Yorkshire Tweed finally in Yorkshire wool!

The Great Yorkshire Show (9-12th July 2024) was another sell-out show despite kicking off with awful weather, the crowds still flocked to see what Yorkshire has to offer and of course, witness the fabulous garments on the “Farm to Fashion” catwalk which was shown twice daily. 

A whole host of young people in the agricultural sector turned out to model as well as some well-known faces including Olly Harrison (Olly blogs Agricontract), Cammy Wilson (The Sheep Game), Peter Wright (Yorkshire Vet) and Adam Henson (Countryfile). 

Louisa Knapp, Marketing & Communications Assistant at British Wool commented “British Wool was delighted to play an integral role in the Farm to Fashion catwalk providing the best of British wool garments with a range of licensed products from brands including; Marsali Tweed, Glencroft, Joseph Turner, Janey B Knitwear, Palava, Mars Knitwear, Charl, Spinney Knitwear, Navy Grey and accessories from Cable & Blake. We also had a stand where a selection of British wool-certified products was on sale to the public.” 

Louisa continued “A new feature at the show this year was the Yorkshire Agricultural Society Tweed, designed and made in Yorkshire by Abraham Moon in Guiseley and tailored by Brook Tavener in Keighley. Although the first tweed was commissioned over eight years ago to our knowledge it has never been made with UK sheep farmers wool and we were delighted to be able to help them make the switch and support local.” 

British Wool also judged the fleece competition as well as supported the shearing.  Both competitions are key in showcasing the high quality of shearing and wool production here in the UK. 

Amongst those competing in the shearing section were British Wool Ambassadors Gwion Evans, Hamish Mitchell and Susie Parish with spectators also able to watch blade shearing, wool handling and a test between England and the New Zealand machine shearing teams.  

The fleece competition saw a strong entry with the judging this year undertaken by Ian Brooksbank, Depot Manager at our Bradford depot. The overall winner claiming the Champion Fleece was G Horner from Whitby with a Teeswater fleece.   The Reserve Champion was won by D Gill from Chanmarle Dorchester with a Shetland fleece. 

Louisa concluded, “The Great Yorkshire Show gives us a great opportunity to speak to both farmers and consumers about the work we are doing to try and drive demand for British wool and increase returns to our members for their wool.”