear Creators
It's cold and I've been thinking about my favorite knitwear designers, artists, and pages.
Hi friends!
It’s been a while since I’ve made a list — intentionally, I think lists are where writing goes to die — but I’d like to keep the ball rolling with an article about knitwear as I work on some Worn to Death pieces and some longform essays.
I love knitwear. As such, I figure I’d compile a list of people I admire, adore, and make a point to watch. No sense in belaboring the point; keep in mind that nobody’s paid me or given me anything (an important acknowledgement in today’s fashion writing world!) and that I’ve got no other interests in writing this piece other than sharing what I enjoy.
One Size Fits All is free, and I’m keeping it that way! Share the article with a friend after you’re done, have a fun conversation (either with me or the person you’ve shared this with), and support these knitwear creators!
Kai Kotto
Let’s start it off strong! Kai Kotto — the pseudonym of Paula, the prolific Polish native — is producing some of the most incredible intarsia work that I’ve had the pleasure of seeing. I bought two vests from her in 2021 and her work has only continued to improve in both quality and complexity. As an example, let’s take a bit of a deeper look into the recently-posted winter berry knit.
For those who aren’t super well-versed in intarsia and what it requires, small bobbins or meticulously separated strands of yarn are swapped in and out of the pattern to essentially ‘draw’ with those colors as the piece is knit. I count five colors in the flower’s intarsia pattern alone (I assume there’s one more in the blackberry, for six in total).
Even though it’s possible, nobody’s doing it like her. This is insanely intricate and time-intensive! People don't do this! Brands don’t do this! The gradient and depth in this piece are a trademark of Kai Kotto, and make her work stand out against commercially-produced intarsia (in which the colors are usually blocky as to prevent or circumvent the amount of work and time it takes to produce work like Paula’s).
I also love the focus on exploring childhood nostalgia and the use of poetry alongside the knits. In today’s fashion scene, story is oft-swapped for quality (see quite literally any streetwear brand at the moment). Conversely, Paula’s story and narrative enhance the work and give it a deeper, personal, and intimate feeling that are emblematic of the tender history of knitwear. The time and care invested into the projects is tangible in everything on her page.
She won’t be the first fabulously talented creator that I celebrate in this piece, but she is one of the only ones who I’ve bought things from personally and have closely followed for an extended period of time: the page is absolutely worth a follow.
Knitster_ldn
I’m such a sucker for a behind-the-scenes look. You could get me to lie down in oncoming traffic if you told me that there was someone explaining variable tire pressure and impacts on asphalt wear. For those like me, Knitster LDN scratches that itch. I’m not unique in this pursuit of behind-the-scenes information: a ton of creators on TikTok and Instagram built audiences off of pulling back the curtain.
It’s unfortunate that there isn’t a post-a-day from the group, but the sparsity of the posts makes them feel special. To prove to you that they’re working with some heavy hitters, they’ve developed knits with and for JW Anderson, Represent, Dior, SS Daley, and Realisation Par, to name a few. Following them is tapping into the best part of the fashion world; passionate, earnest people who are excited about sharing their work while excelling in their field. No reels, no bragging, no clout-chasing; just beautifully made knitwear.
Celia Pym
My interest in Celia Pym is borne from my relationship with my grandfather. I take after him in a lot of ways; I love the Boston Celtics, I love doing things with my hands (especially if those things take finesse), and I love having a project. He’s tender, quick with a joke, and capable of immensely focus to the point of ignoring my grandmother (he’s partially deaf, but she suspects it’s more of a choice than a loss of hearing). I’m not sure when he took up darning, but I suspect it came from his parents’ assertion that he maintained the clothing he owned (as his midwestern parents rarely bought new clothing), yet another proclivity that wormed its way into the genetic code that we share.
But: this isn’t a section about my grandfather. This is about Celia Pym’s work and how she’s mastered the art of darning. Her work is technically sound yet maintains an atmosphere of whimsy as if a boro-stitch master took a bunch of LSD and decided to fix up their favorite socks. She can apparently fix anything, from Muji slippers to a pair of socks that call to mind the Ship of Theseus (if the original wool is completely replaced by darned thread, do you still own the original pair of socks?).
I love artists that take a practical skill (darning, in this case) and elevate it to a level where, while still theoretically achievable, makes you realize that they operate in a different gear. Sure, I could fix my socks and learn to darn, but I could never have Celia’s same eye for color, stitch size, and yarn. That’s what makes her work so fun! As I’ve now written about at length on this Substack (once with Michael and once with Ella), repairs on clothing not only serve a utilitarian purpose (they repair a hole, duh), but also infuse the garment, metaphysically or emotionally, with some part of the repairer.
This isn’t anecdotal. A paper in the International Journal of Fashion Studies elaborates that consistent patterns of behavior, shaped by cognitive processes, contribute to the development of individual personality traits [that appear in their clothing] and that same clothing functions as a symbolic medium that offers insights into the wearer's inner psyche.
So, here’s why I love Celia Pym. I love repairing clothing. I love my grandfather. Seeing others do what he loves to do makes me feel like the best parts of my grandfather — and there are a lot of them — aren’t unobtainable or an arcane secret that will disappear with him. I can learn to woodwork, or to ignore my grandmother (not that I’d ever actually do it), or to darn my socks. Celia’s taken something he and many others do idly and made it into an art form.
