Craftsmanship at Caerlee Mills

Caerlee Mills in Innerleithen claims to be Scotland’s longest continually trading textile mill, having been trading since 1788. The company’s specialty is cashmere knitwear and the amazing art of hand-intarsia, in which tremendously talented people build up a pattern, by hand, stitch by stitch. For many years the mill was the home of the Ballantyne brand, but a takeover by Italian investors a few years ago ended in disaster and the company went into administration in January 2010 when it employed 220 people. The firm’s production director Tom Harkness bravely bought the factory from the administrator and now has just 42 employees producing luxurious knitwear of extraordinary quality.   

The factory is slowly rebuilding its reputation by concentrating on working with designers such as Holly Fulton, a Scot who shows at London Fashion Week, and the American Thom Browne, who designs his own line and the premium collection for Brooks Brothers. Developing Caerlee’s new own-label collection under the Caerlee 1788 brand is London-based Valerie Voon, who met Tom when she was looking for a manufacturer to make her own collection. Caerlee Mills is a centre of exceptional artisanal skills and it would be so uplifting to see this unique company thriving once again.

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