Our Philosophy

Named is a family business started by sisters Saara and Laura in 2013 and remains a small company, run by the founding pair.

“We started our own pattern brand out of a simple passion for making clothes and sustainable fashion. We wanted to create patterns that encourage and excite more people to try sewing their own clothes and challenge them to think about their own relationship to fashion and consuming fashion.”

Named’s values include sustainable and sensible consumption combined with curiosity, personal development and continuous learning. Interesting, beautiful and carefully designed patterns encourage people to create a practical wardrobe that can withstand time and use.

“We design our patterns so that they are pleasing to the eye and also offer an opportunity to learn new and different – even unusual – techniques. Our designs are timeless basic clothes that nonetheless include interesting details. To balance out the pressure to sew as much as possible as quickly as possible, we want to use our products to emphasize the fact that the most wonderful thing about sewing is the opportunity to keep developing yourself and learning new things. Quality over quantity is our motto. We have been sewing our whole lives and making clothes professionally for nearly ten years but we are still learning new things almost every day. We love it!”

Our love of sewing, then, is not the only thing our brand is based on; it also includes the vision that our own personal choices can have a genuine influence on the world.

“We feel that making your own clothes is an excellent and fun way to reduce your impact on the environment and foster a better understanding of the clothing industry’s problems. The fashion industry’s share of worldwide emissions and expenditure of natural resources is not only significant, but constantly growing. It is self-evident that the way we currently consume fast fashion is not sensible or even possible in the long run! What’s more, the fashion industry is infamous for the ethical problems hidden under its surface. That’s why we want to encourage everyone to think about how they consume fashion and to think of sewing their own clothes as a fun and rewarding alternative to off-the-shelf fashion.”

Learn to sew by following our instructions here, and read more about sustainable sewing here.