Hi, This is such a long shot but I’m trying to help my bf out, he’s lost the sweater he’s wearing in this picture and it was his grandfathers. Of course I can’t find the actual heirloom but if someone can help me locate a duplicate. The thing is all I know is it’s wool, vintage, and Fair Isle style. He has no idea what brand but it looks similar to some Ralph Lauren items. Any help with info on identifying more specifics or if you happen to have one, please let me know. Thanks!
I think it's a Nordic style - not strictly fair isle, which is the same technique as your sweater but uses different patterns. I will try and find some comparables for you.
Yes this is a Norwegian style, which will be a better search term than Fair Isle to find something similar. I think it's going to be difficult to find an exact duplicate unless you commission it from a small business hand or machine knitter, who may be able to duplicate the exact pattern from photos. If you want to find something similar, Dale of Norway, Narvik, Norwool, and Norlender are brands that produce similar styles. These zip neck sweaters are sometimes referred to as Norwegian Ski Sweaters - so that may also help you search. Here's a ski sweater from Narvek, which has similar colours and placement to yours, but not the same exact pattern. Yours appears to have all over patterning, whereas a lot the ones currently for sale often only have patterning on the upper body. All over patterning uses more wool and is more work, so this makes it a more costly to produce. This was for sale on norwegiansweaters.com .
Oh, and the traditional name for this style is Lusekofte or Setesdalsgenser (Setesdal sweater) - a Lusekofte means jacket, so usually opens fully rather than just at the neck, and traditionally has metal clasps rather than a zip - although modern ones have zips. But both terms seem to also be used for those that just have a neck opening. Lusekoftes do traditionally have the all over patterning - it's done for warmth not just decoration. So again these may be useful terms for searching. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusekofte
Hi Ruth! Update to the search, someone found an almost identical one listed on Etsy but already sold, anyhow now we know the brand is Kaare Gjose. Unfortunately it seems to be a much less common brand than Dale of Norway and I haven’t been able to find much information on it. Do you have any suggestions for sourcing that brand, maybe like any actual Norwegian vintage sites you may know of? Thank you again.
Oh wow that’s great you found out the brand. I’m sorry I don’t know of any specific sources. i know people sometimes have luck using the Gem app to search, it will search multiple vintage sites and I believe you save a search and get alerted when something comes up. similarly I’d set up a search on eBay for the brand, with email alerts, and make sure you set the location to worldwide.
Ruth, you are truly awesome!!! This is what the Forum is all about! And, yes on the Gem Search. I use it regularly for a small number of items I continually look for. Ruth is correct--they crawl several websites every day, and then you get a morning (US Time) email when they find something. Just yesterday I was late looking at my email, and I missed out on a beloved item I really, really wanted. So, you might want to check early!! I love Gem search. Good luck, CelesteAda!
