After retiring and selling his previous knitwear business my dad decided to set up a small craft business specialising in handcrafted cashmere accessories made by him and other small local producers and I joined after a career change in 2019.

We get our yarn in very small batches which allows us to keep our prices competitively low but also means we have a large range of colours that change regularly. We normally have over 50 yarns available, so if you are looking for a specific colour and can’t see it in our online store please get in touch. We may have it in stock already, or may have yarn to allow us to make it for you

“Hoyk and the Hosiery”: A short history of Hawick’s knitwear industry

Set where the Slitrig meets the River Teviot, Hawick grew from a Borders market town into one of Britain’s great textile centres. For more than two centuries its mills and workshops have turned fine yarns into world-class knitwear—especially cashmere—giving the town a reputation that still resonates far beyond Scotland.

Stockings and the first frames (18th century)

Although hand-knitting was already common, Hawick’s organised hosiery trade traditionally dates to 1771, when Bailie John Hardie introduced the first stocking frames to the town. Within twenty years the number of frames had multiplied, and knitters began to specialise in fine-gauge stockings and hose. Water from the Teviot and Slitrig powered early mills; later, steam and electricity took over as the industry scaled.

Power, transport and new materials (19th century)

Hawick’s location and rivers made it ideal for mechanised production, and the arrival of the railway in the 1840s opened export routes south and overseas. Crucially, the de-hairing and separation techniques popularised in the 19th century made cashmere viable at scale, laying the groundwork for Hawick’s long association with luxury knitwear. By the late 1800s the town was recognised internationally for high-quality knitted goods.

The makers who shaped the town

Several storied companies took root in Hawick and helped define the town’s identity:

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  Pringle of Scotland (1815) started with hosiery and underwear before becoming a fashion name; its archives trace the broader Hawick story.
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  Lyle & Scott (1874) began in Hawick and later became synonymous with knitwear on the golf course.
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  William Lockie (1874) remains one of the oldest family-run knitwear makers in town.
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  Peter Scott (1878) built a reputation for luxury knitwear from its Buccleuch Street works.
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  Hawick Hosiery Company / Hawico (from 1874) still produces at its original Duke Street mill.
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  Johnstons of Elgin (founded 1797) expanded into knitting at Hawick’s Eastfield Mill, making the town a key site in a vertically-integrated Scottish luxury business.
  
  Barrie (1903) became a vital luxury supplier; its acquisition by Chanel in 2012 underlined Hawick’s place in top-tier fashion supply chains.
  

Design turns fashion (early–mid 20th century)

Technical “fully-fashioned” knitting—shaping panels to the body on the machine—helped Hawick makers move beyond underwear into outerwear. At Pringle, designer Otto Weisz (appointed 1934) popularised the twinset and developed argyle for knitwear, styles that travelled from Scotland to Hollywood and into everyday wardrobe.

Boom, shocks and resilience (late 20th–early 21st century)

Post-war decades were prosperous; local sources even note Hawick as one of the UK’s highest-earning towns per head in the 1960s. Globalisation then bit hard: some production moved abroad, and famous factories closed—the Pringle plant in Hawick shuttered in 2008; Hawick Knitwear went into administration in 2016; Peter Scott ceased production that same year. Yet the town also saw lifelines and reinvention: Chanel’s rescue of Barrie (2012) safeguarded skilled jobs and investment, and specialist makers doubled down on premium natural fibres and craftsmanship.

What endures today

Walk the riverside and you’ll still see mill buildings—like Tower Mill, a rare bridge-built textile mill with a Victorian waterwheel—now repurposed but emblematic of how water power seeded the industry. The Borders Textile Towerhouse museum tells the story from hosiery to high fashion. Meanwhile, Hawick makers continue to supply leading houses and expand with new technology: Johnstons’ Hawick site runs advanced Shima Seiki knitting, and recent investment has increased capacity to meet global demand for Scottish Cashmere.

Why Hawick still matters

Hawick’s edge has always been a blend of know-how, water and yarn: generations of frame- and machine-knitters who can coax impeccable handle from the soft Borders water and the world’s best fibres. Even after closures and consolidation, that ecosystem of skills keeps the town’s “made in Hawick” label meaningful—rooted in place, but connected to fashion capitals everywhere,