A Nordic Fairytale for winter

MELBOURNE: The creators of a new women's knitwear brand are firm believers the Australian market has had enough of synthetic, generic knitwear.

That's the philosophy that will see newly minted knit label Twitchett & Tonge launch through independent boutiques later this month, with stockists including boutique retailers Klimt and Me, Phillips and Eco-D.

Company co-founder Olivia Twitchett said she first met fellow designer Claire Tonge when both completed a BA Fashion at RMIT. They began their collaboration last year, having utilised their experience in fashion wholesaling, design, sales, production, fabric sourcing, pattern making and market analysis to identify a considerable gap in the market.

"The label was designed to fill the unmet need in the Australian market for interesting, unique high-quality knitwear," she said.

Made from high quality yarns including cashmere, angora, silk, nylon, lambswool and mercerised merino, Twitchett & Tonge's debut autumn winter 2007 collection was designed for the "fashion-conscious woman who values original design and different decorative elements whilst ensuring the practicality of warmth and comfort", said Tonge.

Dubbed 'A Nordic Fairytale' - the release range features With prices tagged at around $249 to $289, the range was intended offer women strong feature pieces that would represent a long term investment in quality and style rather than a short lived fashion fix, said its creators.