Johnstons of Elgin
Encyclopedia
Johnstons of Elgin, also known as Johnstons Cashmere, is a woollen mill in Elgin
, Moray
, Scotland
.
Since its establishment in 1797, the company has traded from its present site on the banks of the River Lossie
. In all that time has been owned and run by just two families, the Johnstons and the Harrisons. As far back as 1851 the company has pioneered the weaving of Vicuna
and Cashmere
in Scotland
and these fibres remain the foundation of the company’s products today.
The original records of Johnstons of Elgin have survived several fires and floods and from them we learn that in the early days Alexander Johnston’s main business was linen and flax with a substantial input from tobacco
and oatmeal
. The first reference to Wool
appears in the records in 1801 and it would seem from the Day Book that the Linen
business was phased out during the first part of the 19th century and the woollen side became firmly established by 1810.
Thirty years later in the early 1840s Johnstons of Elgin was involved in the origination of a range of designs, which have become known as the Estate Tweeds. To some extent Estate Tweeds might be said to be the distant cousins of the Clan Tartans. Both tweeds and tartans identify groups of people, but while tartan
identifies members of the same family no matter where they live, estate tweeds identify people who live and work in the same area whether they are related or not.
The development of the estate tweeds was largely due to the decline in the influence of the clan chiefs after the Battle of Culloden
in 1746. Landowners in the Highlands were seduced by the social life in Edinburgh
and London
but found that their estates could not support them in the style enjoyed by the southern aristocracy. Also at this time many people sought to follow the example of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
by buying or renting a sporting estate or deer forest. It became fashionable for both owners and retainers to dress in the same pattern of tweed
.
A secondary reason for the creation of the estate tweeds was the need to provide a camouflage for the stalkers when they were hunting on the hill. Some of the checks, to look at, might appear to do the opposite but it is surprising how effective many of the brightest tweeds are good at breaking up a man’s outline on the hill. In most cases the colours chosen were those which blended well with background of the mountain and moor in an area.
The late Lord Lovat
related how his grandfather had pointed out to his wife that the colours of the sand
, heather
, bracken
, bluebells
and birches on the far shore of the Loch Morar
blended together to make one beautiful colour effect. From this inspiration Johnstons created the original Lovat mixture.
Originally the estate tweeds were woven in heavyweight cloths which were designed to withstand life on the hill and the Scottish weather. Around the turn of the century these designs were interpreted in the lighter weight fabrics for more general use.
At the end of the 1960s Johnstons ignored precedent and invested in knitwear manufacturing. Originally sited in Elgin, manufacture was transferred to Hawick
in the heart of the Scottish borders in the late 1970s. This division has continued to flourish. Johnstons of Elgin has expanded dramatically in the last part of the twentieth century and the company now has one of the most sophisticated weaving and knitting plants in the world. The whole company operates on the principle that only the best is good enough and this policy extends from purchasing the finest raw materials, through design to manufacture. Johnstons is the UK's last remaining vertical woollen mill and the only one still to carry out all processes from raw material to finished garments.
, Guanaco, Camelhair, Mohair
, Angora
, Chinchilla
and Mink
have all passed through Elgin
to be fashioned into variety of luxury fabrics, Johnstons of Elgin introduced Vicuna
, the finest, rarest and most exclusive fibre in the world, into Europe and at the great exhibition of London
, the company was awarded a medal for its superb Vicuna
shawls. Today, Cashmere
, the fine undercoat of a breed of mountain goat from China
and Mongolia
, is the most popular and versatile of the rarer fibres used.
it is matted, greasy and full of course hairs, The fleece is then dehaired to separate the fine cashmere from the coarse guard hair. In the 19th century this was done by hand but towards the end of the century machines were developed. Johnstons pioneered this and for many years mechanical dehairing was a closely kept an industrial secret. Nowadays dehairing by machine is relatively commonplace and most Cashmere
today is bought de-haired, although capacity for dehairing is still maintained at Elgin
so that the company retains the right to claim it processes from ‘fibre to garment’ on one site.
which protects the in the subsequent processes and makes them easier to manage.
