Skall Studio: Danish, natural, and properly certified

Who Skall Studio are

Skall Studio was founded in 2014 by two sisters, Julie and Marie Skall, and is based in Copenhagen. The family story is worth knowing because it explains the name. Their great grandfather and his brothers collected seashells on the coast of northern Jutland and sold them as chicken feed to make a living, and that is how the family came by the name Skall, which translates as shell. The sisters still use seashells as a reference point: a reminder that nature, animals and people are closely connected, and that less is enough.

The clothes follow from that. The brand describes its work as a singular vision on the art of dress, eccentric in spirit and shaped by a strong sense of Scandinavian pragmatism, made to be loved and lived in.

The materials, in detail, because this is where Skall is genuinely different

Most brands talk about natural fibres. Skall publishes the paperwork, and almost nobody repeats it, so here it is.

The denim is 100% organic and GOTS certified cotton, licence number CU213492, made in Turkey using Jeanologia laundry technology, which cuts water use substantially against conventional finishing. The cotton is organic and GOTS certified and produced in a GOTS certified factory in Delhi. The recycled wool is 100% recycled wool from the Italian supplier Manteco, certified to the Global Recycle Standard, using MWool, a fibre made from recycling pre and post consumer garments and offcuts. The Danish wool is spun at Hjelholt Spinning Mill, which has been running since 1878, and the brand uses natural undyed wool and recycled wool throughout.

The linen is flax, chosen for strength, breathability and its cooling effect, and because it needs less water and chemical intervention than many other fibres.

That is a GOTS licence number, a named Italian mill, a named Danish spinner and a named finishing technology. Very few brands at any price can produce that list.

What we stock

Our Skall Studio range currently runs to jeans, dresses, shirts and blouses, shorts and a waistcoat: the Hope Blouse, the Fiore and Fiore Strap dresses, the Fleurie and Millington shirts, the Allison Cropped and Willow Wide Leg jeans, the Edgar short and the Toni waistcoat.

We are not currently carrying Skall knitwear or outerwear, which is a shame given the Danish wool story above, so this range is the summer weight side of the brand.

Danish sizing, translated

Worth clearing up, because it is written wrong in a lot of places. Skall Studio sells in letter sizes, XS to XL, not in EU numbers. What its own size chart does is convert those letters into EU and UK numbers, and that conversion is where people get stuck.

XS is EU 34 and UK 6. S is EU 36 and UK 8. M is EU 38 and UK 10. L is EU 40 and UK 12. XL is EU 42 and UK 14. There are also combined sizes: XS/S is EU 34/36, and M/L is EU 38/40.

On whether it runs large or small, we are not going to invent an answer. Skall makes no statement and we could not find a substantive independent one either. What we can say is that the cut is relaxed by design, the way Scandinavian womenswear generally is, so if you like a close fit you may want to go down. Ring the Belfast shop and we will measure the piece you are looking at.

Washing it properly

Cotton and linen: wash cold or at 30 degrees and air dry. Denim: wash as rarely as you can get away with, and the brand suggests you can avoid it almost entirely by airing outside or leaving the jeans in the freezer overnight. When you do wash them, turn them inside out, cold, minimal detergent, ideally on their own, and hang them straight after. Wool: hang it outside for a refresh rather than washing, and if you must wash, do it by hand or on a delicate low temperature low spin cycle, then lay it flat over a towel, roll the two together and dry flat.