FINDING THE NEXT CHAPTER THROUGH KNITTING
When Deborah Bee, 57, a marketing guru, writer and mother of four now grown-up boys called time on her executive role at Harvey Nichols shortly before lockdown, little did she know that she was about to knit her way to a new adventure and start her own ci
It was January 2020. I wanted to finish the book that I was writing. And there was a part of me that thought it was quite a nice thing just to be on my own, write on my own and just find my creative place in the world again. And then the knitting came in!
A friend sent me a Pinterest picture (a vintage cardigan with bell sleeves) and said, “Can you knit this?” I’d never made big things, just little jumpers for friends’ babies. I think lockdown gave me the time to figure it out. Is this sleeve right? Does it have the right amount of tension? The only way to do it was to knit it, and then reknit it.
I think I knew I wanted to do something in sustainability, to set up a brand that was truly driven by purpose, but also make it part of a bigger project. I started Bee&Sons in May last year.
It’s been a real learning curve and it’s not as easy as it looks. Being a one-man band makes it really hard – you have to think of everything. Getting the recycled wool is expensive and because you are small you are at the bottom of the list. I ordered my yarn in June and got it in December. Import taxes mean your margins are not great. I know I have to keep the sweaters under a certain price, otherwise it becomes too luxury. I want lots of people to buy them, but I also want them to buy for the right reasons.
One of the astonishing things about trying to do sustainable fashion for real is that everyone wants to help you, because you’re not doing it for financial gain. It’s a different mentality. People are willing to help educate you, so you don’t make mistakes. I think they can see it’s a good project that’s got legs.
My plan is that we start to make our own yarn, we start to make our own cotton. We should be looking at the UK, we’ve got expertise here that no one is using. I also passionately believe that we are sitting on a resource here that we are not using: the unworn sweaters sitting at the bottom of our wardrobes!
Somebody said to me recently: “You should be working in marketing again. Now’s the time, everyone is resigning and getting new jobs.” The trouble with all these big companies is that they are still based on that old pyramid style. If you want to do something, it has to go up the line, then it comes down the line and sometimes it’s been misunderstood completely.
You have to spend your own money doing your own thing, but I feel so much happier. It’s made me realise things are possible. I’ll never stop working. Why would I?
If you’re a creative I don’t think you can stop. At the end of a day, I might think: “I’ve done the Fair Isle on my jumper and that looks nice. Maybe I’ll unpick it again. I’ve done the next chapter of my book and that’s going quite well. I’m down to three colours I really like for my collection.” What’s next? Recycling my own yarn… Why not?