Fleece to Fashion: Economies and Cultures of Knitting in Modern Scotland

This project makes an original and timely contribution to knowledge of knitted textiles in the Scottish context at a moment when the creative economy sits firmly within Scotland's economic strategy. It conducts original research into the history of the Scottish knitted textile economy, identifying the complex relationships between the land and knitted textile production, handknitting and machine knitting, and home and factory production from the late 18th century to the present. It will contribute a body of knowledge to be utilised by contemporary designers and makers in SMEs who are keen to reference historical knitting in their work and are developing new economic models around textile production when provenance, authenticity and heritage add value. The knit businesses in Scotland today - from the woman working from home to the revivified companies of the Scottish Borders - operate in a very different global environment to their predecessors, yet value accrues from their local and national identities. The reservoir of skill, knowledge and heritage expressed through design, production standards and cultural associations contribute to the Scottish knitwear 'brand' being identified as high quality and authentic.

Knitting - uniquely the construction of a textile whilst simultaneously the making of a garment or item from fibre - is ubiquitous worldwide but with a distinctive place in Scotland's landscape, economy and culture. It has survived modernisation, mechanisation and transformations in global production and trade. Today, production of knitted textiles makes a vital contribution to the Scottish economy (textiles are second only to whisky in their export and recognition value) ranging from wool production to designer fashion and incorporating: sheep husbandry; spinning and dying; design and production of cloth and clothing; textile tourism; and retail. The project follows the production cycle from fleece to fashion, interrogating why and how knitting has adapted to and survived modernisation to become a distinctive heritage brand in the modern Scottish economy and culture.

Knitting is the most popular textile practice today yet understanding of its antecedents is limited and fragmented. The history of Scotland's knitted textile industry either focuses on hand knitting as a practice of the economically marginal or on mechanised knitting. Yet hand and machine knitting were complementary in the past as today; the skills and processes required are broadly the same whether carried out by hand or machine; and the two sectors co-existed over the period, albeit in different ways. This is important for our understanding of how objects were made, the skill levels required and the impact of technology, new materials and techniques on the production of knitted artefacts over time. It is also important for the interpretation of knitted items held in collections.

The research focuses on three themes - creativity, sustainability, authenticity- to chart the relationships between skills, design, knowledge and techniques, the factors underpinning the survival and revival of knitting as a craft and industrial practice, and the reasons explaining why knitted textiles have become synonymous with Scottish heritage. The project has four workstreams--economic, social, cultural, and environmental aspects of knitting in Scotland-- in order to understand the historical relationship between creative practices, economic structures, and place. It employs a range of research methods (archival, material culture, oral history, practice and community-led) and collaborates with partners in the business, heritage and creative sectors and the worldwide knitting community to apply new historical knowledge of knit to contemporary craft and business. The findings will enhance popular understanding, business practice, conservation and heritage policy and education, training and skill transmission in the modern Scottish economic and cultural environment

We envisage four main groups of beneficiaries in the professional and public arenas outside the academic community:

1. Knitted Textile Practitioners and Businesses
Our natural constituency is the diverse community of practitioners (spinners, dyers, designers and makers) and businesses, mostly SMEs within Scotland and overseas. The history and heritage of Scottish knitted textiles rooted in the landscape, traditional materials, skills, colourways, motifs and designs is cited as both inspiration and validation by the one-woman business and the international brand alike (eg, Kate Davies' collaboration with Jamieson & Smith of Shetland and Johnstons of Elgin 'Our story') driving consumer interest and international textile tourism. We will share our findings with this constituency via online updates and and makers' workshops. We anticipate these being utilised in the creative and marketing process across the sector.

2. Heritage Professionals (archivists, curators, conservators, educators)
This research will offer new information on transmission and circulation of craft techniques and design, informing interpretation of textile collections in local and national and international repositories. Knitting within collections often lacks serious interpretation; fragile knitted textiles are often difficult to conserve and display. Utilising the expertise of our Curatorial Consultant we will share findings with specialist and generalist curators and educators to inform the preservation, conservation and display of knitted artefacts. Heritage professionals regularly encounter hobby and professional knitters who wish to work with historic knitted items to inspire modern interpretations. We will provide guidance on design copyright, reproduction rights, sensitivity to and awareness of living knitting traditions for heritage professionals who have obligations to preserve their collections, maintain good relations with donors and serve their users.

3. Trade organisations and promoters of knitted textiles and wool
Textile Scotland's 5-year strategy emphasises the value of building on the nation's 'heritage' whilst growing the sector through investment in education, skills and technology. Scotland is also at the forefront of promotion and production of wool as a natural and sustainable fibre, eg. as part of the UK-wide initiative, the Campaign for Wool (www.campaignforwool.org). Knitted textile traditions are celebrated as part of Scottish cultural heritage by tourist authorities, business interests, and local government, but there has been no sustained research into the common threads of textile heritage and the ways in which this is being repurposed for economic, social and cultural reasons. We will work with representatives and advocates of the sector - Craft Scotland, Textile Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, UK-wide Campaign for Wool - to understand the skill base, its depth and resilience, and produce a report on the sector's future needs to maintain sustainability.

4. The knitting community
Knitting constitutes an international community (eg. 4 million online Ravelry community; thousands attend knitting trade events) with a voracious desire for historical information and willingness to participate in research projects. We will work with local knitting groups and retailers in Scotland and with the online community to learn from their knowledge and skills in our research on historic techniques and patterns. We will attend knitting festivals (eg. Shetland Wool Week, Perth Festival of Yarn, Stitching and Knitting shows) to share our research and engage with knitters of all ages, genders and nationalities. Crowd-sourced research benefits both the project and the participants, accessing skills and knowledge not present within the team while the participants build community. Knitting has recently been linked with well-being (tackling student stress, stemming dementia memory loss, creating 'normality' for asylum seekers, etc).