It is named after Orla's mother, and it began with a cardigan that belonged to her. That cardigan was handed down through the family, worn and loved for years. Its classic cable-knit shape stayed with Orla, and this season we set out to make it again. We wanted it to be just as lasting, and a little bit ours.

For that, there was only one place to go.

Ardara is a small town on Donegal's Atlantic coast, and knitting has been part of it for generations. In 1976, Cornelius and Bernadette Bonner set up their knitwear business in a converted hay shed on the edge of town. Fifty years on, their son Eamonn runs it. Many of the people who knit, link and finish each garment have worked there for decades, and they are teaching the next generation. It felt right. We were reimagining a piece passed from mother to daughter, and Bonner is a business passed from parents to son. 

This season's return to knitwear is deliberately small: just a few pieces, made slowly and made well, so that 'made to last' means exactly that.

Every Maeve Cardigan is knitted from 100% wool. The design uses the stitches of a traditional Aran knit: rope cable, honeycomb and rib. Bonner combines modern knitting machines with the hand-finishing skills it has built over half a century. The result has the character of an heirloom and is made to last like one.

Watching the cardigans come together, what struck us most was how many hands each one passes through. Every piece is finished and checked by the team before it leaves Ardara. It is slow, careful work, and it is why a cardigan like this can be worn for years and then passed on.