Wolfgang Scout is the name to know in knitwear. The new Australian knitwear brand on the block is Wolfgang Scout but the three women who founded the brand are anything but unfamiliar when it comes to the fashion industry.

Wolfgang Scout was brought to life by Natalie Wood, Carla Woidt and Marianne Horton, three women with incredible experience in designing clothes. Wood has worked for the likes of Country Road and Camilla; Woidt has had stints at Theory, Helmut Lang, and Temperley; and Horton is an experienced textile designer who rounds out the trio. Together, they’ve set up sustainable knitwear label Wolfgang Scout, which makes luxury hand-knitted jumpers which take more than 40 hours to create, and is now stocked on Incu. Add to the mix that they only source wool from sustainable and ethical farms and use natural and organic dyes, as well as hand processes when possible, and you have a brand making the next generation of knitwear. Here, we quizzed Wood on the label, what each of the women bring to the brand and why you shouldn’t be reinvesting in wool annually.

Where did the brand name come from?

“After much discussion and ‘trying on’ of names we were still struggling to find just the right combination. By chance, a casual conversation about names we had really loved but didn’t end up choosing for our children led to the pairing of ‘Wolfgang’ and “Scout’. Straight away, it just felt like a good fit.”

Tell me about the three women behind the brand (including yourself!). 

“I’ve been working within the Australian fashion industry over the past 20 years. I’ve had brands of my own such as Sample, Insight, Something Else, and recently I’ve been a design director for some of Australia’s leading brands Veronika Maine, Country Road and Camilla. I was incredibly lucky to have met Carla Woidt during my time working at Country Road. Carla has worked with brands like Theory and Helmut Lang to articulate their creative vision and bring concepts into reality, and she brings some incredible experience into Wolfgang Scout. Our third partner in our team is Marianne Horton. She is a long time friend and collaborator with Carla whom she studied fashion and textiles design with. Today she thinks of herself as a maker, and she brings the incredible skills of dying and making into the brand.”

Your pieces are handmade and take more than 40 hours to make. Tell me what goes into that process? 

“Our initial designs and testing of shapes is done in Australia by Carla and Marianne. Once we have a great proto we’re all happy with (this may have been re-knitted several times) then our yarn is sent to India where we work with a hand knitting company that works with communities of women. They’ve been training up women to be super amazing and fast at knitting, it’s really quite an amazing thing to see how quickly they can actually knit. And best of all these women have learnt new skills and can now educate their family and this has often assisted them with living out of poverty. Once the process starts in India, it’s literally the time where the hand knitting is done every day and this is where you can really calculate the time it takes to knit these sweaters. It’s magical to see a sweater come to life in this way.”

How long should we keep our wool jumpers for? 

“We definitely believe in purchasing beautiful quality, buying less, and building a really thoughtful wardrobe of things that you really love. So buying say a sweater like ours, we encourage the idea that this is a purchase for life, and one that can be handed down through generations.”

Tell me about the sustainable elements of Wolfgang Scout. Is sustainability your main brand philosophy? 

“The brand grew out of the three of us wanting to create a yarn and product that truly reflected the beauty and softness of Australian merino as well as bringing everything back to source with full traceability in a sustainable way. Yarn and product that is earth, people and animal friendly. It is important to us that we have a strong relationship with our grower and know everyone that is involved in our supply chain. From the grower, through cleaning, spinning, dying with eco-friendly dyes through to knitting with a company that introduces women back into the workforce. All points of contact are important.”

Where are your mills and why?

“We have mills in Australia and New Zealand. It has been important for us to have close contact with our mills to be able to work with the spinners as we develop the yarn to our specification. It’s an intimate relationship, looking after something we love. This stands for all of our supply chain. We also try to keep as close to source as possible.”

You use a micron merino Australian wool yarn. What is this and how does it differ from regular merino wool? 

“The micron of wool is a measure that reflects the diameter of the actual fibre, the lower the number (micron) the finer the yarn. As knitters ourselves, we were challenged to find a yarn that was a low micron count, yet was a hand knitting yarn. A lot of hand knitting yarn is a higher count and therefore courser. So, we set off on the journey to create a yarn of such beautiful quality that it ‘feels like a cloud’ and truly reflects the beauty of what wool can be. We have achieved this both by using a superfine merino and also managing the actual structure of the yarn in spinning. Once you feel it you’ll know what we mean!”

What does the future hold for your label?

“Knit knit knit knit knit. We will continue to experiment and explore with our knitwear and slowly grow into other markets. It is a natural progression for us to become more present in countries where it is cold ... so we will slowly explore these options. Making is also an integral part of the business so we will start doing workshops, teaching how to knit and create and repair with our beautiful yarn.”

Published On : 13-08-2019

Source : Vogue