DESCENDING from a line of farmers and wool growers, Malcolm and Sue McClure have a love of wool securely attached in their genes.

They became aware of the magnitude of textile waste and in particular the amount of synthetics (plastics) leaving microfibres in our food and environment. An Aussie Farm Tour to China only highlighted the extent of the issue and the appalling working environment that the factory workers were encountering.

They did however, see some amazing work being done with knitting machines – which led Sue to undertake a course offered by Cambridge University Business School.

The course was about circularity and sustainable economies, which could be applied to the clothing, footwear and accessories industries. Ultimately, this means that the products and materials can be kept at their highest value at all times by ensuring durability, long life, reuse and repair.

From the very inception, these products are manufactures to be reused, remade or recycled – and after maximum use or wear, they can be composted. These garments are manufactured in a way that requires no harmful chemical environmental outputs.

The seven ‘R’s’ of the circular economy are – Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Refurbish, Recover, Recycle.

With this information on board – Sue went seeking a whole garment knitting machine to produce garments without waste. An enquiry into the Shima Seiki – a Japanese company making state-of-the-art knitting machines – led her to Rod (who had thirty years of textile manufacturing experience).

Then Covid arrived and led to an upsurge in ‘Buy Australian’ mindset – which seemed like the right time for Sue and Malcolm push ahead with their business plans.

Gathering information as they trapesed through numerous larger factories and then some smaller, family-based ones – seeing everything from cut and sew construction to whole garment construction. Some factories even had recycling facilities, where end of the road woollen garments were washed and shredded and recycled back into yarn to be made into new garments.

In 2020, Sue and Malcolm purchased their own Shima Seiki whole garment machine with a 2.13 needle bed allowing them to make a two-metre wide blanket and men’s 5 XL jumpers.  The garage was refitted for the workspace.

Rod was on-hand to help with the settling in period, as they started with baby blankets and scarves. Wool was purchased through a Sydney selling house and had to meet strict ethical and traceability standards. It had to be accredited ‘Responsible Wool Standards,’ non mulesed and traceable to the farm it was grown on.

Tellegno 1900 Mill in Italy was chosen to process the yarn as it meets ecological certification and is ‘world’ friendly. The yarn is not classed as machine washable as that requires harsh chemical treatments and alters the texture of the fibre.

No plastic is used in any part of the Kilmaille labelling and their packaging is biodegradable.

Sue said, “I started knitting in September 2021 with the intention of knitting Wholegarment® fashion items that were quirky, chic, classic and durable, that were an investment in a luxury item that would not end up in landfill after being worn half a dozen times, or less.”

Sue then started turning art and photos into knitted items.

Sue connected with indigenous artist Sherry Johnstone – a Keerray Woorroong and Yorta Yorta woman, based in Warrnambool, to translate her paintings into blankets - each knitted stitch is a pixel in the translated photo of Sherry’s work.

After much trial and error, Sue was able to replicate Sherry’s painting into a two-coloured blanket that was used to make a jacket, which Sherry wore as she tossed the coin at the Geelong Indigenous round football match.

Basically, there are 3 types of production methods:

1. Cut and Sew.  A panel of fabric is knitted, a pattern is cut out and a

garment is sewn up. A lot of waste in this process.

2. Shaped knitwear. Garment panels are knitted and sewn together.

3. Whole-garment or seamless. Complete garment is knitted in one

process.

Sue has now partaken in further intensive training to further her skills and openly admits that it has been far from easy to get to this point. Having said that, Sue is also quick to admit that the journey has been worth the effort.

Sue said “My dress is Cut and Sew from one of our first blanket prototypes so there was an element of waste involved in the production. I want to eliminate this.

This is possibly my biggest challenge so far, however, I’m sure with the support of my program design team in Melbourne we will accomplish our vision.”