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Linea Azzurro: cashmere is king for London’s hottest new knitwear brand
By Tempus | 8 February 2021 | Lifestyle
Mongolian wool meets Italian knitting in the heart of the capital
Although it may seem miserable on the surface, this frigid British winter isn't all bad. For one, it has presented us with the perfect opportunity to indulge in some quality knitwear, and it just so happens that London has a new luxury cashmere brand ready and waiting to take your order.
Linea Azzurro launched in autumn 2020 with their debut collection of luxurious Italian sweaters and accessories for men and women. Founded by lifelong friends and retail entrepreneurs with a lifetime of buying and merchandising experience between them, the brand was built on a strong foundation of extensive knowledge and expertise within the clothing industry.
The co-founders combined knowledge and illustrious credentials have enabled the brand to source and offer the finest cashmere collection, produced in two ply 100% cashmere yarn by highly reputable artisan factories in Italy.
Taking inspiration from the chic simplicity of Italian dressing, Linea Azzurro wanted to create a timeless collection of knitwear, with their ready-to-wear range consisting of V neck, crew neck and scoop neck sweaters (from £99 for women and £129 for men) as well as luxurious cashmere accessories (from £35).
The name Linea Azzurro, which literally translates as ‘blue line’ in Italian was devised by co-founder Nigel Gee, whose successful career accolades include Main Board Director of Moss Bros PLC, as well as working with a plethora of designer brands such as Hugo Boss and Armani.
Co-founder Nigel Gee said of the creation of Linea Azzurro said; “Throughout my childhood, my father had menswear shops in central London. I was seven years old when I first visited Italy, where my love for artisan Italian craftsmanship first started. I love the Italian style principles; they take simple beautiful garments and pass them down through generations.
Azzurro (blue) is the Italian national colour. Their national sports teams, the Azzurri (the blues) play in blue, it is the colour of the sea of Capri and it represents success, continuity and optimism. Our first ever garment was created from a single sketch: a blue sweater with horizontal lines on the arms. This is how the brand was born.”
When the co-founders spotted a gulf between expensive luxury Italian cashmere and cheaper high street versions from the Far East, Linea Azzurro was created with the intention of bridging the gap between the two, by offering an affordable Italian cashmere range of extreme quality.
Nigel said; “We wanted to create a product that ticks all the boxes. When you want a great navy sweater to go out, you don’t want to spend £1,000 on it, but you want it to last. That’s where Linea Azzurro come in.”
Having sourced the finest cashmere producers and premium materials, Linea Azzurro’s knitwear is made to last, making their pieces the perfect building blocks for any capsule wardrobe. The brand has also taken advantage of modern textile technology, meaning their clothing is machine washable.
As an emerging brand, Linea Azzurro also understand the importance of transparency and traceability within their supply chain and pledge to keep this an open conversation with their customers.
Their cashmere is sourced from Mongolia, where their cashmere goats live freely in their natural habitat and graze from morning until evening. The raw (greasy) cashmere is collected by herders and brought to a dehairing mill before the cashmere is packaged and shipped to Italy, with the materials meticulously quality tested at every stage of the process.
Despite launching in a difficult time for retail, Nigel assures that Linea Azzurro are here to stay. Nigel said; “Linea Azzurro are in it for the long run. Our past successes with the ABBC of designer clothes – right through to Z (staring with Armani, Boss, Brioni and Canali all the way to Zegna) and extensive knowledge of the clothes industry is the reason we have been able to bring Linea Azzurro to the UK and European market. We believe that people will love
the product as much as we do and we are so excited to launch”.