Wool Week 2018

Last week we participated in one of our favourite initiatives and campaigns, Wool Week 2018. Partnered with Australian Wool Innovation the week highlights some of Australia’s best woollen textiles from lifestyle and apparel brands. Most importantly it promotes the use of this natural, sustainable, biodegradable and renewable fibre.

To celebrate wool week we hosted a ‘Knit In’ at our Haberfield Flagship Store and Studio. We invited guests to morning tea with the team and to join us in knitting, crafting and mending activities. Our event’s special guest was Eileen Kramer, a talented creative who at the age of 103 continues to inspire as dancer, artist, author, designer, muse and crotchetier. Brigid invited Eileen after hearing her talk many times of her fond memories of her past collaborations with the Wool Mark Company, designing and modelling a range of woollen coats in an Albury Wool Mark Fashion Parade in the 1940’s.

Eileen and Brigid share a similar design philosophy when it comes to designing clothing. Simple, perfectly cut geometric shapes that fall on the body in fluid line; movement is key. Eileen has always made her own clothes and designed the costumes for most of her dance productions including many for the Bodenviesser Ballet. As recently as 2016 Eileen designed and hand stitched all costumes for her dance work “The Early Ones”. Eileen exquisitely details the necklines and sleeves of her personal wardrobe with hand crochet.

Our guests enjoyed tea and ricotta cake whilst they knitted or stitched away listening to Eileen recall stories of her adventurous, colourful and inspiring full creative life.

The morning was spent exchanging skills and tips, hearing stories from Eileen and trying our wool garments in store. Our most recent Porcelain winter collection features Australian Merino Woollen knitwear, proudly certified as Australian Wool this is something we are proud of and hope to continue doing in the future.

We believe that one of the most important steps in making the fashion industry more sustainable is for designers to refocus on natural fibres such as wool. The shift towards using more renewable and recyclable fabrics is a necessity given damage synthetic fibres are having on our environment.

Whilst as a company we only work with natural fibres wool is closest to Brigid’s heart coming from a third generation dedicated Merino Wool producers; the JA McLaughlin family of Merryanbone North Warren in NSW’s Central West.