You may have heard of slow food. The movement focuses on the preservation of local and traditional dishes. Slow fashion is designed in a similar vein. It focuses on an entire supply chain and manufacturing base being in one region. John Sterner, a slow fashion knitwear brand from Alexander Stutterheim, founder of Stutterheim, does just that.
The company’s hub is the wind battered island of Öland, off the Swedish coast. The second-largest Swedish island has 26,000 inhabitants and is home to the annual King’s Rally vintage motorcade. On a single patch of land on the island, Stutterheim keeps a flock of sheep. Their wool is turned into warm and cozy knitwear, which make excellent gifts.
Stutterheim and John Sterner share common ownership.Photo courtesy of Polestar
However, with strict COVID-19-related regulations in place, it’s become a chore for shoppers to get to the company’s “Flagsheep store”, which is located right next to the field. Even though they were able to order online, the personal touch that slow fashion so often affords was lost.
Stutterheim wanted to personally deliver gifts to the buyers and partnered with Polestar to perform the task. Enter: the Wool Express. The Wool Express wasn’t a train, rather a Polestar 2 charged with green energy and loaded with gobs of woolen scarves and jumpers. It left Öland last week, headed to Stockholm, a journey of about 430 kilometers.
The approach of slow fashion appeals to Stutterheim because of its sustainability. “We’re trying to be an open, holistic brand,” he says of his eco-luxury knitwear line, “one that challenges the mass production industry’s values.”
Polestar is also game for sustainability, applying it to automotive design and execution. “At Polestar, we challenge the old notions of what premium means in the car industry. In Polestar 2 you’ll find vegan WeaveTech upholstery and reconstructed wood instead of leather and chrome, but we also hold our entire supply chain to high standards to address sustainability in all directions,” said Maximilian Missoni, Head of Design at Polestar.
See more about the journey here:
The Wool Express with Alexander Stutterheim
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