I tried my first babaa sweater back in 2018 and even though it was not love at first wear, I guess I hadn’t stopped thinking about it because here I am 2.5 years later with my very first babaa cardigan. If you’re not familiar with this ethical Spanish brand, they consciously make wool and cotton sweaters with people and the environment in mind. They go into a lot of detail about their production and values here. But fast fashion they are not, and they have a price tag to match. This no.18 mini natural cardigan that I’m wearing retails for about $270 (with the current euro to usd conversion). I purchased this during their summer sale and got it for around $230. I get it, that is A LOT for a cardigan so I didn’t take this purchasing decision lightly (I mean it took me 2.5 years to finally bite the bullet).
I do have the Everlane dupe for this cardigan (Everlane texture crop cardigan review here), which I liked when I first got it. But I decidedly like it less now that I’ve had it for a year. And the main reason for that is because when this cardigan snags all the thin nylon fibers start to unravel. If a full loop of the weave it pulled out, that’s fine because I can pull it back in. But once a nylon fiber gets pulled out (one of the really fine fibers that make up the yarn), there’s no way to remedy it other than to try to trim it. And it works, but I’m not sure how many fibers you can cut off until you get a hole.
Don’t get me wrong, the babaa cardigan snags as well (what can I say, I have metal mesh drawers from the Container Store that snags a lot of my sweaters). But with the cotton babaa sweater, even if a thread of cotton within a loop gets snagged, for one it doesn’t break (unless you’re pulling really hard). And two, I was able to easily pull back a single cotton thread (one of 8ish that makes up the actual yarn) so the snag completely went away. Now I see why so many people love babaa so much—because the quality of their materials really are darn good.
wearing babaa regular no.18 cardigan
So onto sizing: all babaa sweaters come in one size. Back in 2018 (pictured above) I tried on their regular no. 18 cardigan and found it to be much too large for my liking. To me, it felt like it was overwhelming my 5’4” frame. So I knew this time around that the mini would be a better size for me. And overall, I like how it fits. I like the more cropped length (it still falls around my hips) and the shorter 3/4 length sleeves. When I button it up fully it’s a smidge tight around the belly but I figure that will loosen with wear and washing. I think unless you can carry off the oversized look well (or if you’re tall) then it might be better to go with the mini size if you’re somewhat on the petite side like myself.
Overall, I really love this sweater. Would I say it’s worth $270? That’s a tough one (and probably something I can’t say right now since I just got it this year and have only worn it a handful of times). I’ll try to update this post in years to come to answer that question. But I do know that this is a very special piece that I hope to treasure until my senior citizen years. I hope when I’m a granny wearing this same cardigan (I imagine sort of like Sophia from Golden Girls).
{January 2022 Update: So having owned this sweater for about a year, I now have to change my opinion that no I personally don’t think this cardigan is worth it. TBH the style is a bit harder for me to pull off after gaining some weight. I feel like it makes me look quite bulky on top and makes my shoulders look more rounded than usual. Anyway after not reaching for the cardigan pretty much for the rest of the year, I decided to sell it here. I think there are people that love babaa and look good in it (especially the slimmer and taller people), but I just don’t love it and have given up on making the cardigan work for me. Also because of the wide knit, it doesn’t really keep you warm against a brisk breeze. TBH it feels like babaa was a trend that I jumped at, but it’s slowly dying down (though of course there will always be babaa diehards). So if you absolutely want to try one out for yourself, babaa has the best Black Friday deal and I saw this sweater go for as low as $190 before tax and shipping).}