Blends can be made of different colours of the same fibre or different types of fibre, e.g. Cashmere
and lambswool and Silk
. The original Lovat mixture was created from a blend of light blue, bright yellow, dark yellow, brown and white. Such a blend is known as a ‘mixture’ and mixtures of this type are a traditional characteristic of Scottish textiles. After teasing, the wool is fed into a hopper and from there it goes into a carding machine which mixes and straightens all the fibres in preparation for spinning. Carding converts a continuous web of fibres into individual ribbons of specified weight per unit of length.
These ribbons are known as rovings. It is an age-old process and has changed so little that one of the carding machines bought by James Johnston for his mills in 1868 was still working satisfactorily up to 1993 when it was finally replaced. Rovings then have to spun to convert them into yarn. Spinning, twists the fibres together to give them strength is carried out in two ways: on a mule which is the direct descendant of Arkwright’s famous Spinning Jenny
, or on a ring spinning frame. The thickness of the yarn is decided at this stage by drawing the rovings out to a pre-determined degree. Many different regional systems of measurement of yarn thickness were developed in the early years of British textile industry and some of these are still used today.
Depending on the end use, the resulting yarn may be piled together several times. The yarn is automatically checked for evenness at frequent intervals throughout the carding and spinning process.
When cloth has been woven it is known as a ‘web’. Its appearance is rough and it then has to be ‘finished’. There are many processes involved in transforming the web into a luxurious finished product, many of which have remained unchanged for hundreds of years.
Scouring removes oil
, grease
and dirt
while ‘milling’ shrinks and thickens the fabric. Now carried out by machine, this was originally achieved by stamping on the fabric in water, thus the old Scottish term ‘waulking’.
After wet finishing the fabric is held out to a given width and then dried by passing it over heated rollers in a tentering machine. In the 19th century and earlier, before these machines were available, fabric was hung up on hooks in the open air, giving rise to the expression ‘to be on tenterhooks’, later ‘to be on tenderhooks’. Depending on the end use of the fabric, further finishing processes are carried out, such as cropping, raising and pressing before final inspection.
There is a special raising process only carried out on cashmere. The dried heads of the teasel plant are placed between metal bars, which are fixed round a large revolving drum. When the teasel heads are wet, they become flexible and the hooked ends gently tease out and align the cashmere fibres to produce the characteristic ripple finish. Man can fly to the moon, but can’t find a replacement for the humble teasel.
Scarves, stoles and rugs are cut, folded and stored in the warehouse until required when they are labelled, embroidered and bagged, prior to despatch to customers worldwide.
Johnston’s knitwear is manufactured at their Mill in the border town of Hawick
, the heart of the knitwear industry. Most of the products are made from Johnston’s own yarns with the introduction recently of fine cashmere/silk yarn for the spring and summer collections.
The Johnston’s knitwear collection is fully fashioned, which means each garment is knitted to shape to give the best fit. The ribbed trimmings, cuffs, collars, welts, pockets and straps are knitted first on specialised machines, which create the essential tensioned construction required, particularly for the cuffs and welts to preserve the shape of the garment in wear.
These ribs are transferred to the main frames which knit the fronts, backs and sleeves, either plain or worked into a variety of textured or multi-coloured designs such as stripes and intarsias. Once completed, the main elements are linked together stitch to stitch, single- needle seamed for a low profile finish of neatness and comfort and finally bar-tacked at the stress points for added strength.
The garment, now virtually formed, is carefully washed and milled using the soft local water from the River Teviot
in Hawick
to remove any remaining impurities and oils and to create the soft characteristic cashmere touch.
Following a first press, the collars are then linked to the garment. Buttoning and button holing are completed and much of the finishing touches such as sewing the point of the vee are done by hand.
Elgin, Moray
Elgin is a former cathedral city and Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the flood plain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190...
, Moray
Moray
Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
History
River Lossie
The River Lossie is a river in north east Scotland. Ptolemy , the Greco / Roman geographer, named it as ost. Loxa Fl. The river originates in the hills above Dallas, in Moray, and has its source 400 meters above sea-level. It enters the sea at Lossiemouth on the Moray Firth...
