All-Rounder Style: Fashion’s New Icon

It was supposed to be down-to-earth and practical and at the same time became a symbol of a political movement: the Walkjanker. Because it was the trademark of freedom fighter Andreas Hofer and made history with him. In the 18th century, around 80 percent of the Tyrolean population still wore traditional Tyrolean clothing. The jackets were either made of milled and felted knitted fabric or of loden – a woven and felted fabric that was often woven directly on the farm back then.

During times of industrialization, traditional costumes increasingly disappeared from everyday life and made way for bourgeois clothing. But the jacket made of knitted material, which is felted with the help of water and heat, was not completely forgotten and continued to appear in traditional costume bands and at village festivals for a long time. And thanks to a few fashion designers, it didn’t completely disappear into the mothballs.

Karl Lagerfeld, known for his passion for traditional costumes, brought the Walkjanker to the catwalk in a new style. In 2014, on the occasion of his “Metiers d’art” show for Chanel, he showed a collection at Leopoldskron Castle to preserve old craftsmanship and savoir-faire, a mixture of traditional costume and his signature style.

At that time, his muse, model Brad Kroenig, walked down the catwalk with son Hudson Kroenig, Lagerfeld’s godson, in a gray jacket with green borders and a loose cut. Lagerfeld also showed his connection to Austrian traditions in his short film “Reincarnation”: In addition to Coco Chanel, he also paid fashionable homage to Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Sissi. Supermodel Cara Delevingne played the Empress, dressed in an Ausseer dirndl from the Salzburg traditional costume manufacturer Gössl. Traditional costumes, especially the Walkjanker, have retained their roots in Alpine culture, but thanks to Lagerfeld they were brought into a chic, urban environment. Designer Vivienne Westwood also had a preference for old crafts and traditional costumes: she liked to wear hand-sewn Zillertal slippers, the “Doggln”.

An all-rounder from Austria

Now young designers are making fashion statements for everyday life and leisure with the Walkjanker from local production facilities. The previously hard and scratchy woolen fabric, once painstakingly produced at home on mountain pastures, is now manufactured in modern companies and is fine, functional and sustainable. And it’s becoming more and more stylish too. In addition to classic Janker models, the felted knit has long been used by traditional companies such as Stapf, Huber Walk, Frauenschuh, Gössl and many others as a high-quality woolen fabric for chic jackets and casual hooded sweaters. And in an extra thin form even for entire suits, for example from Stapf. Michaela Huber is a designer and product developer at Wörgler Textilmanufaktur.

“The Janker was the first unisex item on the Alm; double buttons were simply sewn on. Today we still knit the yarn and mill the fabrics naturally with water without any chemical additives,” says Huber. “We source the yarn from family businesses in Austria and Tuscany and use coarse, water-repellent Shetland virgin wool, for example at Walker TJ.

For trousers and jackets, however, fine Merino wool is used. The Walk is a true miracle fabric, functional and warming by nature.” The trend at Stapf is towards retro and vintage, cuts are dug up from the archive, the material is processed with modern silhouettes into unisex models that are worn loosely.

“The walking technique arose from the Alpine tradition and allows pure sheep’s wool to become felted in such a way that it becomes durable, weatherproof and breathable at the same time,” says Lauren Frauenschuh, who has been successfully using walking for the fashion collections in the Tyrolean family business in Kitzbühel for 25 years. Frauenschuh shows clear, reduced cuts for shirts and jackets, without rustic accessories. A style that the South Tyrolean designer Andreas Steiner also represents with his label RIER.

Rier started his career at Prada, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton and has been causing a sensation in Paris since 2019 with his luxurious heritage clothing, which he interprets in a contemporary way. “People just like Walk,” says Steiner. “We only use pure natural materials, such as wool, loden etc. and often source the materials from local companies in Austria, Germany and South Tyrol.”

The Styrian fuller mill Huber in the Ennstal also fullers everything in their wool workshop – from jackets to mittens. There are real luxury models from Luis Trenker: traditional jackets like the Hofer-Walker are made from a fine alpaca sheep’s wool mix.