Dinadi

When it comes to chic knitwear, Scandinavians know their stuff. Inspired by Swedish sensibilities, made in Nepal and based in Canada, Dinadi’s colour-blocked designs radiated Scandi sophistication down the runway.

Swedish founder Mirjam Lindvert Thiessen and her Canadian husband Preston Thiessen established Dinadi while living in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 2012 with their young family. Witnessing the high unemployment rates and cyclical poverty in the country, they decided to combine a love of knitting with social entrepreneurship.

ainable fashion came from the fashion side of things; I came from the social side. And I thought, we need to do something for women that are vulnerable. Women that have been exploited, that are living with domestic violence, with gender discrimination. For me, it was the women,” Lindvert Thiessen explains.

She personally taught the majority of the 40 female employees to knit, equipping them with a new skill and ensuring that “the people who produce our clothing are fairly paid, have access to health care, that their children’s school fees are paid, that they have access to retirement savings — all these things.”

During our conversation, Lindvert Thiessen mentions that the grey column dress she’s sporting is a Dinadi design. I reach out and touch the material — it’s some of the most luxurious wool I’ve ever felt. None of that scratchy stuff.

“We have either 100 per cent merino, cashmere or yak wool. Which is biodegradable. When you’re done using it, just put it in the compost. It’s not going to break down to microplastics, ending up in the ocean and causing pollution. Choosing the fibres we’re purchasing is big for the environment.”

Shop the label:

https://www.dinadi.com/
@dinadinepal