. In all that time has been owned and run by just two families, the Johnstons and the Harrisons. As far back as 1851 the company has pioneered the weaving of Vicuna
Vicuña
The vicuña or vicugna is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, and is now believed to share a wild ancestor with domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their fibre...
and Cashmere
Cashmere wool
Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and these fibres remain the foundation of the company’s products today.
The original records of Johnstons of Elgin have survived several fires and floods and from them we learn that in the early days Alexander Johnston’s main business was linen and flax with a substantial input from tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
and oatmeal
Oatmeal
Oatmeal is ground oat groats , or a porridge made from oats . Oatmeal can also be ground oat, steel-cut oats, crushed oats, or rolled oats....
. The first reference to Wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
appears in the records in 1801 and it would seem from the Day Book that the Linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
business was phased out during the first part of the 19th century and the woollen side became firmly established by 1810.
Thirty years later in the early 1840s Johnstons of Elgin was involved in the origination of a range of designs, which have become known as the Estate Tweeds. To some extent Estate Tweeds might be said to be the distant cousins of the Clan Tartans. Both tweeds and tartans identify groups of people, but while tartan
Tartan
Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in many other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Scotland. Scottish kilts almost always have tartan patterns...
identifies members of the same family no matter where they live, estate tweeds identify people who live and work in the same area whether they are related or not.
The development of the estate tweeds was largely due to the decline in the influence of the clan chiefs after the Battle of Culloden
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...
in 1746. Landowners in the Highlands were seduced by the social life in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
but found that their estates could not support them in the style enjoyed by the southern aristocracy. Also at this time many people sought to follow the example of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
Prince Albert
Prince Albert was the husband and consort of Queen Victoria.Prince Albert may also refer to:-Royalty:*Prince Albert Edward or Edward VII of the United Kingdom , son of Albert and Victoria...
by buying or renting a sporting estate or deer forest. It became fashionable for both owners and retainers to dress in the same pattern of tweed
Tweed (cloth)
Tweed is a rough, unfinished woolen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is made in either plain or twill weave and may have a check or herringbone pattern...
.
A secondary reason for the creation of the estate tweeds was the need to provide a camouflage for the stalkers when they were hunting on the hill. Some of the checks, to look at, might appear to do the opposite but it is surprising how effective many of the brightest tweeds are good at breaking up a man’s outline on the hill. In most cases the colours chosen were those which blended well with background of the mountain and moor in an area.
The late Lord Lovat
Lord Lovat
Lord Lovat is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for Hugh Fraser. The title descended in a direct line for nine sequential generations until the death of the ninth Lord in 1696. He was succeeded by his great-uncle, the tenth Lord...
related how his grandfather had pointed out to his wife that the colours of the sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
, heather
Calluna
Calluna vulgaris is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade...
, bracken
Bracken
Bracken are several species of large, coarse ferns of the genus Pteridium. Ferns are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells . Brackens are in the family Dennstaedtiaceae, which are noted for their large, highly...
, bluebells
Common Bluebell
Hyacinthoides non-scripta, commonly known as the common bluebell, is a spring-flowering bulbous perennial plant. -Taxonomy:...
and birches on the far shore of the Loch Morar
Loch Morar
Loch Morar is a freshwater loch in Morar, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland. It is the fifth-largest loch in Scotland, with a surface area of and the deepest freshwater body in the British Isles, with a maximum depth of ....
blended together to make one beautiful colour effect. From this inspiration Johnstons created the original Lovat mixture.
Originally the estate tweeds were woven in heavyweight cloths which were designed to withstand life on the hill and the Scottish weather. Around the turn of the century these designs were interpreted in the lighter weight fabrics for more general use.
At the end of the 1960s Johnstons ignored precedent and invested in knitwear manufacturing. Originally sited in Elgin, manufacture was transferred to Hawick
Hawick
Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders of south east Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-southeast of Selkirk. It is one of the farthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale, and the biggest town in the former county of Roxburghshire. Hawick's architecture is...
in the heart of the Scottish borders in the late 1970s. This division has continued to flourish. Johnstons of Elgin has expanded dramatically in the last part of the twentieth century and the company now has one of the most sophisticated weaving and knitting plants in the world. The whole company operates on the principle that only the best is good enough and this policy extends from purchasing the finest raw materials, through design to manufacture. Johnstons is the UK's last remaining vertical woollen mill and the only one still to carry out all processes from raw material to finished garments.
