SCENT STORIES explores the powerful connection between memory and the scents we love. This edition features our friend Kelsey Adair, founder of Bare Knitwear.
We first met Kelsey through our friends at Nineteen Ten Home Boutique in Vancouver, where we immediately fell in love with her brand.
Bare Knitwear creates gorgeous, heirloom-quality knitwear made from natural fibers, ethically produced in collaboration with their manufacturing partners in Peru. Their collection of sweaters, coats, scarves, and accessories is a masterclass in understated elegance, striking the perfect balance between comfort, coziness, and minimalism. With soft fabrics, unique silhouettes, and a quality that can be cherished for years, it’s exactly how we wish all our clothes could be.
Kelsey, who runs Bare Knitwear with her partner Ben Diamond, spoke to us about the scent of fresh mountain air—how it transports her back to her childhood in Whistler and remains a calming force in her life to this day.
What is your favorite scent?
KA: “Growing up and living on the West Coast, I feel a strong connection to nature and the soft, woody scent family. These scents remind me of home and have a subtle fragrance I love and never tire of.”
Tell us about a scent that’s tied to a specific memory…
KA: “As summer fades into fall and the air turns crisp, the scent of fresh mountain air, far from the city, reminds me of my childhood spent outdoors in Whistler… It has a subtly clean, crisp fragrance with a faint earthy undertone, evoking the minerals in the ground and the scent of evergreen trees.”
This scent also inspired Bare Knitwear’s duo of Home Sprays, which we had the pleasure of collaborating on last year. Repose is a warm, masculine fragrance with notes of cedarwood, oakmoss, amber, and musk, softened by hints of grapefruit and geranium. Revive is bright, uplifting, and lively, featuring notes of sea mist, eucalyptus, peppermint, and lemon blossom.
