Workshop · Folkovar
A small independent house.
Folkovar is an independent brand founded in 2026, around the idea that European workwear is a library still barely read.
A team of two.
Design, archive research and tech-packs are done in-house. The Portuguese workshop knits the pieces one by one, in double-thickness jacquard. The inner cotton also comes from Portugal. We handle the prototypes, the labelling and the shipping. No middleman, no marketing office.
We keep an archive notebook (rare fibres, motifs, work cuts) that feeds every collection. Everything is done quietly.
The making
Knitted in Porto, stitch by stitch.
Our pieces come from a family workshop in northern Portugal, specialised in knit for several generations. The double-thickness jacquard is set there on flat-bed machines, reworked and finished by hand. A know-how we prefer to keep discreet. The cotton, also Portuguese, goes in one end of the line; the balaclava comes out the other, with no middleman.
With the team behind our balaclavas, from the first prototypes to the production series, in northern Portugal.
From prototype to piece
Four passes before the right balaclava.
Skadi wasn't born in one go. The balaclava, its crown and its collar were reworked trial after trial (stitch tension, star design, band height) until the version we validated for the first series.
A piece's journey
From Bordeaux to the Pyrenees.
Four steps, two countries. We design here, we knit in Portugal, we test the piece in the mountains before releasing it.
- 01
Bordeaux
R&D & design
Design, archive research and tech-packs. It all starts here.
- 02
Portugal
The cotton
A 100% cotton yarn, spun in Portugal. Nothing synthetic.
- 03
Porto
The knit
The balaclava is knitted in jacquard, reworked and finished by hand.
- 04
Pyrenees
The test
We wear it in the mountains, in cold weather, before making a series.
Why Folkovar?
The name condenses two roots: folk, popular heritage, and kovar, the smith in Serbian, the one who turns raw matter into a tool. Folkovar makes the same gesture with the fibres and cuts of the continent.
Where to find us
The online shop is at folkovar.com. Follow along on Instagram or join the waitlist for the behind-the-scenes.