Keepers Knitwear cares about the fragility of your baby’s skin and of our planet. Hence sustainability is the underlying principle of every step during production.
The Story
Founded in 2020, Keepers Knitwear is the fruit of my desire as a young mother to create sustainable, long-lasting baby garments, aspiring to high ethical and aesthetic standards, and valuing crafts(wo)manship.
I’ve always had a special affinity for knitting: Having learned it from my mom, I was an enthusiast knitter and crocheter as a child, and later I focused on knitwear design during my fashion studies in Brussels.
When my daughter was born in 2018, I was automatically drawn to knitted garments, due to their natural extensibility and softness, which makes them really comfortable to wear for babies. I also faced the situation of having to buy lots of clothes in short time intervals, since babies grow out of their clothes so fast.
Hence I felt the longing to create garments which fit a little longer than average baby clothes, by using sustainable materials, and by adding smart details to the timeless and slightly vintage-inspired designs.
After some research, machine sampling, yarn sourcing, and lots of prototypes, Keepers Knitwear was finally born!
Handmade Slow Fashion
The principle behind Keepers Knitwear is to counter fast fashion by fair and slow fashion.
All garments are manufactured on a vintage manual knitting machine in my home studio in Belgium. This production process is an intrinsically sustainable way of creating clothes: it requires quite some patience and know-how, but no electricity.
In fact, domestic knitting machines like the one I use work entirely on pure (wo)man’s power. The garment is knitted directly into its final shape, by pushing the carrier of the machine back and forth manually.
Once the separate pieces of the garments are knitted, they are assembled by hand or by a so-called linking machine..
Zero Waste
Moreover, all Keepers Knitwear garments are manufactured ‘fully fashioned’, meaning that they are directly knitted to their final shape according to the pattern. As a result no single fibre goes to waste!
In this way I respect the primary materials at my disposal and optimise the output of every fibre.
Zero Stock - Made to order
Keepers Knitwear thinks out of the box and does not adhere to the classic cycle of seasonal collections. Instead, all garments are made on demand. This production method allows me to operate a ‘zero stock’ policy and to respond to the market in the most direct way possible. And most importantly, the production of futile stock is avoided.
Sustainable materials
All materials used for Keepers Knitwear garments are carefully selected and issued from sustainable sources.
Apart from being supersoft and comfortable to wear, the OEKO-Tex certified organic cotton used in Keepers Knitwear products is hypoallergenic and thus safe for your baby’s sensitive skin. What’s more, it is washable at 30°C.
Moreover, growing organic cotton uses much less water than conventional cotton, and it is free of pesticides.
So choosing organic cotton is the obvious choice for your baby’s and our planet’s wellbeing.
All the linen, wool, and mixed fibres are sourced from deadstock material of a former Austrian yarn factory, designer sales or vintage stocks. This way, new life is given to material which would otherwise be thrown away.
Thank you for going the extra sustainable mile by supporting Keepers Knitwear.
— Klara Finder
Founder of Keepers Knitwear
Sustainability - Quality - Timelessness- Comfort - Authenticity
Keepers Knitwear’s core values