Groppo2020
Time to trumpet my skill in finding cool things on the internet! I found Groppo in 2021, and am always happy to see one of their posts grace my feed. Recently, they’ve been producing samples of some horror-inspired knitwear with some very interesting distressing. Maybe I’m just inventing a narrative here, but bear with me: their slow cadence in sharing content (only 19 posts in 2024) feels as if the work they put into their sampling and production is so intensive that they’re prioritizing quality over quantity.
I’m a fan of novel things (who isn’t), and when a post from the Italian studio pops up, I’ve found myself consistently surprised at their versatility and malleability. I don’t make clothes myself, but imagine that working with them would be quite easy.
Rimaglio
Guilia Bortoli describes herself as a ‘knitwear sheriff’. She’s not entirely wrong; she’s a hired gun who’s called when a designer (Wales Bonner, GmbH, etc.) can’t handle a problem in their tiny fashion towns, and, on worn leather boots and a horse with no name (probably Lyft), handles business.
She’s been working with bigger and bigger brands as of late — Stella McCartney, Coperni, and Burberry, to name a few — and seeing a talented knitwear creator continue to ascend through the ranks of luxury houses gives me hope that the artistry and skill behind handmade or handcrafted knitwear is still celebrated in the fashion world. I should mention that she’s not alone. As far as I can tell, she worked with a couple of other talented makers (@nicola_ghezzi, @stefano_sberze, and @fr0dagard3n) on recent projects; new leads for future knitwear inspiration and interesting people to watch in their own right.
Szof___
I have no idea how I came across Szof___. Genuinely. But I’m glad I did. They’re a project (or page) from Berlin-based Sofia Clementina Hosszufalussy, and looking through their posts feels like walking into a mad scientist’s lab.
There’s a clear theme emerging in a lot of these pages. I like artists. I like people who are trying new things. I like people who love what they do (nerds, affectionately). I also love people who share their process, even if I don’t fully understand it or if it’s not for me. I don’t really care to see if I can buy anything, most of the time, I just like to watch. It comes from the same desire to look in the back rooms of stores, watch sports, or to tell a friend to “tell me more”: I love to learn.
Julia Wright
So, who else to follow but self-described “textile artist, textile engineer, obsessive nerd” Julia Wright. She makes her work on a Dobby Loom (I had zero clue what this was and had to look it up), which looks like you tried to build a computer out of wood after society collapses but still has access to quality woodworking tools. Her work evokes a strange feeling of nostalgia from me: the backgrounds of Earthbound fights, cathode ray televisions, and patterns that I used to see by pushing on my eyes too hard in the back of my parents’ old station wagon.
I’ve had the pleasure of briefly connecting with Julia (more to come in a future note, I hope!) and discussed how her work evokes my own personal feelings of nostalgia. She explained that her original inspiration was from her own childhood — it’s nice to know I’m not making things up when I’m talking about art — and continued to elaborate on how she uses her work to understand her own intricate internal maze. “Weaving is her my of making sense in the world…it is both a necessity and a compulsion,” she explained.
I find Julia’s pursuit of entropy — whether natural or manufactured — fascinating, especially as it relates to realm of weaving. It reminds me of biology during middle school, where we zoomed into Romanesco Broccoli; the seemingly random spirals of florets became orderly fractals, simultaneously predictable and distressingly infinite.
I think that Julia underrates her own talent, a trend unfortunately shared amongst many artists. A caption reads “there are some moments where I put my all into a piece, finally finish, and decide I hate it. I struggle with the doubt and the confusion of my work but in the end I am grateful that I had a vision strong enough to try.” I love that she’s willing to try, willing to create, and is willing to admit when something doesn’t work despite a best effort, even though I doubt that what she considers a failure would be deserving of hate, judgement, or ire.
Non Grak
Thai-based Non Grak (love-child of Cherry W. Rain-Phuangfueang and Home Phuangfueang) reached massive success off of viral hyper-brushed mohair hats and eye-catching sweaters. You’ve definitely seen them before if you’re at all in the fashion scene. They’re also stocked at Komune!
I’m not going to reinvent the wheel in this paragraph and I don’t have much insight other than I’m really happy to see that a knitwear designer popped off after following their distinct style and ideating to see what would catch on without sacrificing their design language. If you want to learn more, they’ve done interviews that are worth a read!
Honorable Mentions / Rapid Fire Round
Knittingcurator
Quick one here. I’ll lay it out as a matter of fact: knitwear consultant, posting editorial spreads (the photography is sometimes lacking) of interesting knitwear. Is the page constantly updated? No. Is the work curated on the page shattering every convention on knitwear as we know it? No. But – is the page well-curated? Absolutely. I come back to it every month or so and (hopefully) enjoy the new content.
Effluroscent
Consultancy and sampling studio doing some interesting concept patterns and color studies with yarn. They post super infrequently, and it’s a shame.
Christina Seewald
Paloma Wool if they got a more interesting and a little sexier.
Isa Boulder
Longtime knitwear designer who’s expanded into SSENSE and Selfridges without compromising on their quality or creativity. Fun to check in on!
EJ Sharman
UK-based knitwear creator with a focus on sustainability. Wish they’d speak on their process, as some of what they make is really fascinating.
No grand outro here. Simply sharing things and people that I like to watch. I hope you’ve found someone that inspires you or who gets you more interested in the amazing world of knitwear. Until next week!
the most fascinating thing about knitwear is how deep the rabbit hole is for it. my textiles professor explained to us how knitwear is its own category with fashion design since how we make clothes out of it is completely diffferent to how we make most clothing (which is weave based). i’ve wanted to jump into knitwear since they have 2 knitting machines.
there’s something so child like about knit wear where the logos feel so pure and innocent if done right. it feels cozy and warm, like a hug from your parent