Folkovar · Edition 01 · First seriesN 42°44′ · W 0°35′ · Pyrenees

Wearthe folklore.

Folkovar reimagines the dress traditions of Europe. Quiet pieces in natural fibres, designed in France and built to last.

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Skadi, Nordic balaclava. Selbu rose, Svart colourway.

Skadi59 €~~65 €~~Pre-order

Frosthelm, Nordic balaclava. Helmet lines, Greenland colourway.

Frosthelm59 €~~65 €~~Pre-order

Morrigan, Celtic balaclava. Aran cables, Glas colourway.

Morrigan59 €~~65 €~~Pre-order

Caledon, Celtic balaclava. Highland tartan, Irlande colourway.

Caledon59 €~~65 €~~Pre-order

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Before everyone else.

Each new piece opens to the list 48 hours before the public. Leave your email, and your mobile if you want a text when it opens.

The range

4 balaclavas,
one per tradition.

Each balaclava starts from a garment or a pattern that really existed. Here is where they come from.

Nordic · Selbu rose

Skadi

The inaugural piece, Nordic-inspired: star motifs and Scandinavian knitting, in 100% Portuguese cotton jacquard knitted in the Ave valley.

The story · Selbu, around 1857

Skadi's star

In Selbu, in Norway's Trøndelag, a young woman named Marit Emstad turns up at church one Sunday in black and white mittens marked with a large 8-pointed star. The village takes it up, then the whole country.

Skadi carries that star, the Selbu rose, on the crown and the band. The drawing is the same. The yarn changes: cotton instead of wool.

Pair of Selbu mittens with star motifs, knitted in 2 colours. — Selbu mittens, knitted in 2 strands. Skadi's star comes from here.Kjersti Lie · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

59 €~~65 €~~Pre-order

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Nordic · Viking helmet

Frosthelm

Nordic-inspired: a balaclava echoing the line of the Viking helmet. Portuguese cotton.

The story · Gjermundbu, 10th century

A helmet without horns

In 1943, while a field was being cleared at the Gjermundbu farm, in Norway's Ringerike, a 10th-century grave came to light. It held an iron helmet in pieces, now at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. It is one of only 2 Viking helmets that could be reconstructed.

It has no horns: those come from 19th-century opera costumes. A rounded cap, a ridge on top, a spectacle-shaped face guard. Frosthelm starts from those lines.

The iron Gjermundbu Viking helmet, rounded cap and spectacle-shaped face guard. — The Gjermundbu helmet, around 950-1000, Museum of Cultural History, Oslo.NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Celtic · Aran cables

Morrigan

Celtic in origin: a balaclava with cable (braid) motifs, darker and more protective. Portuguese cotton.

The story · Aran Islands, around 1900

Aran cables

Off Galway, on the 3 Aran Islands, thick wools are knitted in tight, raised stitches. The cables recall ropes, the diamonds the meshes of fishing nets.

The Aran sweater as we know it dates from the early 20th century, and the story of a stitch unique to each family is mostly legend. Morrigan keeps the reliefs and knits them in cotton, in a single thickness.

Detail of an undyed Aran sweater: honeycomb stitch and raised cables. — Honeycomb stitch and cables on an Aran sweater. The relief adds material, and so warmth.Ww2censor · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Celtic · Highlands tartan

Caledon

Celtic in origin: a balaclava with tartan motifs, a palette of peat and heather. Portuguese cotton.

The story · Highlands, 18th century

Tartan, before the clans

A tartan is a recipe: bands of colour in a set order, repeated in both directions of the weave. After the Jacobite defeat, Parliament banned Highland dress from 1746 to 1782. Tartan came back in 1822, when George IV visited Edinburgh.

The idea of one tartan per clan dates from that return. Caledon takes no clan's pattern: it knits a grid in the colours of peat and heather.

Black Watch tartan: navy and dark green checks on a black ground. — The Black Watch, the tartan of the companies that policed the Highlands in the 18th century.SMcCandlish · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Ch. 02On film

The first series, on film.

Ultramax 400 film, Pyrenees, May 2026. Every balaclava of the first series, worn and tested in the mountains.

Traditions

A library still little read.

European dress traditions, from island tartans to northern knits and Slavic symbols, are a living material. Folkovar reads them again, one piece at a time, and keeps the notebook.

The 8-pointed star, a sun that hasn't finished turning

Symbols7 min

Ch. 03A team of 2

L'un des 2 fondateurs en Skadi, sur le terrain.

L'autre fondateur en Frosthelm, sur le terrain.

Workshop

A team of 2.

Folkovar is an independent house founded in 2026. Archive research, design and tech-packs here; knitting and finishing in Portugal. No middleman, no marketing office. One piece at a time.

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The collection · winter 2026Reserve

Wearthe folklore.

Before everyone else.