Rather than releasing upwards of four collections annually, A NEW SWEDEN will focus on a single item—an Edition—every year.
Each Edition uses different types of wool and other natural materials found in Sweden, as well as innovative techniques to push what is naturally possible. This resource-first approach will be applied to forthcoming Editions from A NEW SWEDEN, with a different focus for each Edition. The first Edition—the Jämtland Sweatshirt—sought to prove Swedish wool was capable of being made into soft jersey. The next Edition will prove that Swedish wool can be used for more technical luxury garments that repel wind and rain.
Every garment added to the A NEW SWEDEN line takes time to research, plan and develop—slow fashion in its purest form. The development of the Jämtland Sweatshirt took months of research to source the perfect materials, and even longer to create a network of partners that could process the material and manufacture locally.
Lisa Bergstrand, founder and creative director of A NEW SWEDEN, previously designed for Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Céline, Adam Kimmel and House of Dagmar. With A NEW SWEDEN, she seeks to challenge the fashion industry’s sustainability standards by building a completely transparent production chain. A NEW SWEDEN sources from the 1,500 tons of Swedish wool destroyed annually, does not use chemicals or plastics, and is proudly made in Sweden.
A NEW SWEDEN’s slow fashion approach is a response to growth of fast fashion clothing production. Never before have wardrobes had such an excess of unused garments that become irrelevant as trends change with the seasons. Never has there been so much textile waste found in landfills. A NEW SWEDEN wants to inspire consumers to buy less, buy better, and to live slower.
“I want to bring the effortless elegance of my past into a responsible and accountable future”, says Lisa Bergstrand. “In 15 years of working in fashion, I’ve never had this level of transparency with the materials I worked with and direct contact with the people responsible for turning wool fleece into garments. It’s only by making our own fabric from source, and overseeing every step of the chain that we can guarantee that everything done is in a good way.”