There’s no shortage of multi-disciplinary designers on Craft On The Net and The Inoue Brothers are no different. With successful backgrounds in hair dressing and graphic design respectively, the duo have turned their collective knowledge into an ethical and successful business.

Born and raised in Denmark, the Japanese brothers started the Inoue Brothers label back in 2005. Prior to this, their respective backgrounds led to them working with well respected figures within their fields. Whilst one brother ended up working with Vidal Sassoon, the other ended up with Lars Von Trier’s, an experience which helped them when launching the brand.

Whilst they’d always wanted to work together Satoru did admit that they weren’t always so keen on fashion. In an interview with Limited Hype, Satoru said that ‘we’ve always been fascinated by fashion but more as an artistic expression and not the industry. The vanity, greed and exploitation often seen in some areas of fashion had kept us away from it’.

Their ethos goes a long way to explaining their ethical approach to fashion. When the collection first began it was solely based on knitwear, using alpaca fibre and having them hand made by Bolivian knitters. Choosing Bolivia because of the conditions there (the workers are fairly paid) they began working with the knitters on a capsule collection of knitwear.

This continued for several autumn/winter collections (only one spring/summer collection was attempted due to the complications with summer knitwear) before they found somewhere to create a spring/summer collection. Settling on South Africa as a place to work, they created the Ubuntu project. Using handmade beading on the t-shirts, (made by the women of Khayelitsha) the Ubuntu project illustrates the Inoue Brothers talent at finding out an area’s speciality and fusing it into their work.

They’ve also acknowledged that working in the manner they do has made things harder for them. In the interview with Limited Hype, they noted that ‘the fashion industry is in many ways very fast, short-termed and competing.’ Satoru said. ‘Everything has to be cheaper and cheaper even if it means exploiting cheap labour or causing extreme pollution. In such an industry we had to prepare ourselves from the beginning. [sic] On the other hand we’ve been privileged with more interest from clients and media attention and been able to stand out a little in the vast amount of brands in our over-consuming market.’

While any shift in menswear brings a host of imitators, they’ll always be brands who rise to the top by the sheer quality and authenticity of their clothing, regardless of whether they’re part of any current trend. Knitwear company Arne & Carlos are one such company.

The Norwegian company, named after their owners Arne Nerjordet and Carlos Zachrison, started out as a womenswear collection in 2002. “It turned out that we were getting the best feedback on our knitwear”, states co-owner Carlos Zachrison. So after a few seasons focusing on knitwear, the label focused solely on knitwear, also opening up a men’s collection at the same time.

They showed their Autumn/Winter 2008 menswear collection in Paris, which then garnered a host of attention of the sort of high end stores you now see them in today - the likes of Liberty and Dover Street Market. The latter stockist also lead to a high profile collaboration with Comme Des Garcons, which solidified their standing as a high quality knitwear maker.

The main standout point of Arne & Carlos is the quality of their patterns. To put it bluntly, every piece features a pattern that could easily go wrong if left in the wrong hands. Heritage has become a misused buzzword lately, but it does explain why Arne & Carlos are so skilled at making patterned knitwear.

“We work with original knitwear patterns that have been part of the Scandinavian culture for centuries”, explains Carlos. “It’s part of our heritage, but we try to re-work them and make pieces that are fresh and modern. The materials we use are softer and much lighter, unlike the original Norwegian wool, which is heavy, thick and scratchy.  I think it’s a combination of cultural heritage, modern cuts and lighter/softer materials that make these pieces timeless, but still up-to-date.”

While most movements tend to be coincidences that are bunched together by those in the media, it can genuinely be said that there’s an English menswear movement happening right now. One part of that movement is London-based designer Carolyn Massey.

Using factories in England, Scotland, Portugal and Poland, Massey produces seasonal collections that are based around a lifestyle rather than one specific item – although the knitwear is the focus. “There’s something so trusted and reassuring about a good knit piece” she explains, “I think it also has to do with the balance of the collection - and also because I love knit so much.”

Material wise, she mainly uses Italian and English fabrics. “I’ve always been very conscious of the wearability of fabric – ‘does this feel good?’ The touch of the fabric on the skin is an important matter”.

When it comes to the topic of prestige no longer being a selling point, she states that “Traceability is key. Are you happy buying this product without knowing where it came from and what sort of businesses it’s supporting?”

“Often the finest materials and craftsmanship have been used to develop a more expensive product, and due to the knowledge that has been used to construct this, the product will last 10, 20 times longer than its cheaper equivalent. So it’s actually cheaper to invest in the long run.”

The cardigan revival signalled the start of an ongoing obsession with knitwear for menswear bloggers. One brand that has garnered a fair amount of blog love is the knitwear label SNS Herning.

Founded in 1931, the Danish label was the branchild of Soren Nielsen Skyt. He originally found a way of making knitwear that had extra patterns designed to insulate the wearer and protect them from rough weather at sea. The mill were the products are knitted are still in the city of Herning (hence the company name) and have been since the companies 1931 inception.

Contrary to most companies with heritage stories, the same machinery is used to this day.“The knitting is done by the use of aged German machinery – some of them dating back to the 1950’s – and one of them even to the 1930’s,” says the founder’s grandson, Soren Skyt. “We stick by the old machines, since they were made more robust back in the days. All knitting is handled by four guys – mature men, I would say: Son of the founder of S. N. S. Herning, Holger, his brother-in-law, his old-time friend and our new young apprentice.”

The wools themselves are sourced from Australia before being spun in Italy and then brought to Denmark. After the knitting is complete, they’re shipped off to the sewing mill in Riga, Latvia. While they originally aimed to keep everything within Denmark the closure of mills made this impossible.

“In the 1980’s, we were able to find mills in Denmark who could do the finishing (when we were at our biggest in the 1970’es we even had our own sewing department, those were indeed the days). But - with all knitting mills moving to Portugal, Poland, Estonia & China – all the sewing mills in Denmark were left with no work, and were consequently closed”

Whilst being reticent to say that their product was better quality than other companies, they do say that “what we try to do, of course, is to produce something worthy of the initials of the founder of the company. We do what we do and leave all the rest for the others.”

In the week before I take a tour of John Smedley’s factory, Lea Mills, in Matlock (a 40-minute drive from Derby city centre) the company is awarded two gongs at the UK Fashion Export Awards – for long-standing export excellence and best heritage collection. The brand may have been churning out refined knitwear for a long time, but it has lost none of its business verve, passion or sense of craft.

I’m in a rabbit warren of out-houses and ancient buildings linked by a covered bridge emblazoned with the company’s founding year, 1784. The bucolic setting, with sheep on rolling hills and ducks diving in the nearby river Derwent, is deceptive. This feels less like manufacturing than a trip to England’s green and pleasant land. Yet the clatter of machines and steady hum of the factory dispel rural thoughts.

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