With most of Europe now descending into shorter days, and with months of chillier climes ahead, it’s time to bring out the garments that receive all the glory at this time of year: our winter woollens. One sustainable luxury knitwear brand from Germany is giving this timeless fashion piece a whole new lease of life, in more ways than one.
When Marianne Birkenfeld visited New Zealand for the first time, she was fascinated to discover a unique, luxurious yarn. While this Antipodean country may be best known for its merino wool and cashmere, what Marianne found was in fact a woollen blend made with possum fibre.
“Possum hair was almost completely unknown outside of New Zealand. I came to love this distinct blend of materials that was both soft and fluffy, extremely lightweight and warm,” Marianne explains.
It was the yarn’s origin story – a quintessential part of the country’s heritage – that sparked an idea in the designer, and when a New Zealand knitting mill agreed to supply her, Marianne went about establishing a new slow knitwear brand, pos.sei.mo.
While New Zealand’s special yarn blends are the inspiration, pos.sei.mo is 100% made in Germany so that the knitwear can be easily distributed across Europe.
Possum fibre: good from bad
European settlers introduced the common brushtail possum to New Zealand in the 19th century with the intention of establishing both a fur and meat trade. Unfortunately, this nocturnal marsupial had other ideas.
Roughly the size of a small cat, it thrived in the country’s forests without any natural predators to maintain an ecological balance. The possum population exploded, causing widespread destruction of native flora and fauna. In an attempt to quell the damage, New Zealand introduced a pest control programme.
“For several years, the New Zealand Department of Environment has been responsible for the how and where of possum control,” explains Marianne. In 1992, a farmer teamed up with a woman to explore how they could use the fur byproduct from these programmes. Together, they developed a groundbreaking process for spinning and blending fur, which led to the formation of Woolyarns.
Today, this luxurious yarn company collects possum hair from certified sources in a small number of carefully selected regions at specific times of year. The possum hair is then blended with other fine fibres to become the fabulously soft yarns that pos.sei.mo uses.
“Woolyarns played a key role in the development of these high-quality yarns in the 1990s”, adds Marianne. “It was a long journey from the initial idea to mass production readiness.”
Merino is the most common component of yarn blends with possum hair. Other components are also possible. We really like to use the wonderful fine yarn blend of cashmere, possum hair, and silk.”
All pos.sei.mo’s production and manufacturing takes place in Germany, supplying its knitwear to discerning customers across Europe. But what about the carbon footprint of using yarn from the other side of the world?
“It makes no difference whether I transport yarn from the producing countries to Europe or finished products,” Marianne asserts. “It always depends on the components of the yarn and where they are produced. In my opinion, unsustainable handling only arises in mass production, when it’s profitable to ship garments crisscrossing continents that always chase the lowest production price.”
Timeless and seamless style
Another factor that Marianne considered is how to ensure pos.sei.mo’s knitwear designs don’t fall into the trap of trends, so they age elegantly with the wearer and don’t succumb to the back of the wardrobe for being so last season.
The brand has achieved this through simple, unfussy design styles, from warm chunky knit jumpers, roll-neck sweaters, throwover capes, warm ponchos and shrugs to classic v-neck cardigans and graceful shawl-collar jackets.
“Timeless fashion is about reducing things to the essentials. Good cuts and fits are crucial for this,” says Marianne. The brand has also adopted a single-colour palette philosophy of greys, blacks, royal blues, deep reds, and greens that match well with an array of outfits and styles.
Another interesting feature is its ‘seamless knitting’ philosophy.
“Seamless knitting and fully fashion are production methods that optimise the use of yarn resources and require very little yarn waste during production,” Marianne explains. “For seamless knitting, the special machine is programmed so that, for example, the sweater requires almost no finishing. Fully fashion is a process in which individual pieces are knitted to fit precisely and then linked together.”
Care and repair
Dating back to the 3rd and 5th centuries AD in Egypt, knitwear has stood the test of time as a wonderfully low-impact manufacturing process. When properly cared for, knitwear can last decades. “It always depends on the users, of course, but after more than 20 years of pos.sei.mo, I keep hearing more and more stories that apparently, even after 20 years, some of their pieces are still cherished by their owners,” says Marianne.
“We advocate washing as little as possible – only as much as necessary. Ventilation and dry cleaning are also good options for keeping your woollens in good shape,” Marianne adds.
But there’s another long-term benefit to pos.sei.mo’s knitwear: if you’ve ever had the fortune of discovering a loose thread or a moth hole in your dream knit, then worry not, as at pos.sei.mo it can be fixed.
The brand collaborates with The Cashmere Spa, a repair service that not only instantly challenges the global fast-fashion model by closing the loop between production, consumption, and waste but is also a cost-effective, easy, and effortless solution for customers.
“The repair service is important,” highlights Marianne. “Not all customers can repair their precious pieces professionally, and especially not with the appropriate thread, which we can send you upon request. A professional repair service erases the memory of mishaps and extends the enjoyment of your favourite piece.”
