Interview: Imperial Business Intelligence

An interview with Ruth Saunders at Imperial Business Intelligence.

Interview: Trusted Clothes

An interview with Scott Jacobsen at Trusted Clothes.

Press: GQ Style File

We're stoked to be appearing in British GQ's November issue in Style File.

Interview: Saiint

Read our feature interview with new ethical fashion blog Saiint.

Interview: Fashion Capital

Paul Markevicius from Fashion Captial distills meaning from a long, rambling conversation with Ramnation's Creative Director.

Make it British

Feature interview on the Make It British website.

Wales, Wales, wool

The Cambrian Wool initiative invited our Creative Director to meet HRH Prince Charles at an exclusive exhibition of Welsh wool products.

Cambrian Wool Challenge

Early in 2015 we submitted a piece for the Cambrian Wool Challenge, made from lovely Welsh wool,

Garment workers paid £3 an hour??

Recently the Ethical Trading Initiative released a report looking at the garment industry in Leicester. The results were saddening, if not surprising.

In the beginning, there were tough questions

Next week takes us to the first Make It British conference at the Truman Brewery. Which reminded us of how we got wrapped up in wool in the first place.

Pin money: the numbers behind hand knitting

We see lots of beautiful handmade sweaters being sold for pitifully small sums. We didn't understand it, so we had a closer look at how the numbers add up.

The Darling Lambs of Spring

Stretching our legs in the sunshine, in the countryside with the lambing sheep.

Pop-up launch at the Truman Brewery

Ramnation launched it's first collection with a pop-up party and photo booth at the Old Truman Brewery in London's Brick Lane.

The scarf story

What happens when a scarf isn't just a scarf? The inside story on how we made our very special opera scarves.

Devon: Exeter wool and Plymouth gin

On the woollen trail in Devon.

First photo shoot

Our first ever shoot for the knitwear range.

Would you work for £2 an hour? The sad truth about buying hand-knitting

Pin money: the numbers behind hand knitting

June 04, 2014 at 6:43 PM

We often see beautiful, hand-knitted, 'made in the UK' sweaters for sale in shops at very low prices. As knitters, we literally didn't understand how these shops could sell them at those rock bottom prices. How could it work?

Sadly, the answer seems to be low pay for the skilled artisans who actually make the garments.

A lot of these garments are made by home workers, who are knitting as a supplement to their regular income. Groups of them are 'run' by a knitting gang-master. Yes, for real, a gang-master. They're paid on a per piece basis, and are not employed with any of the rights of employment.

So it is, that in the shops of London, it's possible to purchase something 'made in the UK' by someone earning less than the minimum wage.

View the full Knitting by Numbers infographic here.