The Best Knitwear to See You through Winter

Words by Sophia Miller

28th October 2026

Every (grey, gloomy) cloud has a silver lining – and with the arrival of winter comes the welcome opportunity to dust off your knitwear collection. Cocooning season means leaning into all things cosy and wrapping up in chunky cable knits, deliciously soft cashmere cardigans and snug rollnecks until spring rears its head. After something new? These are the five knits every wardrobe needs, courtesy of the world’s finest knitwear brands.

If you choose a well-crafted piece of cashmere and care for it well, it’ll last you a lifetime. Sourced from the soft, downy undercoat of the cashmere goat, usually reared in China or Mongolia, this premium fibre has been used to make knitwear for centuries. The Harrods cashmere pieces are brought to life at the renowned Barrie factory in Scotland, where some of the world’s finest knitwear comes from. Further afield, Italian names such as Brunello Cucinelli, Loro Piana and Colombo pride themselves on sourcing only the rarest cashmere.

The past few autumn/winter seasons have leaned hard into heritage hype, and argyle jumpers are one of our favourite iterations of the trend. The pattern dates back to 17th-century Scotland, where it evolved from the traditional tartans of the Campbell of Argyll clan, and was popularised after the First World War when its socks and jumpers became the Duke of Windsor’s go-to on the golf course. Today’s knits, though, have shaken off any stuffy associations to become resolutely cool, thanks to the carefully chosen colour palettes of brands such as Molli, &Daughter and Marella. Preppy is well and truly back.

Some trends are hard to ignore; others go under the radar – and this season, we’ve seen a subtle but consistent pattern emerge in knitwear. Oversized jumpers and cropped cardigans alike are appearing everywhere, with adjustable tie detailing at the waist, cuffs, neckline or even the side seams. It’s a clever way to add shape to something slouchy, and seems to play into the trend for feminine silhouetting that was all over the AW26 runways.

We couldn’t write a guide to the best knitwear without mentioning cardigans, and while there’s always a place for a classic round-neck number, a chunkier alternative is now in town. Polo Ralph Lauren, Toccin and Róhe are just a few of the brands offering cardis whose main attraction is the collar, whether it’s rendered in a cosy cable knit, faux fur or cheetah print. Rather than an afterthought, these knits are designed to be the main attraction of your outfit.

Ever since Matthieu Blazy sent model Bhavitha Mandava down the CHANEL runway in a quarter-zip jumper, it’s been the knitwear piece on the fashion world’s collective wishlist. Relaxed, unintimidating and easy to style, it’s the very definition of an off-duty staple (if you’ll forgive us the cliché) – and, as Blazy showed us, the quality (think cashmere or merino wool) can really carry it.