Buy Backlund

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Last time I spoke to Sandra Backlund, we grazed over some of the issues that hampers her beautiful and almost overwhelming knitwear – specifically, the fact that she isn't actually stocked anywhere and has only ever made clothes to sell on a personal order basis.  Over a cup of tea on my last day in rainy San Francisco last year, Sandra openly pondered the commercial viability of her knitwear – how is it possible to translate her painstakingly hand knitted pieces that she does all by herself, in her studio in Stockholm to something sitting on a rack in saym Dover Street Market, available in sizes S, M and L.  It seems like she has found one solution to this problem.

I asked Anna Battista, a Dazed Digital contributor to delve deeper into Sandra Backlund's latest collaboration with Italian knitwear company Maglificio Miles, that has worked with the likes of Azzedine Ala√Øa, Sonia Rykiel and more recently, Lanvin.  The results of the collaboration were on display at White Club, some of the images having been posted by the lovely Diane and it's a tightly edited four piece all-black mini collection that is a distilled essence of what Sandra Backlund does.  It's a tentative, rightly-cautious foray into allowing her designs to be recreated on a machine, a step that Sandra was scared to take.  Now the results can be seen for themselves and me thinks this collab might prove to unlock Sandra's commercial potential.  Practical finepoints are already solved; for instance the pieces as a result are lighter than her usual handmade samples. Whilst, she's keen to maintain her handmade work, making them more special and personal to the wearer, I feel like it won't be too long before buying into Sandra Backlund's magic way with sculpturally formidable knitwear will soon be a reality. 
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31 comments

  1. wow incredible! i’d love to buy but i don’t think that even the machine knitted versions are going to be within my budget! 🙁
    Mathilde x

  4. Are you a spurs supporter or a gunner? my mate tells me you live in Norf London. Tell me you’re not a lily white?

  5. Wow…what a question… well I guess I’m a Gunner seeing as my boyfriend is one…and I used to waitress at Arsenal FC (the old stadium…)

  6. The woman is a knitting genius! I love her designs cause they always bowl me over with amazement, how does she manage to make it look like that?

  10. These sweaters would be great for clubbing, but I would probably overheat. If I tried wearing them in “real life” around my neck of the woods, I’d get my *ss kicked. God, I miss the city!

  21. wow, it looks so much more structured and ‘in place’ than her hand made stuff. so much stiffer and … proportionally even. still incredible though!
    i still love it and if this makes her stuff more commercial than YAY for her. But i like the look of her hand knitted stuff more.

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