Brushed-wool knitwear links Altea to production in Umbria and Marche, following the house's beginnings as a Milan necktie shop. Giuseppe Sartori started that business in 1892, with the Altea trademark formalised later, in 1946. Dale of Norway works with pure new wool in its sweaters, with Setesdal patterns among the Norwegian house's designs. Germany's Falke makes the Airport sock alongside technical ski hosiery, continuing a legwear business established in 1895.
Milanese accessories and knitwear house founded 1892 by Giuseppe Sartori as a necktie shop near Via Montenapoleone; the Altea trademark was formalized in 1946, known for brushed-wool knitwear made in Umbria and Marche.
Best for Printed shirts, knit polos, scarves; Printed polos, sophisticated
Altea began in 1892 as a necktie shop in Milan, opened by Giuseppe Sartori near what is now Via Montenapoleone. The Altea trademark itself was formally established in 1946. In the 1970s a fourth generation, brothers Michele and Luca Sartori, expanded the line into scarves and other accessories; by the 1990s Altea had grown into a full men's and women's 'total look' brand. It is best known today for colorful brushed-wool knitwear, alongside shirting, soft tailoring and accessories, with most pieces made in Umbria and Marche, Italy's traditional knitwear-producing regions.
Frugone 1885 is a Genoa-based cashmere house whose Portofino boutique on Molo Umberto I sells hand-finished knitwear, scarves and accessories. The brand also operates stores in Florence, Genoa and Savignone.
Best for Hand-finished knitwear, scarves and accessories
Scottish golf apparel heritage brand established 1891, producing merino knitwear and outerwear for links and fairway with Ryder Cup partnership history.
Best for Golf knitwear, merino
Glenmuir is a Scottish golf clothing manufacturer based in Lanark, with a heritage spanning over 130 years since its 1891 founding. The brand specializes in apparel designed specifically for the golf course: shirts, sweaters, outerwear, trousers, and accessories. Glenmuir describes its collections as 'golf shirts born from the links, golf outerwear shaped by the weather, and golf sweaters made by the many hands and families that give Glenmuir its name.' The company maintained a notable 30-year partnership with the European Ryder Cup team, reinforcing its position within competitive golf culture. Glenmuir's approach balances traditional Scottish craftsmanship with purpose-driven contemporary design, rooted in more than a century of dedicated golf clothing manufacture. The brand also operates subsidiary lines including Sunderland and MacWet, extending its golf and outdoor apparel portfolio.
The company continues a woolgrowing tradition on the island dating back to 1836, raising merino flocks bred from the top ten percent of Australian rams. Fleece milled at Cygnet River becomes outerwear, wraps, and homeware, shaped by the sheep's exposure to the Southern Ocean climate.
Kelly's Tweeds & Knitwear has supported Irish manufacturers from its family-run shop on the Octagon in Westport since 1876, selling handknit sweaters, tunics, and millinery made in Ireland. The shop sells both from its Westport premises and through its online store, with many one-off pieces available only here.
Established in 1881 on the bank of the Laxey river, this Isle of Man mill still weaves tweed on a 1926 Hattersley loom and tailors it into coats, jackets, rugs and knitwear. Its direct online shop and Glen Road premises carry Manx Loaghtan wool, scarves, slippers and accessories under master weaver John Woods.
Best for Woollen mill, tweed, Manx wool, knitwear, tailoring
Melin Tregwynt is a Pembrokeshire woollen mill where weaving was first recorded in the 1841 census; Henry Griffiths acquired the mill in 1912, and it became an Employee Owned Trust in 2022. It produces Welsh blankets, throws, cushions and upholstery in lambswool and pure new wool using traditional double cloth weaving.
French knitwear house rooted in an 1880 Ardeche silk mill; in 1963 Leo Gros developed the synthetic 'Fil Lumiere' thread used for its signature polos, which became especially popular across Asia from the 1990s-2000s.
Best for Knitwear, quality
Montagut traces its roots to 1880, when entrepreneur Adolphe Tinland opened a silk mill in the Auzene valley near Saint-Sauveur-de-Montagut in the Ardeche. His descendant Georges Tinland later founded a silk-knitting workshop near Valence, and in 1925 became the first to sell silk stockings under the Montagut name. After the Second World War the company shifted into knitwear, and in 1963 Leo Gros - Tinland's son-in-law - developed a synthetic thread engineered to imitate silk's sheen and drape, which he named Fil Lumiere. Polo shirts knitted from Fil Lumiere became the brand's signature product, popular especially in Asia; by around 2000 Montagut was reportedly the best-known polo-shirt brand in China.
