The Gansey Wearer

I am breathless to acknowledge the existence of the one-piece, hand-knit gansey sweaters from Flamborough Marine of Flamborough Manor. Unless consciousness is an illusion after all, I'm going to assume that what we observe is real (and what we fail to observe might as well not exist). And these jumpers are unbelievably, fantastically, pinch-yourself real, gents.

Pinch-yourself real

Flamborough Marine of Flamborough, Bridlington, Yorkshire, is the 'Home of the Gansey'. Flamborough make hand-knitted, one-piece ganseys to order through a small army of hand-knitters. Their first knits were made by Flamborough resident Nora Woohouse. Knowledge of traditional north-east coast patterns had been passed on to her by her fisherman father. Previously, and precariously, the patterns were only taught by word-of-mouth, Flamborough had the prudence and insight to chart the patterns. They then recruited hand-knitters to help preserve this traditional British craft.

Lion-hearted knitwear

As they say, the jumpers are not just a representation of a craft, but a work of art. The jumpers are made with 5-ply worsted wool with a tight twist that is close-knitted without seams to give the jumper its classic water-repellent, near-indestructible qualities. This is lion-hearted knitwear.





Construction starts with the body knitted in one piece, then the sleeves are knitted down from the armholes. It's a painstaking process that requires experienced knitters. Here we see the Classic Filey Gansey in traditional navy.

Many other colour options and patterns are available. This is a Scarborough Gansey in claret.

Finally, a gansey in a Flamborough pattern in my favourite bottle green.

This isn't a figment of some wild fever dream. These jumpers exist in the physical realm. You can be a wearer. And, yes, that's Daniel Day Lewis in his Flamborough Marine gansey in the top photo. Our type of brand ambassador.