ABOUT US
Wool as a starting point
At The Knitwit Stable, a product does not begin with the design, but with the material. We research various types of Dutch wool, looking at factors including breed, fiber fineness, selection, and composition. Because not all wool is the same. Every fiber has its own character and application.
Drawing on this knowledge and experience, we develop yarns, knitwear, blankets, and other woolen products. In our own knitting studio on the farm in Baambrugge, material development, design, and production come together. Here, we explore how to best showcase Dutch wool and create small batches of products: from the fiber on the land to the knit on the skin.
A new Dutch wool culture
The Netherlands once had a thriving wool culture. With the relocation of the textile industry to distant countries and the advent of fast fashion, much of that knowledge and production has disappeared over the years. Although there are still some 800,000 sheep living in the Netherlands, their wool is barely, if at all, processed into high-quality products.
The Knitwit Stable wants to give this wool new meaning. We collect and select Dutch wool, research its properties, and develop applications that suit the material. In doing so, we work together with makers, designers, companies, and specialized production partners in Europe.
In this way, we show that high-quality, contemporary, and attractive products can be made from Dutch wool. We are giving wool a new place in our landscape, our wardrobe, and our daily lives.
Reina Ovinge
“I believe we need to learn how to look at the wool that is simply growing all around us again. Not out of nostalgia, but because of everything we can create with it today and tomorrow.”
The material itself.
“After more than twenty years in international fashion and apparel production, I wanted to go back to where clothing really begins: with the raw material. I knew the world of the end product well, but I wanted to understand—and reshape—the chain that precedes it. Where does a fiber come from? What determines its quality? And how can we make clothing with respect for animal, landscape, and material?
With that thought in mind, I started The Knitwit Stable. Wool became the starting point for a different way of producing: transparent, as local as possible, and using natural raw materials that can ultimately become part of the biological cycle again.
Dutch wool plays an important role in this. Over the past ten years, we have built up knowledge about qualities, selection, and processing, and we develop yarns and products that suit the characteristics of different types of wool. Not every wool can do the same thing—and that is exactly where I find the value.
With The Knitwit Stable, I want to show that a different textile chain is possible. A chain in which we know where our raw materials come from, in which animals and landscapes are part of the story, and in which we don't just take it for granted that materials come from the other side of the world. And above all: one in which we turn those raw materials into products that are so good and beautiful that people want to wear and use them.”
Reina Ovinge, founder of The Knitwit Stable