ORIGINAL SINCE 1919

The trademark S. N. S. HERNING was founded in 1919 by the Dane, Søren Nielsen Skyt. He made a living from selling his knitted garments since his early youth - as did a lot of other young entrepreneurs of the time.

“SØMANDSTRØJEN” - THE FISHERMAN SWEATER

An official record from 20th of October, 1923 - documents that Søren Nielsen Skyt was selling various knitted garments. He offered woollen vests, knitted pants for men, woollen socks, sweaters for men, jumpers for women, women’s undergarments - and most importantly: our fisherman sweater, in Danish “Sømandstrøjen”. Most likely part of his repertoire since 1919, but certainly since 1923.

THE SECRET OF THE “BUBBLE”

The origin of our fisherman sweater traces back to English hand knitted sweaters. The hand knitters had been developing a technique for knitting so-called “bubbles”, providing unique isolating abilities. The knitted bubble was a way to solve the problem of how to achieve as much warmth for as little expenditure of yarn as possible. The knitted bubble creates a pocket of air - enhancing thermal characteristics without weighing you down.

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A DURABLE ORIGINAL

In his early years - Søren Nielsen Skyt was knitting alongside his father on the hand knitting machines of the time. The difficult part was to work out how to make the machines replicate ideas from the hand knitted designs. He succeeded in finding his original solution to this - and proved to be a very durable one. From the beginning, the fisherman sweater was intended for the hardworking fishermen at sea, since then it has become a staple, and an icon of Danish Design.

FOREVER UNCHANGEABLE

To this day, the Skyt family are knitting the fisherman sweater after the exact same inherited recipe. This means that we are following the strict rules for the number of bubbles, how they should be positioned on the sweater, and how all these dimensions should be interrelated in correspondence to a silent logic.

Every year, we are making new sweaters - as if extending the family with new members - but the fisherman sweater remains forever unchangeable.

MAKE YOUR OWN SWEATER STORY: SHOP THE FISHERMAN SWEATER HERE