Henry Zankov is a technician as much as he is a designer. A self-professed ‘knitwear geek’, Zankov’s namesake label works only in yarn, but what he does with it is unlike anything you’ve seen before – from searing colour to unexpected silhouettes and a pile-up of textures. ‘I very much try to avoid a traditional sense of what knitwear is,’ Zankov says over a call from his apartment in Brooklyn, New York. ‘We’ll probably never do a fisherman or cable-knit sweater, or if we do it will be in our own way, because for me, it's really about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible within the stitch and the technique.’
Russia-born, New York-raised Zankov launched his brand in 2019 after years of working for brands like Donna Karan and Diane von Furstenberg. The first capsule comprised six sweaters with a more developed collection debuting at New York Fashion Week a few months later. When Covid hit, it could have been the undoing of the burgeoning brand, but the young designer buckled down, transforming his sweaters into pillows and blankets that appealed to an audience stuck at home. Now, five years later, Zankov is a cult favourite with fashion insiders, particularly in his hometown, where this Monday (9 September 2024) a crowd gathered at The Reserve Padel courts near the High Line on the city’s west side to watch his presentation as part of New York Fashion Week S/S 2025.
