Meet the Maker: HERD
Founded by Ruth Alice Rands, women’s knitwear brand HERD is a staple in our boutique. HERD knitwear is described as ‘Honest as the Earth herself, our knitwear is nature unfurled. There is no harm, no squander, no toxicity, no needless travel. Made in the best of English wool traditions and brought to life. Our knitwear collections are all-natural complementary pieces that embody and imbue all that is the HERD way.’
Can you tell us about the story of Herd?
From a young age I knew exactly what I wanted to wear, drawing on the 70’s aesthetic of my most beloved era. Like many I became frustrated with the amount of plastic in clothes and hated the sweaty, clingy feel of polyester, acrylic and nylon next to my skin, and found it particularly prevalent in knitwear. I began knitting as a last resort to wearing the natural knitwear I wanted, and through the story of yarn uncovered the history of making wool, yarn, cloth and knitwear in the U.K. I founded HERD so that no-one would have to compromise between style and sustainability in their knitwear.
What inspires your designs?
I draw on a folksy, feminine aesthetic inspired by crafts of time gone by such as lace/pointelle stitches and patchwork. My designs always lean into the female form and are flattering to shape and curve. We want women to feel super special when they wear their HERD knits, that they are able to express the best version of themselves for that day.
Where is the wool for your knitwear sourced from?
HERD is in the unique position of owning our yarn from field to fibre - we source our fleeces directly from farmers in the N.W. of England and process it according to our uncompromisingly natural values, which means they are processed using only organic detergents, plant dyes and naturally occurring mordants and water. We only use 100% Bluefaced Leicester breed sheep fleeces which are the finest of the British breeds. This makes for a beautifully soft yarn full of character, and means it will biodegrade naturally with no harm at the end of its' long life.
Why is reviving the traditions of sheep farming for wool important to you?
It seems to me that knowledge built up over generations of hundreds of years of working the soil before we began to outsource the making of things abroad could have the key not just to halting climate change but also making us all healthier and happier with better connections to our landscapes and our things. When this knowledge is lost it are gone forever, so we have brought a young farming couple into our supply chain to learn how to grade by hand and eye from the 84 year old expert farmer we began working with. Our towns and rural communities were all built on wool and our landscape is uniquely well suited to make it - so it’s really a win-win situation.
Do you have full transparency in your supply chain?
We go a leap further than transparency and own our materials all the way from the soil. We have built up a collective of farmers in N.W England from whom we purchase our fleeces, then we are fully accountable for every step from fleece, to scour, to spin, to dye and finally to our knitters who make your HERD knits. To make this viable, and to increase the impact and scale, we also sell our yarn to other British knitwear brands who are beginning to use it in their own collections.
What makes your knitwear unique?
HERD has a freewheeling spirit alongside radical self-reliance. We have a whimsical, joyful look, while being firmly grounded in our accountability. We have lots more information on our Sustainability page and in our newsletters. We hope everyone finds their HERD!
