Iris Von Arnim

If you want knitwear built to last rather than to be replaced each season, it tends to reward the spend. Iris von Arnim is a family-run German label that has specialised in fine cashmere since the late 1970s, and the appeal is less about a logo than about texture, hand and longevity. Cared for properly, a piece is meant to stay in your wardrobe for years, which softens the cost over time.

The price reflects a small-batch, design-led approach rather than mass production. The label was among the first in Germany to introduce cashmere, and built its name on intarsia patterns and bold colour combinations that are intricate to knit. With its own production site in Italy and a focus on craft over volume, each piece carries the cost of that detail.

Both sit firmly in the luxury cashmere world, but they have different roots. Loro Piana is an Italian fibre house known for understated, ultra-refined basics, where Iris von Arnim is a German designer label celebrated for expressive intarsia, colour and pattern. If you are drawn to character and motif in your knitwear, Iris von Arnim leans more playful; if you want quiet, fibre-first minimalism, Loro Piana is the other pole.

She earned the moniker in the early 1980s, when she revolutionised the German knitwear market with previously unknown intarsia work and bold colour combinations. As one of the first designers to introduce cashmere in Germany, she effectively defined the category there. The nickname has followed the brand ever since.

Luxury cashmere knitwear with an artist's eye. The label made its mark with novelty sweaters bearing Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso motifs, alongside designs featuring race-car drivers, horseback riders, golfers and tennis players. That mix of fine cashmere and graphic, expressive knit is the signature.

Iris von Arnim began knitting in 1976 while recovering from a car accident, opened a small boutique in Munich that year, and formally founded her own label in 1979 when she started wholesale distribution. The brand is German, and today it has its own production site in Italy and mono stores in Munich, Vienna and Kampen on Sylt.

It remains very much a family business. Iris von Arnim founded and still heads the label, and her son Valentin von Arnim joined in 2006 and has served as general manager since 2009, overseeing operations, marketing and sales. That continuity is part of why the house keeps such a consistent identity.

Yes. In 2010 Iris von Arnim formed a joint venture with the supermodel to develop the Claudia Schiffer Cashmere Collection. Schiffer served as creative director while von Arnim handled product development, production and sales, pairing the model's eye with the label's cashmere expertise.

It does. In August 2013 the house presented its first menswear collection, called Iris von Arnim UOMO, launching with 15 styles. The range runs from fine knitted hoodies to chunky hand-knitted sweaters and cardigans, each distinguished by particular details and craftsmanship.

The label delivers to over 200 exclusive boutiques and department stores globally, alongside its own mono stores and an e-store launched in 2013. While cashmere knitwear is the heart of the line, since 1990 the collection has been complemented by matching woven and dress pieces, so it is more of a full wardrobe than sweaters alone.

Treat it as an investment garment. Fine cashmere keeps its shape and softness best with gentle hand-washing or specialist cleaning, flat drying, and careful folded storage rather than hanging. Because the label builds for longevity, a little routine care goes a long way toward keeping the hand and colour intact for years.