Chic in knit: Youth, yarn and the comeback of the Faroese sweater

Abstract

This article explores the recent revitalization of Faroese knitwear production and fashion in what I have called the ‘woollen turn’ in the Faroe Islands. I examine and analyse the reinvention of the Faroese knitting styles and cultural identities through the lens of an anthropologist reflecting on the role of the multifaceted globalization process in present-day craftsmanship and entrepreneurship in the context of a North Atlantic archipelago. The revival of the patterned sweater is a story about slow fashion, local knowledge and the search for new Faroese expressions inspired by the world beyond the ocean. The patterned sweater, locally embedded yet also immersed in global flows of fashion, has the potential of endless variation as handmade woollen garment. The sweater is not just a sweater anymore. It has a story of value chains and of local–global connections in the Arctic region, but it is also an environmental footprint and a point of identification. This article draws on material from TV documentaries, newspapers, fashion magazines and websites, as well as semi-structured interviews with fashion designers and knitting-connoisseurs in the Faroe Islands.