Raw materials
AlpacaAlpaca
An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of to above sea level, throughout the year...
, Guanaco, Camelhair, Mohair
Mohair
Mohair usually refers to a silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. The word "mohair" was adopted into English before 1570 from the Arabic: mukhayyar, a type of haircloth, literally 'choice', from khayyara, 'he chose'. Mohair fiber is approximately 25-45 microns in...
, Angora
Angora wool
Angora wool or Angora fibre refers to the downy coat produced by the Angora rabbit. While their names are similar, Angora fibre is distinct from mohair, which comes from the Angora goat. Angora is known for its softness, thin fibres, and what knitters refer to as a halo...
, Chinchilla
Chinchilla
Chinchillas are crepuscular rodents, slightly larger and more robust than ground squirrels, and are native to the Andes mountains in South America. Along with their relatives, viscachas, they make up the family Chinchillidae....
and Mink
Mink
There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...
have all passed through Elgin
Elgin, Moray
Elgin is a former cathedral city and Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the flood plain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190...
to be fashioned into variety of luxury fabrics, Johnstons of Elgin introduced Vicuna
Vicuña
The vicuña or vicugna is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, and is now believed to share a wild ancestor with domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their fibre...
, the finest, rarest and most exclusive fibre in the world, into Europe and at the great exhibition of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the company was awarded a medal for its superb Vicuna
Vicuña
The vicuña or vicugna is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, and is now believed to share a wild ancestor with domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their fibre...
shawls. Today, Cashmere
Cashmere wool
Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent...
, the fine undercoat of a breed of mountain goat from China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, is the most popular and versatile of the rarer fibres used.
Cashmere
When the under fleece arrives in ElginElgin, Moray
Elgin is a former cathedral city and Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the flood plain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190...
it is matted, greasy and full of course hairs, The fleece is then dehaired to separate the fine cashmere from the coarse guard hair. In the 19th century this was done by hand but towards the end of the century machines were developed. Johnstons pioneered this and for many years mechanical dehairing was a closely kept an industrial secret. Nowadays dehairing by machine is relatively commonplace and most Cashmere
Cashmere wool
Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent...
today is bought de-haired, although capacity for dehairing is still maintained at Elgin
Elgin, Moray
Elgin is a former cathedral city and Royal Burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the flood plain. Elgin is first documented in the Cartulary of Moray in 1190...
so that the company retains the right to claim it processes from ‘fibre to garment’ on one site.
Processing fibre to garment
There are in the region of thirty different processes involved in converting raw fibre into finished garments.Teasing, blending, carding and spinning
Dyeing can leave the fibres in rather a felted and matted state and so to open them and prepare them for carding they are teased out over a series of spiked rollers. At this stage the fibres are sprayed with a coating of light oilOil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
which protects the in the subsequent processes and makes them easier to manage.
Blends can be made of different colours of the same fibre or different types of fibre, e.g. Cashmere
Cashmere wool
Cashmere wool, usually simply known as cashmere, is a fiber obtained from Cashmere and other types of goats. The word cashmere derives from an old spelling of Kashmir. Cashmere is fine in texture, and strong, light, and soft. Garments made from it provide excellent...
and lambswool and Silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
. The original Lovat mixture was created from a blend of light blue, bright yellow, dark yellow, brown and white. Such a blend is known as a ‘mixture’ and mixtures of this type are a traditional characteristic of Scottish textiles. After teasing, the wool is fed into a hopper and from there it goes into a carding machine which mixes and straightens all the fibres in preparation for spinning. Carding converts a continuous web of fibres into individual ribbons of specified weight per unit of length.
