Great Ocean Road Woollen MillOur Knitwear!
Welcome back! Today I would like to tell you about sustainable, ethical and Australian made knitwear.
During our mill tours we get people from all walks of life. Not every one that comes along enjoys to knot or crochet, I’m actually one of those! They do however love our yarns and how they are made. That got Isabel and I thinking about making our beautiful yarns into knitwear.
After a lot of research, a little wine and a lot of blind faith, we decided to invest in a commercial knitting machine and Zauber was born. Zauber is the German word for magic and that is exactly what I thought this machine was. When you combine this machine with our yarns the result is simply out of this world.
The Journey
It has been an interesting journey in its own right. I had to try to create yarns that would show of the amazing fibre we use and Isabel had to learn a whole new skill set: design, machine knitting techniques, the software and the machine itself, from operation to maintenance. This journey still continues every day as new and interesting challenges arise.
Unknowingly what we have created is a unique, totally in house operation that is unrivalled in terms of sustainability, ethical production and environmental footprint. We source local fibre, we spin our own yarns, we knit our own knitwear and we wash and finish it all right here to!
The ethos that underpins our yarn making also goes into our fashion. This is about slow fashion. We are about creating knitwear that will survive more than one season, both from wearing and from styling. We are about using the best fibre we can get our hands on and we want to do it all here, onsite, not sent offshore for the exploitation of a developing nation/people.
Australia’s manufacturing sector has taken a battering over the last 3 decades. Many skills in the textile world have been lost, exported along with the production. We want to do our little bit to ensure that those skills can stay here. That we can not only grow the best fibre in the world but we can also turn this into beautiful products right here. Australian grown, Australian spun, Australian made. This is sustainable ethical and Australian made knitwear
We really hope you love our knitwear as much as us. It really is “Zauber”!
