Guðrun & Guðrun: Sustainable fashion rooted in tradition, craft and equality

By Signe Hansen | Photos: Guðrun & Guðrun

Faroese fashion brand Guðrun & Guðrun has built an international reputation for handcrafted knitwear made with care, conscience, and a commitment to sustainability. But behind the ethereal mohair sweaters and open-knit dresses lies something deeper: a quiet, long-term investment in women’s lives. Through partnerships with knitters in Jordan, Peru, and the Faroe Islands, the brand supports not just craftsmanship but also equal rights and opportunities for women.

Founded by Faroese political scientist Guðrun Rógvadóttir and designer Guðrun Ludvig, Guðrun & Guðrun emerged from a shared desire to create fashion with integrity. Since then, Guðrun & Guðrun has grown steadily, gaining international recognition while staying true to its values.

Guðrun & Guðrun: Sustainable fashion rooted in tradition, craft and equality

With its Autumn/Winter 2025 collection, Guðrun & Guðrun has hand-knitted a new softness and elegance into the Faroese wool.

From the outset, social responsibility was integral to the duo’s mission, particularly the concept of empowering women through meaningful employment. “It all starts with the chance to earn your own money,” says Rógvadóttir. “That changes everything. It gives you agency. It means that you don’t have to depend on someone else, and that is often the first step to making choices for yourself.”

For more than 15 years, the label has worked with female knitters in Jordan. In fact, the company’s striking collections are all handknitted by approximately 90 knitters in Peru, Jordan and the Faroe Islands.

Guðrun & Guðrun: Sustainable fashion rooted in tradition, craft and equality

Empowerment through craft

Guðrun & Guðrun’s social impact story began in Jordan, where Rógvadóttir, then working in international development, saw an opportunity to create jobs for local women, an idea that grew naturally from the values behind the brand she had recently co-founded with designer Guðrun Ludvig.

“We had started Guðrun & Guðrun on the side, and while I was in Jordan, we talked about how great it would be if we could involve women there in the production,” she explains. “Many of them couldn’t work outside the home, so this became a way for them to earn an income while staying with their families.”

The women they work with today are primarily from the Circassian community, a group with its own strong needlework traditions. “Some of them came to us with small children back then,” Rógvadóttir says. “Now those children are grown and going to university – paid for with the money that their mothers earned from knitting. That feels meaningful.”

In Peru, the company collaborates with a group of around 20 women, all part of a deeply rooted local knitting tradition. And on the Faroe Islands, where knitting has always been central to culture, the brand has helped breathe new life into fading practices. “When we started, knitting wasn’t very fashionable. But I think we’ve helped bring interest back, not just in the garments, but in the value of handmade work.”

Guðrun & Guðrun: Sustainable fashion rooted in tradition, craft and equality

AW25: redefining Faroese wool

With its Autumn/Winter 2025 collection, Guðrun & Guðrun sets out to do with Faroese wool what it has long been celebrated for achieving with mohair, transforming a traditional, often underestimated material into something light, modern, and refined. “Our mohair pieces have always been known for airiness and delicacy,” says Guðrun Rógvadóttir. “This time, we wanted to apply that same softness and elegance to Faroese wool, which is normally considered too coarse for anything but socks or heavy sweaters.”

The results are striking. Using the finest one-ply yarn – so thin that it is typically used only for machine knitting – the brand has created hand-knitted garments that appear almost weightless. “People say that you can’t hand-knit with yarn this fine,” Rógvadóttir says. “But of course, we do it anyway.” The collection features both new designs and reimagined classics, including a fluid dress that can be styled in several ways. “It’s playful and versatile,” she adds. “We like pieces that invite people to interact with them.”

At its core, the collection is about curiosity and challenge. “Sometimes the material wins, and sometimes the designer wins,” says Rógvadóttir. “It’s always a back and forth. But we like that. It keeps us curious.”

A different kind of fashion

Guðrun & Guðrun is often described as a slow fashion label, but the philosophy goes deeper than that. “We don’t really follow trends,” says Rógvadóttir. “Some of our customers are still wearing pieces from ten years ago, and they are still not out of fashion. Our designs are made to last, not just in quality but in style.”

Durability is part of the story. So is honesty. “Everything is made with natural materials. And we’re transparent about who makes our clothes and how. The sweaters are really knitted by hand – two needles, one woman, sitting in her home. That’s important to us.”

That kind of authenticity resonates. “There’s a growing interest in things that are real – real stories, real hands behind the work,” Rógvadóttir says and concludes; “I think people are drawn to the idea that something they wear has been touched, shaped, and cared for by someone else. That’s part of its beauty.”