Freedom Folk: Made for the Wandering Spirit
Autumn Winter 2026. A journey woven in colour, stitched by hand and worn outside the lines.
Almost nomadic, always rooted
TAcross Asia, there have always been people who lived on the move. They crossed deserts with caravans, moved herds from season to season, and crossed rivers and seas to trade.
Yet however far they travelled, they held on to their traditions more closely than anyone. Their embroidery patterns, their jewellery and the way they tied a skirt or a turban were passed from mother to daughter and carried from camp to camp.
They had no fixed home. What they had was a strong sense of who they were, stitched into everything they wore. That idea, being almost nomadic yet deeply rooted, is where Freedom Folk begins.
Carried by water
ALong before borders, the waterways of Asia connected all of these places. Boats carried cotton from India to the islands of Southeast Asia and brought back new ways of wrapping, tying and dressing. The sarong, the loose tunic and the simple wrapped skirt passed from shore to shore and changed a little with each crossing.
Freedom Folk picks up those threads. It doesn't recreate any one tradition. It brings back a feeling we found along the way. It's in the white homespun shirt worn open like a traveller's coat. It's in cross-stitch that looks as if it was done by lamplight, and in a rose that might be from Jaipur or from somewhere far along the river.
Freedom Folk is our Autumn Winter 2026 clothing collection. It's made for people who get dressed by instinct.
It begins with homespun cotton, soft white with a gentle grid you can see when you hold it to the light. Then come the handwoven checks, and for men, easy checks inspired by Madras. There are stripes and small checks too, the kind you'll reach for without thinking.
The embroidery looks like it came out of a grandmother's trunk. Blue cross-stitch climbs up a placket and curls around a cuff, and here and there a pink rose appears. Ditsy florals are scattered over soft cotton. Deep indigo solids ground it all, while magenta, rose and warm, sun-touched tones bring the colour.
The shapes are loose and open: long shirts you wear like a jacket, peasant sleeves tied at the wrist, short skirts and sarongs that swing when you walk.
That's the collection. The story behind it is much older.
The caravans of India
AFor centuries, the Banjara travelled the length of India with their bullock caravans. They carried salt, grain and news from village to village.
The women were impossible to miss. Their skirts were layered with colour, their bodices were bright with mirrors and embroidery, and their arms and necks were heavy with silver. Everything they owned had to travel, so everything they owned was beautiful. Their clothes were their wealth, their memory and their home.
You'll find a little of that spirit in the oversized, bold earrings we've styled with this collection, and in our belief that more, is often, just right.
The Roses of Jaipur
ACloser to home, there is Jaipur and its roses.They're strung into garlands at gates, pressed into sweet gulkand and printed by hand on cotton coth in Sanganer, just outside the city. In Rajasthan, the rose , it's part of everyday life. It also infuses the perfumes of houses.
That's how we wanted flowers to feel in this collection: tucked into the hair, embroidered on a sleeve and scattered across a skirt. They're worn generously, because that's how flowers have always been worn here.
It's in the heavy necklace, the big earrings and the crown of flowers that may be a bit too much of a good thing. That's what the wanderers always understood. You can go anywhere and still carry everything that matters. You just have to wear it.
Tops and Blouses >>
Flower cloth from the hills
AFurther east, in the hills of Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, Hmong women have long practised an art called paj ntaub. It means "flower cloth.
"It is made with tiny cross-stitches, patient appliqué and cloth dyed deep in indigo. The patterns hold the story of a people who moved often across mountains and borders, and who kept their history alive in thread instead of on paper.
When we look at the blue cross-stitch curling up the front of a Freedom Folk shirt, we see a little of that flower cloth in it: indigo and white, and small stitches that took their time.
The quiet power of a check
AFew patterns have travelled as far, or as quietly, as the humble check.
In South India, cotton saris from Chettinad come in bold checks and stripes, made to be worn every day and washed until they turn soft. The checks once woven around Madras made their way across oceans and gave the world a name for an entire kind of cloth. In Bengal, the checked gamcha is slung over a shoulder, tied around the head or wrapped at the waist, depending on what the day asks for.
Then follow the coastline east. In Kerala it's the lungi, in Myanmar the longyi, and in Indonesia the sarong. Each is a simple length of checked cloth that is wrapped, knotted and worn by fishermen, farmers, grandfathers and brides. There are no buttons and no fixed size. It's just cloth and the person wearing it.
That's the check we fell for. It belongs to everyone and has never needed to be anything more than itself.
In Freedom Folk, it shows up in handwoven checks, in shirts for men, and in skirts and sarongs that you tie the way you like. The tradition hasn't changed much. You simply wear it your own way.
This is Freedom Folk
AFor the wandering spirit, and for anyone who has ever made the familiar their own.Freedom Folk arrives in stores and online through Autumn Winter 2026.
AFollow along on Instagram
@freedomtreehome
Terrain textile. Archival print from the earth’s core.
AA Very Valentine’s Edit
ALike New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day can often feel like a lot of noise and expectation, but ultimately a let down of crowded restaurants, cheesy gestures, and for some singles - a feeling of exclusion.
We’re reclaiming this month in the name of love - all types of love - between friends, family, and partners - even our pets! Celebrate this feeling of closeness and joy with whomever you wish.
Make for more intimate celebrations and gatherings: prepare a home-made meal, a surprise candlelit dinner, dress to the nines - for yourself - and exchange momentos that carry memory and meaning.
ADiscover the Edit >>
