Spring / Summer 26 · Collection nine
Cloth we can name a mill for.
Anais is a womenswear label in Porto. Ten pieces a season, cut from undyed and deadstock fibre, made within forty kilometres of the studio, and sold with the whole record printed on the label.
No. 09
SS26
Cut and made in one building
Cloth
Undyed wet-spun linen, 240 gsm
Mill
Vanhoutte, Kortrijk
Made
Bonfim, Porto — 38 km
Edition
120 pieces, then it stops
Plate 01 — the season on the rail, before anything was cut
Who makes it
Nila Sequeira
Designer, pattern cutter, and the person who answers the email.
I started Anais in 2016 because I could not answer a simple question about the coat I had just designed: where did the cloth come from. Nobody in the chain could tell me. So I built the label backwards from the answer.
Everything here begins with a mill I have stood in. I buy undyed cloth where I can and cancelled orders where I cannot, dye what needs colour in an indigo vat in the back room, and have it cut and sewn by four people in this building. Ten pieces a season, a permanent line that does not change, and a card index of every offcut since the first year.
It makes for a small business and a very long spreadsheet. It also means that when a buyer asks me what a garment is, I can hand them the whole answer on one card.
— Nila
- Based in Bonfim, Porto
- Working since 2016
- A season Ten pieces, plus the permanent line
- Made within 40 km of the studio
The collection
What is on the rail
Six of the twelve pieces currently in production. Each one carries its cloth, its mill and its edition size.
The Kortrijk Coat
The Bonfim Shirt Dress
The Vat Smock
The Ledger Trouser
Bruma Slip
Rua Jacket
Materials
Four of the nine cloths
Every cloth we buy is written up the way a mill writes it up. The full ledger, all nine, is on the materials page.
01
Wet-spun linen
Vanhoutte, Kortrijk
- Fibre
- 100% European flax
- Weight
- 240 gsm
- Dye
- None, this is the flax
- Traceable to
- One mill, one field
Spun wet so the yarn stays smooth, which is why it softens instead of pilling.
- Wash cold
- Line dry
- Warm iron
02
Deadstock wool suiting
Biella, Italy
- Fibre
- 88% wool, 12% silk
- Weight
- 310 gsm
- Dye
- Mill dye, already run
- Traceable to
- Cancelled order, 2019
Eleven rolls that sat in a warehouse for six years. When they are gone the piece stops.
- Dry clean rarely
- Brush
- Steam
03
Indigo-dipped cotton
Dyed in the back room
- Fibre
- 100% organic cotton
- Weight
- 180 gsm
- Dye
- Natural indigo, six dips
- Traceable to
- One vat, since 2021
Six dips with an hour of air between each. It loses a shade in the first year, then holds.
- Wash cold
- alone at first
- Dry in shade
04
Undyed merino rib
Knitted in Barcelos
- Fibre
- 100% merino, mulesing-free
- Weight
- 290 gsm
- Dye
- None
- Traceable to
- One named clip
Knitted on a machine older than I am, by a man who has run it for thirty years.
- Hand wash cool
- Dry flat
- No tumble
The ledger
Numbers we are willing to publish
Every figure here is one we can show the paperwork for. The ones we cannot verify are not on the page.
Six undyed, two deadstock, one dyed here
Studio to the knitter in Barcelos
Offcuts become facings, then the card index
Across nine countries, all independent
Press
Where we have turned up
A short list, kept honest. Nothing here was paid for.
Stockists on the record
What the buyers say
Three of the twenty-two shops that carry the label.
We have carried Anais for four seasons. The sell-through is good, but the reason we keep reordering is that I can answer any question a customer asks about a garment without leaving the shop floor.
I have written about a lot of brands that say traceable. Nila is the first one who sent me the mill invoices before I asked.
The wholesale terms are the clearest I get from anyone at this scale. Small minimums, honest lead times, and she tells us in February what will run out.
Stockists
Where to see it in person
Cloth is difficult to judge on a screen. These shops hold the collection.
Portugal
Full collection
Porto, Rua de Cedofeita
Lisbon, Príncipe Real
Atelier Bruma
Guimarães, Largo do Toural
Europe
Selected pieces
Elsewhere
Ships from the studio
Melbourne, Gertrude Street
Brooklyn, Court Street
Hosoi
Kyoto, Nakagyo-ku
Twenty-two shops in nine countries. Wholesale opens twice a year, in February and September.