Henriette Steffensen

If you've ever slipped into a Henriette Steffensen signature fleece, you'll understand why it has such a loyal following. Soft, comfortable and wonderfully easy to wear, it brings a little more polish to those everyday layers we reach for constantly.

Henriette Steffensen Copenhagen is a Danish clothing brand founded in 2003 by designer Henriette Steffensen. Based in Copenhagen, the company remains founder-owned today, with Henriette continuing to lead the design of the collection.

The range is centred around comfortable, beautifully considered clothing that works with real life — from relaxed fleece layers and cardigans to dresses, trousers and practical accessories. The aesthetic is understated rather than trend-led, with natural colours, easy silhouettes and fabrics designed to be worn together.

At Jane Young, we love Henriette Steffensen for exactly that reason: these are pieces that make getting dressed feel effortless, while still looking wonderfully put together.

The fleece is arguably the fabric that Henriette Steffensen is best known for, and there is considerably more to it than you might expect from looking at the finished garment.

The brand's signature fleece is made from 70% polyester, with a minimum of 50% of that polyester recycled, and 30% viscose. It is woven in Italy and was developed specifically for Henriette Steffensen rather than being a standard fabric simply selected from a supplier's collection.

That distinction matters because the fabric is designed around the way the clothes are intended to be worn. It has a soft, comfortable handle that makes it ideal for relaxed layers, while the structured quality of the fabric gives pieces enough shape to look considered rather than purely sporty.

The fleece is also certified to OEKO-TEX Standard 100, Product Class I — the strictest product class, used for items intended for babies and infants. The brand's wider materials are covered by the same certification.

Fleece is only part of the story, too. Henriette Steffensen also works with a jersey made from 96% viscose and 4% elastane, alongside a 95% organic cotton and 5% elastane quality, both produced in Portugal. A newer hemp collection adds another material to the range.

At Jane Young, we think this attention to the fabric is what makes the fleece so special. It is comfortable enough for everyday life, but polished enough that you never feel as though you've simply put on “something cosy”.

Colour is a quiet but important part of Henriette Steffensen's appeal. Rather than reinventing its palette every season, the brand develops colours inspired by the natural world — from pale limestone and warm sand through beige, grey, brown and green, all the way to deeper shades of black granite and slate.

There are cooler influences, too. Think North Sea blues, soft heather-moor pinks and the rich greens of coniferous forests. The result is a beautifully understated palette that feels calm, sophisticated and incredibly easy to live with.

At Jane Young, we particularly love the way these colours work together. The brand develops its shades with European mills and deliberately creates colours that can be combined across different fabrics and seasons. So a cardigan you buy this year doesn't suddenly become difficult to wear when next season arrives — it can sit comfortably alongside a new piece further down the line.

Sand is one of the brand's recurring core shades, alongside Soft Black and Off White, while Moss Green brings a little more depth and colour without losing that natural feel.

It's a clever approach to building a wardrobe: choose one beautiful layer, then gradually add complementary pieces rather than having to start from scratch every season.