Oi Polloi

Norse Projects x Oi Polloi Kirk Knit

Published: Wed Aug 31 2011

Occasionally, we like to get our heads together with likeminded souls and create something a bit different. On this occasion we’ve gone back to our Danish chums at Norse Projects and come up with a small range of winter warmers.

Kirk and Kaare might sound like a Scandinavian Eurovision entry (circa 1981) but they’re the names that have been chosen for the knitwear and jacket respectively. We’ll come back to the jackets when they arrive (they’re ace btw) but for now it’s the knitwear we’re concerned with.

Bang on cue for the start of autumn, the Kirk knit is named after an Academy award-winning actor by the name of Issur Danielovitch. Never heard of him? We’re not surprised, because he’s more commonly known as Kirk Douglas.

He played the character of physics professor Dr Rolf Pedersen in 1965 movie The Heroes of Telemark. A genuine real-life hero, Pederson helped sabotage a Nazi plan to create a nuclear bomb. He and his cohorts were forced to sink a boat carrying highly enriched heavy water as it left Telemark for Germany. The film tells the story of this and it’s well worth a watch if you’ve not seen it. 

Quite apart from the heroic feat achieved by the Norwegians, the thing that impresses us most about the film is the array of superb winter knitwear and outerwear. That’s where our collab with Norse comes in. We’ve taken the rollneck worn by Kirk Douglas in the film, edited it slightly to a crew neck and added an extra colour. Other than that it remains pretty faithful and most importantly, the involvement of a brand like Norse Projects means it’s pretty special in both quality and fit.

Check them out now, in Dark Brown and the original Off White.