How did we select the new summer yarn in organic cotton and linen?

At Önling, we are always on the hunt for new yarns that can complement our existing portfolio. We have been looking for a summer yarn for a while now - most importantly an organic yarn - in which we can knit t-shirts, tops and light blouses, but it has not been easy to find the right quality. Now the new yarn is here!

We expect a lot from our yarn

At Önling, we focus on organic yarn and we set a number of sustainability requirements for our yarn that not all suppliers can meet. They must first and foremost have the right certificates in place (at least Oeko-Tex but preferably the GOTS certificate, which is one of the most stringent in the field). This is important to us because it ensures that our yarn does not have any harmful residual chemicals, so that neither you nor anyone you knit for, is exposed to harmful chemicals or heavy metals. Furthermore, these certificates ensure that animal welfare is in order, for the sheep who produce wool for Önling's knitting yarn.

Secondly, the yarn itself must of course meet our quality requirements, and so before deciding whether to include a new yarn into the portfolio we do a lot of test knitting with the yarn, and we wash it and wear it to see how it behaves while knitting and in use. As you can probably see, the process of choosing a new yarn can take a long time - but WHEN we select it and bring it into our portfolio, we can guarantee it is quality!

See all yarns from Önling here

Existing and new designs

In the process of selecting a new yarn, we also naturally look at the gauge and the length of the yarn, so we know which of our existing designs can be "translated" into the new yarn. The next thing we do, is to start designing new styles in the yarn - and this is where creativity really blossoms. A yarn always inspires to go in a certain direction - when it a summer yarn, it inspires us to knit summer knits like summer tops, t-shirts and dresses, whereas with a wool yarn, we would think more in terms of warm sweaters, shawls, kimonos, etc. We currently have a brand new design on the way in the new No 14 yarn, and 4 existing designs that we have made yarn kits for. These are Iris summer top, Frigga v-neck, Freja t-shirt and Ohoy summer top.

Slow fashion starts in the design process

Sustainability starts already in the design process, as this is where we can ensure that our designs are classic and timeless, so they can have a long lifetime and can be inherited again and again. Of course, we can also occasionally fall for the here-and-now "trends", and it happens that we design a trendy slipover or a chunky t-shirt with puff sleeves. But in 90% of our designs you get a product with a long lifetime - both from a quality and a design point of view.