These ribbons are known as rovings. It is an age-old process and has changed so little that one of the carding machines bought by James Johnston for his mills in 1868 was still working satisfactorily up to 1993 when it was finally replaced. Rovings then have to spun to convert them into yarn. Spinning, twists the fibres together to give them strength is carried out in two ways: on a mule which is the direct descendant of Arkwright’s famous Spinning Jenny
Spinning jenny
The spinning jenny is a multi-spool spinning frame. It was invented c. 1764 by James Hargreaves in Stanhill, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire in England. The device reduced the amount of work needed to produce yarn, with a worker able to work eight or more spools at once. This grew to 120 as technology...
, or on a ring spinning frame. The thickness of the yarn is decided at this stage by drawing the rovings out to a pre-determined degree. Many different regional systems of measurement of yarn thickness were developed in the early years of British textile industry and some of these are still used today.
Depending on the end use, the resulting yarn may be piled together several times. The yarn is automatically checked for evenness at frequent intervals throughout the carding and spinning process.
Types of weave
The weaving of Johnston’s scarves, stoles and rugs requires the use of specialist techniques to insert ‘leno’ or ‘puggie’ threads, which bind the edges of the finished product. Fringes formed by leaving unwoven a section of warp thread, which is then divided and twisted to form the distinctive rolled fringe. This process used to be done by hand but is now fully automated.Finishing
Scouring removes oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
, grease
Fat
Fats consist of a wide group of compounds that are generally soluble in organic solvents and generally insoluble in water. Chemically, fats are triglycerides, triesters of glycerol and any of several fatty acids. Fats may be either solid or liquid at room temperature, depending on their structure...
and dirt
Dirt
Dirt is unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin or possessions when they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include:* dust — a general powder of organic or mineral matter...
while ‘milling’ shrinks and thickens the fabric. Now carried out by machine, this was originally achieved by stamping on the fabric in water, thus the old Scottish term ‘waulking’.
After wet finishing the fabric is held out to a given width and then dried by passing it over heated rollers in a tentering machine. In the 19th century and earlier, before these machines were available, fabric was hung up on hooks in the open air, giving rise to the expression ‘to be on tenterhooks’, later ‘to be on tenderhooks’. Depending on the end use of the fabric, further finishing processes are carried out, such as cropping, raising and pressing before final inspection.
There is a special raising process only carried out on cashmere. The dried heads of the teasel plant are placed between metal bars, which are fixed round a large revolving drum. When the teasel heads are wet, they become flexible and the hooked ends gently tease out and align the cashmere fibres to produce the characteristic ripple finish. Man can fly to the moon, but can’t find a replacement for the humble teasel.
Scarves, stoles and rugs are cut, folded and stored in the warehouse until required when they are labelled, embroidered and bagged, prior to despatch to customers worldwide.
Knitwear
Hawick
Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders of south east Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-southeast of Selkirk. It is one of the farthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale, and the biggest town in the former county of Roxburghshire. Hawick's architecture is...
, the heart of the knitwear industry. Most of the products are made from Johnston’s own yarns with the introduction recently of fine cashmere/silk yarn for the spring and summer collections.
The Johnston’s knitwear collection is fully fashioned, which means each garment is knitted to shape to give the best fit. The ribbed trimmings, cuffs, collars, welts, pockets and straps are knitted first on specialised machines, which create the essential tensioned construction required, particularly for the cuffs and welts to preserve the shape of the garment in wear.
These ribs are transferred to the main frames which knit the fronts, backs and sleeves, either plain or worked into a variety of textured or multi-coloured designs such as stripes and intarsias. Once completed, the main elements are linked together stitch to stitch, single- needle seamed for a low profile finish of neatness and comfort and finally bar-tacked at the stress points for added strength.
The garment, now virtually formed, is carefully washed and milled using the soft local water from the River Teviot
River Teviot
The River Teviot, or Teviot Water, is a river of the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and a tributary of the River Tweed.It rises in the western foothills of Comb Hill on the border of Dumfries and Galloway...
in Hawick
Hawick
Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders of south east Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-southeast of Selkirk. It is one of the farthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale, and the biggest town in the former county of Roxburghshire. Hawick's architecture is...
to remove any remaining impurities and oils and to create the soft characteristic cashmere touch.
Following a first press, the collars are then linked to the garment. Buttoning and button holing are completed and much of the finishing touches such as sewing the point of the vee are done by hand.