I have an old cashmere sweater with the Arabic word Yalla (Let's Go!) woven into its front that I lovingly keep in shape and away from the British moths so that it lasts me a lifetime. It's cosy and means something to me given my Lebanese heritage. Designed by Alexander Lewis, a London-based designer who had his own brand between 2012 and 2016, I treasure it as a little artifact of that time.

So when he recently contacted me about his new project - Sheep Inc. - I had to listen. His passion in sustainability grew when his own brand was using ethical cashmere from Mongolia, and after he closed his brand and went back to Savile Row he immersed himself in the traditional way of crafting clothes. Now he was sharing news about the first ever carbon negative (!) fashion brand as a result of working with the co-founders Edzard van der Wick and Michael  Wesseley.

Following in the footsteps of All Birds, a pioneer in offering carbon-neutral shoes by an innovative carbon offset programme (even Adidas has signed up to work with them to use their knowhow to apply to their behemoth of a shoe and apparel business), Sheep Inc. re-invests from every sweater sale into environmental projects, aiming for negative carbon emissions given sourcing, production, shipping and marketing processes.


The sweaters are genderless and come in light or medium knits, and offer a selection of 5-6 colours per weight. It comes shipped to you in a box printed full of all the information you could want to know about your sweater, and in a cotton bag with a comb to help brush off future pills.


At the bottom of each sweater is a tag - scan it and the sheep who supplied their New Zealand wool are revealed to you. 


I love a line on their helpful "Instruction Manuel" (yes, it IS just a sweater, but isn't it helpful to be reminded to wash inside out in cold water and then leave it flat on a towel to dry fully?). "It won't fix climate change. But it will help."


We all know it's the little actions that build up to a bigger movement and change. So why not get to know the sheep who make your sweaters and make more conscious buying decisions now that you know? Yeah, me too.

Shop SHEEP Inc. HERE