A soft launch
Farmers start selling first cashmere produced in Scotland for decades
Scots have worked with it, designed with it and have certainly worn it but, for decades now, did not produce and process cashmere.
The super-soft wool, a goat’s downy undercoat, is now being produced commercially – and ethically – by farmers Jillian and Neil Mcewen with their first yarn going on sale last week.
Scotland’s cashmere has been coming from China, Mongolia and Afghanistan but there have been persistent concerns about the environmental impact and the conditions of animals.
Jillian, speaking at the couple’s
Lunan Bay farm in Angus, said: “Until I started looking into it, I didn’t actually realise that all these products claiming to be made in Scotland are actually not all grown in Scotland.”
Increasing global demand for high-end cashmere, which gives the feel of luxury from the catwalk to the high street, has harmed the Mongolian grasslands with overgrazing leading to desertification. Scotland’s big knitwear firms say they only use “ethically sourced” wool from Asia while designer Stella Mccartney stopped using virgin cashmere in 2016 to reduce her environmental footprint. She now only uses recycled fibre.
The Mcewens began farming goats in 2016 as part of regenerative methods on the family farm to improve biodiversity and provide niche products they could sell
directly. Initially, they sourced 15 cashmere goats; their herd is now 250. Scotland once bred goats for cashmere production but cheaper imports undercut the market and Jillian began by researching a 1980s project that looked at the viability of encouraging a return to cashmere to help farmers in Scotland diversify.
She explained it had been a steep learning curve: “I was lucky to be able to find some of the original people that were part of the project and picked their brains.”
She tracked down one of the academics involved, who helped test the Lunan Bay cashmere fibres to determine if the quality was up to scratch. Fortunately, it was between 14 to 16 microns, meaning a mixture of class A and high-class B cashmere.
“Cashmere goats don’t actually produce very much fibre, only 100 to 250g over a whole year,” she said. “Their coats are made up of two layers, an outer guard hair which is coarser and then an inner layer of a finer winter coat.”
The couple visited a New Zealand co-operative where cashmere was turned into “made in New Zealand” products by a sustainable fashion label. Although on a larger scale, it was an idea they felt could be replicated.
They found a mill in Scotland with both the machinery and expertise to process their fibre. The team at The Border Mill in Duns were, Jillian said, “really excited about the collaboration”.
The fibre must be processed to separate the rougher guard hair from the finer cashmere
before it can then be turned into yarn. There was great feedback from the initial trials, the fibres behaving exactly as high-quality cashmere should.
Not all the fibres were suitable to be turned into 100% cashmere, so some were blended with Shetland wool.
Jillian said: “It was important for us to choose wool that had the same provenance and ethics as our own, which is produced in Scotland from a native breed.
“Shetland wool is traditionally warm but very rough but, by combining a small percentage of cashmere, it’s completely transformed the product.”
The pure cashmere yarn was launched on Etsy last week along with 5%, 10% and 20% cashmere blends. Jillian said: “The response has been amazing. There is a huge community and global following for Scottish-produced cashmere and Shetland wool.”
Looking ahead, the Mcewens would like to upscale: “We are already talking about producing 10 times the amount, by just being a bit more efficient on the farm.”
Jillian explained they comb the goats by hand rather than shearing, saying: “It’s gentler on the goat”. They also plan to brush the kids, as they have even softer coats.
It takes up to 20 minutes to groom each animal using special brushes and a wooden stand. The farmers now have an apprentice stock person who is tasked with brushing the herd in the fields. As a reward, the animals are given some food treats. Meanwhile, the farm has had inquiries from people around the world looking to buy finished garments.
Jillian said: “There are communities of people who are genuinely interested in the ethics and the provenance of how their clothes are made. And it’s quite encouraging.”
They are working with a craft knitter from a village five miles along the coast, in Auchmithie, to create one-off hats that will be launched next week.
The enterprising couple have also worked with another knitter, Doreen Marsh, to create gloves; she was also involved with the cashmere project in the 1980s, and the pair admitted it was important to get feedback on the quality from people involved in the previous initiative. The Mcewens have also collaborated with a Us-based high-end ethical designer, and are excitedly waiting for the product launch.
Jillian said: “People are moving away from fast fashion and all the horrible consequences that come with making cheap clothes, both for society and also for the environment. So it’s really encouraging for me and motivates me to keep going with it.
“I’d love to be working alongside a designer who has roots in Scotland and shares the same ethos. It would be great to get to that level.”