French knitwear house founded in 1893 in Troyes by Pierre Valton as a hosiery factory; invented the ribbed 'milleraies' cotton jersey in 1970 and has been part of the Rocher Group since 1988.
Best for French basics polos; Children's polos, French
Petit Bateau originates from a hosiery factory founded in Troyes, France, in 1893 by Pierre Valton, initially producing underwear from a 3,700-square-meter workshop. In 1918, Valton's son Etienne redesigned children's underpants without legs or buttons, replacing rough wool with unbleached white cotton and adding elastic waistbands. The brand's best-known fabric, 'milleraies' - a fine ribbed cotton jersey - was developed in 1970. Petit Bateau became part of Groupe Rocher (the cosmetics group behind Yves Rocher) in 1988, and expanded from a children's-only label into a trans-generational brand in the 2000s with the launch of an adult collection.
Hawick knitwear house founded in 1815 by Robert Pringle; its designer Otto Weisz created the modern twinset and introduced the geometric Argyle pattern to knitwear in 1934, and the brand held a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II from 1956 until her death in 2022.
Best for Knitwear, Scottish
Pringle of Scotland was founded in 1815 by Robert Pringle in Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, initially producing knitted stockings and undergarments before moving into premium woolen sweaters after 1870. The brand's defining design moment came in 1934, when it appointed the Austrian-born designer Otto Weisz as its first full-time in-house designer. Weisz developed the modern twinset — a fitted sweater paired with a matching cardigan — and introduced the geometric Argyle pattern into knitwear, both of which became closely associated with the Pringle name through the twentieth century. The Argyle motif itself derives from older Scottish tartan and clan patterns rather than being a Pringle invention, but the brand is widely credited with popularizing it as a knitwear print. In 1956 Pringle received a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II, a recognition it held continuously until her death in 2022. With a documented history stretching back more than two centuries, Pringle is counted among the oldest continuously operating luxury fashion houses still trading today, and its knitwear — twinsets and Argyle pieces especially — remains the reference point most associated with the brand's identity.
French knitwear house founded in 1889 in the Normandy town of Saint-James near Mont-Saint-Michel bay, grown from Leon Legallais's 1850 wool-spinning mill; its ribbed mariniere was designed for sailors and fishermen.
Best for Navale Breton polos; the original Breton striped shirt
Saint James takes its name from the Normandy town of Saint-James, near Mont-Saint-Michel bay, where the business traces to 1850, when Leon Legallais, the town's mayor, founded a spinning mill called Moulin du Prieur. In 1889 the workshop became the Societe Anonyme des Filatures de Saint-James and produced its first defining garment: a tightly knit wool sweater designed for sailors and fishermen. Saint James has been designated an 'Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant' (Living Heritage Company) by the French state, recognising the brand's continued in-house knitting expertise.
Schiesser was founded on 1 October 1875 in Radolfzell by Jacques and Malwine Schiesser, starting with nine circular knitting looms. The Revival line, launched in 2003, reissues the brand's fine-rib and double-rib underwear pieces to their original historical patterns.
Best for Underwear, Loungewear
Schiesser was founded on 1 October 1875 in Radolfzell on Lake Constance by Jacques Schiesser, a 27-year-old Swiss factory owner, and his wife Malwine. The couple began production by renting a dance hall inside the still-standing guesthouse 'Schwert' in Radolfzell and installing just nine circular knitting looms. The operation expanded quickly: a dedicated factory for knitting and dyeing was built between 1876 and 1880, and the workforce grew from around 100 to 280 employees in that same period. Jacques Schiesser's technical innovations — including braided-knit fabric and longitudinal-striped knitwear — won the company a Grand Prix at the 1900 Paris World Exhibition, and those same techniques became the basis for the fine-rib and double-rib underwear that made the Schiesser name in the twentieth century. The Schiesser Revival line, introduced in 2003, is built specifically to bring that archive back into current production: rib-knit vests and undershirts cut to the historical patterns rather than modernized silhouettes, aimed at customers seeking the older construction rather than a contemporary reinterpretation of it. The company remains headquartered in Radolfzell, tying the current Revival range directly back to the same town where the nine original looms started running in 1875.
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