Generation game: Shetland knitwear company looks to massively increase production with new kit

By Simon Warburton

January 24 2023, 5:02 pm

(L-R): Garry and father, Peter Jamieson, with a new knitting machine for their fifth-generation business: Image: Ben Mullay.

New knitting machinery at Shetland’s five-generation strong Jamieson’s Spinning will allow the company to increase production by around 3,000 units per year, equating to around £126,000 in sales.

With the new Shima Seiki machine at full capacity, it will also require around 3,750lb of yarn to knit into jumpers, which will trigger an increase in yarn production from the spinning mill.

Jamieson’s Spinning operates from Sandness and has invested in the latest Shima Seiki knitting machine featuring computer numerical control (CNC) technology – a process which uses computerised kit to create knitwear.

Jamieson's knitwear — Jamieson’s Spinning mill produces Shetland yarn in five different weights and more than 400 colours. Image: Ben Ben Mullay.

The firm has been awarded £33,600 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) for the project, enabling “whole garment” products to be knitted to speed up the production process.

Jamieson’s has specialised in wool from native Shetland sheep for five generations and has progressed to current custodians, father and son, Peter and Garry.

The business was started in the early 1890s and was set up by Robert Jamieson in Sandness, on the far west coast of the Shetland Isles.

Foreign demand for Shetland hosiery

From Robert Jamieson’s shop back in the 1890s, he bought or exchanged for goods, knitwear from the local crofters.

The knitted goods were then sold on to meet public demand for fashionable Shetland hosiery beyond the island’s shores.

Eventually in 1981, the company opened Jamieson’s Spinning, Shetland’s only commercial woollen mill. This mill, built in Sandness, completed all the stages of yarn production under one roof.

This included grading, scouring and dyeing fleece before colour blending, carding, spinning, twisting and balling to produce Shetland yarn.

Jamieson’s has specialised in wool from native Shetland sheep for five generations. Image: Shetland Islands Council.

Home production was hit by a sharp fall when the number of hand-knitters available in the islands declined due to the oil boom.

Demand for the Jamieson’s brand was increasing however, with the family among the first in the islands to harness computerised knitting technology.

New machine will free up Fair Isle garment finishing

The new Shima Seiki knitting machine will be used to produce plain knitted garments, meaning linkers can be diverted to work exclusively on the more skilled task of finishing Fair Isle garments.

The machinery will enable the company to produce more plain knitted clothes and help meet the growing demand for its products from around the world.

Picture of Lerwick — Hand-knitters in the islands declined due to the oil boom. Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

Jamieson’s Spinning buys Shetland wool and completes all stages of production at the mill before turning it into Shetland yarn in five different weights and more than 400 colours.

As one of the main textile manufacturers in Shetland, the company supplies a range of textiles to wholesale companies. The in-house production employs more than 30 staff in the spinning mill with more workers at the company’s retail outlet in Lerwick.

‘Steadily growing’ knitwear sales

This outlet along with online stores, sells Fair Isle and Shetland garments as well as hand knitting yarns.

Manager Garry Jamieson, said: “Sales of both our knitwear and hand knitting yarns have been growing steadily for the past 20 years.

“With HIE’s support we have been able to invest in newer technology like this whole gmachine adding to the eight older CNC machines we currently use to produce knitwear.”