Unraveling the 'Lusekofta': How Norway's alpine must-have became a global style statement

Nestled between towering mountains and a dark fjord cutting into Norway’s west coast, sits Dale. A picture-perfect display of rural living, the unassuming hamlet sees local farmers let their sheep roam freely over the hills dotting the craggy countryside while the Bergsdal river’s roaring waters divide the town in two. It’s here we find one of the country’s most prolific knitwear companies: Dale of Norway.

Prior to the establishment of Dale of Norway in 1879, the spot on the map that gives the brand its name was a vanishingly small place with a few poor farms. The sudden influx of labour that came with the brand’s new factory saw a boomtown spring up, and where there were once only a few sheep and a dilapidated barn, a modern, buzzing town soon emerged. Since then, the factory has survived several devastating fires, two world wars, a depression, floods, and several pandemics. This perseverance, and the beauty of the Norwegian landscape, is what inspired creative director Håkon Dyngeland Solem when he first joined the company in 2020. “That's why we took the brand back to Dale and its surroundings and brought it back to the roots,” he says. “In order to start this journey.”

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Norwegian wool has held a special significance for Dyngeland Solem since childhood. “I inherited my grandfather's knitted cardigan and my father’s sweater from Dale of Norway,” he says. “And my kids will inherit mine.” His career in fashion took him to Italy, where he worked at Roberto Cavalli, and later Bangkok before he finally returned home to join Dale of Norway. “When I came back home, I saw Norway with different eyes,” he says. “Knit is very core to my thought as a designer. I think it should always be a key item for all collections. It gives a dimensionality. It keeps you warm.”

The knit sweater, lusekofta, is “part of the Scandinavian lifestyle,” according to Dyngeland Solem. The traditional pattern, with its stitched diamonds and dots, dates back to the 19th century, however, it later gained popularity from a fashionable set. “It was what they wore when they were skiing in the 1950s and 1960s,” says Dyngeland Solem. That was the era of high fashion skiwear, in which Balenciaga, Pierre Cardin and Moncler dominated the slopes. The introduction of spandex in skiwear originated a new sultry yet slope-friendly silhouette, consisting of slim-fit stirrup trousers topped with a chunky Norwegian knit.

Yet while these woollen cold-weather knits were – and are – considered a seasonal alpine must-have, in Norway (and across the Nordics), they have always been close at hand throughout the year. And today, they’re as much of a presence on the runway as they are at aprés-ski, styled for city life with unexpected pairings like silky slip skirts and tailored trousers, countering any outdoorsy connotations.

“We are working with the Norwegian pattern history,” says Lorents Tvedt, product development manager at Dale of Norway. Though he’s only in his early sixties, he’s been working at the company for over 40 years. “We really want to worship this fact that it's locally made, made in Norway and builds on this tradition,” adds Dyngeland Solem. ”I think that's the key.” With roots spanning back to the Viking age, knitwear can be found throughout Norway with different patterns linked to different locations, much like Scotland’s tartan tradition. “Like Setesdalen, Selbu, and Fana,” Tvedt says. “They go back hundreds of years.”

Over the decades, Dale of Norway has become an undeniable part of this knitwear history. Since 1956, the brand has been the official sponsor of the national Norwegian ski team, designing the official sweaters for every Winter Olympics and World Ski Championships since. The quality of a Dale of Norway sweater has been put to the test by some of the best winter sports athletes in the world and the knits have always passed with flying colours. Take the sweater skier Inger Bjørnbakken wore while claiming victory in the slalom competition in Austria in 1958: “It looks brand new,” says Tvedt. “It tells us something about the quality of the Norwegian wool, but also something about the craftsmanship of Dale of Norway.”

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Wool itself is part of Norwegian heritage; it makes up a solid chunk of the country’s material tapestry. The fibres are forged in harsh weather conditions, when the sheep roam the hills freely, in order to protect the animals, meaning durability has always been a built-in characteristic. And as concerns about our climate crisis grow, Norwegian wool is finding new favour as a long-lasting, relatively environmentally-friendly material. Dyngeland Solem points out that it is “considered one of, probably, the most sustainable yarns in the world”.

When Tvedt joined the company in 1980, Dale of Norway was still working with technology developed in the 1930s. “I joined in the middle of the transition to the computerised world,” he remembers. In 1983, he was part of the team that implemented and used an Apple 2 computer that “changed everything regarding product development and how to run the production”. He's the “history guy,” according to Dyngeland Solem. “Lorents is one of the guys who's still really curious,” he says. “He's still young, in his early sixties, but he has this unique curiosity.”

With his 43-year-long tenure, Tvedt is just one example of the bond Dale of Norway has with its employees. “We have many families who’ve worked in the factory for generations,” says Dyngeland Solem. “It feels authentic, and there's a heart in what people do. If you remain in a company for 40, 50 years, you're passionate about it.” So why has Tvedt stayed? “I think the main reason is that this is a difficult business,” he says. “You must always adapt to the changes in fashion and technology. The good times and the bad times.” He has stayed to “develop new products” and, as he is “now getting older”, to develop the next generation of people to take Dale of Norway into the future. “It makes my days very interesting,” he says. “To tell the Dale story makes me proud.”