Mademoiselle Chanel in Paris
A few years ago, I had the pleasure to visit Barrie Knitwear in Scotland. The name probably doesn’t ring a bell, but the owner does, Chanel: the French luxury label bought the maker of cashmere knitwear in October 2012, after having worked together for more than 25 years. The factory is situated in Hawick, at the heart of the romantic Scottish borders. It’s a place where touching is all you do. You enter the workshop and just go from one sweater to the other, touching, feeling, and being mesmerized while doing so.
Piles of knitted garments at Barrie Knitwear, ready to be packed for Chanel
Barrie was started in 1903 by Walter Barrie and Robert Kersel. From the start,they used only superior yarn. Their knack for quality and their well-honed expertise made them stand out pretty soon. Barrie came to prominence during the First World War with their knitted hosiery and underwear collection. By the 1920s, the company had expanded into knitwear by developing cardigans, sweaters and twin-sets: thanks to a certain Gabrielle Chanel, who introduced knitted items to her soignée clientele and made them all the rage. Needless to say: Barrie’s considerable know-how was snapped up by the fashion community and led to a profitable business overseas, which continues to this day.
Gabrielle Chanel with the Duke of Westminster on his yacht 'The Flying Cloud'
Certain machines represent the latest in cashmere technology, but Barrie’s soul and integrity comes from their artisanal stitch-by-stitch attitude. One manufactured garment requires over forty procedures and most are carried out by hand. Barrie demands the best cashmere fibre on the market. Plucked from the stomach of Mongolian goats, the fibre needs to be both long and as white as possible. After being de-haired, Scottish wool experts dye and spin the fibre into yarn. Cones of yarn are then delivered to Barrie and zealously serialized since different batches of yarn cannot be mixed due to the vigilant colour control.
Quality starts with the best yarns
The Barrie factory is sectioned off into different areas. One man prepares the bars for the plain frame knitting machine – this means putting an individual stitch of a cuff rib on to a separate needle. Next door, a woman forms the basic garment shape by running four body panels on to needles by hand then linking them together. Opposite, another woman cuts a garment for the neckline; an action which takes eighteen months to perfect. In a back room, vast washing machines spin while a man steams garments into shape. There are the various stages of quality control. Each item needs to be inspected several times before being tabbed with a label and packaged. Every single process is essential to Barrie’s belief: keeping your quality top means you’ll keep your clients. Which Barrie does…
