Lynn Furge: Your knitwear is more than fashion… I feel it’s like a sustainable fairy tale. Explain the story that it tells… from farm to wool to yarn to garment, and the historical journey that process takes.
Beate Kubitz: The area we live in is steep and hilly marginal land – farmers had to be inventive to have a living so they spun and wove wool ‘pieces’ for additional income. These were taken to Piece Halls and sold, setting off the textile industry in the North of England; the catalyst for the industrial revolution.
We’ve followed in the footsteps of the hardy Pennine farmers, who turned their hand to everything. I keep a flock of 50 or so breeding Shetland ewes with young stock too. Their fleece is spun for our knitwear – it makes a natural undyed brown yarn. We use other British farmed sheeps wool for the white wool, and sometimes other shades if we can find them.
Nicola takes the yarn and designs to its strengths – Shetland for instance felts very well, Bluefaced Leicester spins to fine weights for our more cobwebby knits. In some ways having quite a limited palette spurs her to greater creativity with stitch and texture to create the charactistic Makepiece look.
LF: How do you decide which wools to use for which shapes of garments
BK: Nicola tends to work from stitch to garment rather than the other way. So selecting yarn is mainly about weight – we try and find fine yarns for summer weights and then Nicola will work on appropriate stitches – then work out how those stitches will create drama in a garment. The pattern cutting bit follows as she works out how to put the whole together so that it is flattering to wear.
LF: Nicola has a fashion and knitting background. Please tell me about the design inspiration around the Spring 2010 collection
BK: It was designed in the run up to Nicola and Dave’s wedding so there’s definitely an element of romance – ruffles and bows, fluting and volume. We also responded to the credit crunch by making a number of really flexible garments – a cardigan you can style as cropped or long, lots of fluted tendrils in skirts that can be woven or tied to individual inspiration. Garments that will be with you for keeps.
LF: Beate you are the farmer… what do you feel you can teach other ethical designers about the sustainable fashion sector that is growing rapidly away from a movement to a lifestyle?
BK: I think you have to do everything differently – success is on a different scale. It’s not about shifting units of stuff – it’s about how you do things. I get satisfaction from things being done well, not from the size of the business. Obviously you have to eat – but beyond that it’s the question of what you can do better rather than bigger.
LF: There is always a femininity to your collections, please describe the 5 other elements you feel are always in a Makepiece garment?
BK:
Intrigue – there’s a how did you do that?
Drama – we do aim to bring drama to clothes
Versatility – our clothes stand alone but will fit into anyone’s wardrobe
Flattering
Unique
LF: The Makepiece images and seasonal campaigns are so different than other “green lines” please elaborate on your marketing visions.
BK: I think that it’s easy to ‘bolt on’ green-ness – make something quite standard but using better production techniques. Makepiece works the other way – it’s a very deep-rooted design ethic which dictates the way we produce our clothes. The label is fundamentally inspired by where we are – so we let it permeate everything from our photoshoots to our copy.
LF: What is the average time it takes to make a piece?
BK: Oh, it’s all part of a process – yarn can take 8 weeks to spin, a couple of weeks to dye, maybe only a few hours to knit the pieces (and much less for a scarf) but then (we tend to make things in batches) it might wait to be linked (put together) and then there’s finishing – essentially washing, drying and ironing to give it the finished handle.
LF: What one country would you like to see stock your clothes that you haven’t been sold in already?
BK: Japan!
LF: What is new on the Makepiece horizon for 2010?
BK: Stay tuned for our AW10 press release! We’re also planning our bridal wear range.
www.makepiece.co.uk
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