The traditional Icelandic lopapeysa sweater (made of lopi wool, i.e. unspun wool) is a handcrafted product of the highest quality and a representative icon of national identity. Lopapeysa (plural lopapeysur) is a compound word, from lopi, denoting the particular kind of unspun yarn traditionally used to make lopapeysur, and peysa ‘sweater, jumper, pullover’: thus the word literally means ‘sweater made of lopi’. Lacking precise historical coordinates, scholars Elsa E. Guðjónsson and Soffía Valdimarsdóttir point to the 1950s as the time of its greatest popularity. Legend has it that the jumper was designed by Auður Sveinsdóttir, the wife of Nobel Prize-winning poet Halldór Laxness, but there is no proof of this story. It is characterized by a yoke design, a wide decorative circle surrounding the neck opening. The sweater is knitted in a non-varying circle, meaning that there is no difference between the front and the back, unless a zipper is added. The body of the sweater is knitted using circular needles, while ‘the sleeves are picked up onto the needle containing the bodice. The shaping of the shoulders by gradually casting off is incorporated into the pattern of the yoke’. The yarn used, lopi, is made from the wool of Icelandic sheep and contains both wind hairs and fleece. Lopi is remarkable in that it is not spun, so it contains more air than spun yarn and as a consequence it has better insulation properties. This also makes lopi more difficult to handle than spun yarn, in particular for those new to the material. Icelandic wool has earned an international reputation for its warmth, lightness, and insulation abilities so that even when wet, it keeps you warm. The colors can be artificial, but undyed wool of various colors is available and much in demand. Originally, the sweater had a patterned band of at least two colours at the hem, the wrist and the yoke, forming the main pattern across the shoulders. During the 21st century, this changed so that now it is common for only the yoke to be patterned. Regarding the patterning of the jumper, there is also the influence of foreign knitting traditions that reached the country through handicraft and fashion magazines, or through clothing purchases made abroad: the traditional Swedish ‘Bohus Stickning’ style, characterised by multicoloured patterns worked with light yarns and popular in the 1940s and 1960s, was probably the main reference model, but influences from Greenlandic national dress and Norwegian knitting patterns are also plausible. Nevertheless, the consensus of academic work so far is that the pattern style had a range of foreign influences and no single originator. The main characteristic of the Icelandic jumper is the raw material: the wool of Icelandic sheep is fine, light and more curly than the wool of other sheep breeds, resulting in greater thermal insulation and waterproofing. As a breed, the Iceland sheep is unique: the purity of the strain has been protected by centuries of isolation and a total absence of contact with others. By the same token, the wool it produces has no counterpart anywhere. Evolving over 1100 years of exposure to the sub-Arctic climate, Icelandic wool has a distinctive combination of inner and outer fibers. The outer fibers are long, glossy, tough and water resistant, while the inner ones are fine, soft and insulating, providing a high resistance to cold. A further striking characteristic of the Iceland sheep is its natural colors, black, grey, and brown as well as the usual white. Together, these create the distinctive look of Icelandic knitwear, one of the best-known examples of which is the lopi.
From February 2020, the traditional ‘Íslensk lopapeysa’ is protected as a registered trademark and therefore has to meet a number of requirements, otherwise it is a fake. For example, there are jumpers made from Icelandic wool but spun in China: the original is entirely handmade in Iceland. The main conditions for a jumper to receive the official designation ‘Icelandic wool jumper’ are:

  1. The wool used in hand-knitted Icelandic fleece sweaters must be sheared from Icelandic sheep
  2. The sweater must be made of new wool (non-recycled wool).
  3. The sweater must be knitted from fleece, such as plate fleece, light fleece, Álafoss fleece, etc.
  4. The sweater must have a circular knitted yoke with pattern shapes and/or pattern benches from the shoulder or shoulder line to the neckline.
  5. The sweater must be hand-knitted in Iceland
  6. The sweater should be knitted in the round without seams (assembly)
  7. The sweater must be open or complete


Icelanders used to knit with yarn, but in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the migration of labour from the countryside to urban centres by the sea led Icelandic women to start knitting unspun wool: fewer hands were available at home for spindle or spinning wheel work, which was time-consuming. There are records from the years 1916-18 of attempts at unspun knitting, but the women did not want this unfinished step to be known, so the practice was certainly common even earlier. Unspun knitting bears witness to the self-sufficiency and ingenuity of Icelandic women during the hectic changes of the 20th century. Knitting probably came to Iceland in the sixteenth century, but the lopapeysa originated in the early or mid-20th century, at a time when imports had displaced older and more traditional Icelandic clothing, industrial production was replacing hand-knitting, and people began to search for new ways to utilize the plentiful native wool and knitting skills. In the wake of Icelandic full independence from Denmark in 1944, the lopapeysa increasingly became an invented tradition and a symbol of national identity. The lopapeysa has seen two main peaks in fashion: in the two or three decades following Icelandic independence from Denmark in 1944 and then again in the early 21st century as globalisation challenged the national identity. Lopapeysa found its traditional ‘standard’ form in the late 1960s, years in which it became a popular export product. By the 1980s it was already less in demand and, by the end of the century, the jumper was almost exclusively used by the working classes and those who did outdoor activities: Icelandic wool production was at a standstill. In 2003, Védís Jónsdóttir designed a shorter, made-to-measure, zipped jumper that quickly became very popular and a new chapter began: Védís’s design appeared at a time of renewed interest in craftsmanship, consequently beginning a flourishing remodelling of the tradition, which continues to this day. After Védís Jónsdóttir, Bergthóra Guðnadóttir also presents his ‘Farmers market’ product line, which becomes very popular. Lopapeysa has strong roots in Icelandic culture of the past, but at the same time it is a living tradition that is referred to in art and culture (film, literature, design…).