A Jolly Good Yarn – a little idea which became a national brand

In response to environmental issues 12 years ago we designed a fit-for-purpose, home-grown British garden twine. As a nation of gardeners, it seemed unbelievable that we were importing tonnes of jute from Asia into the country every year to tie plants in our gardens.

Early on in our quest to look for alternative British renewable materials, we identified wool as a possible natural raw material. We grow wool well in the UK and have many diverse breeds each with its unique characteristics so choosing the right wool was key to developing our product. Using a specifically created wool garden twine for use in the garden just made sense.

Whiteface Dartmoor wool has a long staple length which means we can spin a worsted yarn it is also naturally strong and incredibly durable due to the thickness of its fibres. The wool fibres are combed (tops) spun and twisted to give maximum strength. Developing and trialling this yarn took well over a year to get right. The universities of Plymouth and Exeter were instrumental in testing tensile strength and also in highlighting the amazing positive qualities of the wool.

Using rare breed Whiteface Dartmoor wool also meant that we would be promoting and protecting one of Britain’s ancient breeds of sheep. The breed is indigenous to Dartmoor and the sheep have been grazing the land since Saxon times.

Our wool is collected at source from farmers who practise regenerative agriculture. Good land management promotes the environment and rotational grazing promotes higher growth rates in grass increasing the organic matter of the soil this, in turn, captures more carbon. Sheep eat. Shear. repeat.

Manufacturing in quantity, however, meant overcoming a series of challenges. Having a ready supply of wool was a step in the right direction but, finding the UK processes to manufacture and develop it into a fit-for-purpose garden product wasn’t easy. Kim explains: “We have lost so much of our textile industry here in the UK. The heart of the industry still remains in Yorkshire, but mills have had to adapt as our demand for finer wool imports increases.”

Once we had twool fully developed and ready for market we presented it to the garden centre industry. From that moment on, the industry embraced our product.

Over the years we have grown into a national brand and have been awarded many industry green awards for our products. We continue to try and innovate and improve as a business and work towards excellence in all that we do.

From such modest beginnings with a small humble but necessary gardening product, we are proud of our continuing growth and thank our farmers, British manufacturing and the customers and businesses who support and believe in twool.

You can shop the full range of twool goodies here!