Makers & Materials
It’s Billy here again. This is the part of simswear I care about most.
For me, good knitwear doesn’t start with a design sketch or a colour palette. It starts much earlier, with the people and materials that make everything else possible. When those foundations are right, the rest tends to take care of itself.
I’ve always believed that understanding who made something, and what it’s made from, changes how you live with it. You trust it more. You reach for it without thinking. You wear it hard, repair it when needed, and keep it for years.
Because without great materials, even the best makers can’t do their work properly. And without great makers, the finest materials never become great knitwear.
Raw fibre
Everything begins at the source.
Raw fibre is the foundation of knitwear, and not all fibre is created equal. When it’s collected, it’s graded for fineness, length, strength and consistency. Those qualities are determined long before spinning begins, shaped by genetics, animal care, and how gently the fibre is handled during shearing and sorting.
Younger animals tend to produce finer, softer fibres, which is why we often work with merino lambswool. Higher grade fibres are longer, cleaner and more consistent, making them easier to spin into strong, smooth yarns. In the finished knitwear, that translates to softness against the skin, better shape retention, and garments that age more gracefully with wear.
Depending on the season, we work with various natural fibres. The fibre always follows the function. What never changes is our standard. We use the highest grade available for the job, chosen for how it performs in use, not how it sounds on a label.
yarn spinners
Even the finest fibre needs the right hands to realise its potential.
Spinning is the stage where the raw fibre is shaped into something usable. Decisions made here determine how a fibre behaves, how it takes colour, and how it performs once it’s knitted and worn. This is work that rewards patience and experience. Rushed processes weaken fibres. Careful handling preserves their strength, elasticity and character.
The best yarn spinners understand this instinctively. They respect the fibre, know how it responds to tension and dye, and make choices based on how the finished knitwear should feel and function, not how quickly it can be produced. That judgement is what creates yarn that wears well and lasts.
The UK has a long tradition of this kind of work, with deep knowledge concentrated in a small number of specialist mills.
Todd & Duncan in Kinross are a good example. They work backwards from the end use of the garment, choosing older, slower machinery that is gentler on the fibre. That approach preserves fibre length and natural elasticity, and allows colour to be developed with precision and consistency. It’s a quieter way of working, but the results speak for themselves.
knitters
This is the stage where everything comes together.
Great knitters don’t just assemble garments or operate machines. They control tension, structure and shape with precision, understanding how fibre choice and construction affect the finished piece. That judgement comes from experience, and it shows in how consistently a garment is made.
We choose to work with knitters who can hand link, a traditional and highly skilled method of joining pieces loop by loop rather than cutting and overlocking them. This creates smoother seams, stronger joins, and better structural integrity even after years of wear.
British knitters bring generations of experience working with natural fibres. That experience results in knitwear that holds its shape, wears evenly, can be repaired when needed, and improves with age rather than breaking down.
These are the kinds of skills that don’t announce themselves. You notice them years later.
why this all matters
For every chapter we create, we’ll introduce you to the raw fibre, the yarn spinner and the knitter behind it.
Knowing where something comes from changes how you live with it. When you understand the journey, you trust the result, and that trust is what allows a piece of knitwear to become part of your life, rather than just something you own.
That’s what we’re building at simswear.