A Journey for Slow Fashion | The Munro Hand Intarsia

I would love to share with you a Journey close to my heart, the story of the Munro Hand Intarsia jumper.

Originally one of my first GS designs, I launched the Munro cashmere jumper in 2015. Designed to help a Hand Intarsia knitter gain confidence, learn a modern knitwear silhouette and be able to gain further work with other brands.

My wish with the Munro was to promote a dying art and reinvigorate the industry, employing knitters and creating a base that could teach the next generation.

Incredibly the Munro Hand Intarsia became an iconic GS piece and a statement of Slow Fashion. With its popularity has helped a small community of knitters and finishers take on more work and grow.

As I have shared with you before my linkers and finishers closed their doors just over a year ago. This meant the Munro was sadly put on hold for a while…

During the Summer, Munro took on a  new dimension, trying to rebuild a new artisan community.
There are 7 separate processes to create this style, therefore 7 separate artisans…. Without one another the chain would be broken and this rare technique would disappear.

To give you an idea, below are the manufacturing processes the Munro goes through from start to finish:

Knitter 1: Knits Hem, Cuffs & Neckline
Hand Intarsia Knitter: Knits intarsia panels
Knitter 1 or Hand Intarsia: Knits plain panels such as the back.
Linker 1: Links (contrasts) the shoulders, attaches sleeves and joins the body together pre-washing
Miller: Washing of the garment (so skilled, this could make or break the jumper as the cashmere is very delicate to wash)
Finisher: First Press and Cuts out neckline
Linker 2: Attaches neckline
Finisher: Sews in Ends and Adds Labels. Final Press.

Hand Intarsia knitting

At times the Munro was going up and down the country to knitters, linkers and finishers, which made no sense on an environmental and carbon footprint level. Other times, the Munro would travel two doors down on the same street.
There have been many adaptions to who and how we construct the garment (always using traditional techniques to give the highest quality finish), but every time we thought we got to a dead end we discovered new freelance linker and/or  micro-factories in a hidden part of the UK….

All the colours are limited edition with limited sizes, often using yarns that are discontinued.

Each Munro shares a beautiful story of Slow Fashion, Fighting Spirit & Artisan Craftsmanship in the UK, so each colourway will have its own unique journey and proud makers who have been apart of it.