Guardian—a British national daily—in its ‘Bang on Trend’ column has recently recommended Nepal-made knitwear for this season. The article reads, “But to really keep those ears warm, you’ll want to spend a little bit more and get a real wool version - as any granny will tell you, modern fabrics are not to be trusted. This lovely cable knit OBH from People Tree (£20) comes in icy blue or festive fig and is hand-knitted in Nepal, as is this cute pom-pom hat from Bíbico (£20).”
For the past 16 years, Kumbheshwar Technical School (KTS) at Patan has been producing hand-knitted products for the high-street fair-trade company, People Tree. The brand’s collection includes items like mittens, hats, sweaters and ponchos. Advocating the use of fair-trade clothing, actress Emma Watson of Harry Potter series fame also recently endorsed a collection of clothing for the company.
Along with it, KTS also produces knitwear for another well-known ethical brand, Aura Que, which has been featured in magazines like Vogue, Grazia and recently in The Week (Republica’s Friday edition). Aura Que’s bag collections are commendable and so are her knitted scarves.
Designer Laura Queening of the brand informs, “Presently, for my knit designs, I use banana yarn that is made from the excess outer layers of banana plant when the crop is cut back after harvest. The material is made in southern Nepal.” Besides banana yarn, the designer has also been using yak wool, raw silk and cashmere to materialize her design ideas. An asymmetric leather strap with glided brass press studs toughens up the soft Aura Que neck scarves. According to the designer, the strap is detachable and can be worn as a wrist bracelet as well.
Shirley Bredal from Denmark is the other designer whose hand-knitted line made out of merino, cotton and lambwool is produced in Nepal. According to her site, her label engages 100 women to produce her designs.With the fair-trade movement gaining momentum, Nepal made knitwear were destined to catch the limelight. However, it is not only the foreign designers and the fair-trade companies who have been marveling at the Nepali knitwear. During his visit in April of this year, Prabal Gurung had informed that sweaters and knitted wear for one of his spring collection were done in Nepal. And even commercial high-end online stores like Asos.com have started incorporating such Peruvian woolen products for the mass.
In Nepal
There are stores as old as 20 years, in and around Thamel that have been selling a wide range of knitwear. Skimming through the stores will give you a sense of how it is yet to attract the local costumers’ attention. And even in terms of designs, a lot is yet to be done when it comes to matching the glossiness of the Chinese clothes available in the market in abundance. However, though few in number, the stores have started experimenting.
One such store is Babu Kaji Knitwear store in Chhetrapati. Apart from the regular Rastafarian woolen jackets, the store has updated designs such as an ivory pea-sweater and a black turtle neck dress-pullover. A similar move to make the hand-knitted wears more convenient for the costumers came some five/six years ago. “We started using fleece as linings to get rid of the prickling sensation of the wool,” informs Shri Krishna Thapaliya, who runs a small corner shop at Thamel and a knitting factory in Maipi.
Though tourists are still the largest buyers of such products and most of the stores benefit from exports to countries like Norway, Canada and the UK, a local store owner Baba Shrestha informs that local students, who go abroad, are the major local buyers of such products.
Of the several patterns, snow flake and jacquard are the popular ones, according to Shrestha. The other pattern that is making big in the international scene is Fair Isle, so the next time you make a stop in one of such stores make sure to rummage through. The other alluring factor of these hand-knit products is the variety of beautiful quirky colors they come in. And for this winter, look out for a few new designs like cable snood, animal bobble hat with ear flaps and slouchy beanie cap.
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