How did Lou Dungate begin?
Almost by accident.
After studying Psychology and working in, I joined a lunchtime club that would completely change the course of my career.
It was called Knit Club.
I relearned - it had been a childhood hobby - to knit and began making things like scarves and hats. My friends liked these things so much they would pay me to make them. So, I opened a little online store, asked my friends to model for me and began selling my hand-knits to people all across the world.
On the hunt for good wool, I stumbled upon a small but sweet yarn shop in my hometown in Surrey. The owner was looking to move on, and, with no proper research or experience I decided to have a go at running it.
The Knit Club was open for five years, won several awards and taught me so much about what it meant to run a business. I met knitters of all ages and walks of life, and saw first-hand how carefully made things could tell stories, how craft could be invaluable and how good knitwear could make us feel.
During this time, I discovered what it was like to knit with beautiful yarns like British wool and cashmere.
Eventually, realising I would struggle to sustain a living from selling balls of wool, buttons and haberdashery, The Knit Club closed its doors in 2016.
I signed up to a short class at the London College of Fashion and set out to create the perfect jumper.
I spent months sketching, remaking, reworking until finally, I created the perfect shape - the Lou Dungate original, armed with my designs and a colour palette in mind I set off to find a factory, (naively thinking this would be a very short process.)
Nobody was interested. I went to all the big trade shows, in the U.K and abroad, flogging my way over to places like Paris, when I could barely afford the train ticket - but no international suppliers would work with me, telling me that they wouldn’t ever manufacture for a tiny brand like mine with such small numbers and no big financial backers.
So I decided to look closer to home.
I contacted a newly opened factory on the other side of London. The first to operate in the city since World Word Two. They agreed to meet me, and somehow, as their smallest client, agreed to make my designs.
Lou Dungate was registered, and started trading.
But to placate the factory (no sizing, small runs and simple designs) I had to start with accessories like scarves, hats and blankets. Not jumpers.
My design sat in my bedside draw nagging me, as did my memory of my grandma, Nancy Dungate and her sister, Great Aunty Betty,who had always knitted jumpers. I grew up knowing the warmth and love of a knitted jumper and felt such a need to spread that love myself.
I just couldn’t work out how to make it viable.
So after a few years selling cashmere accessories through department stores and my website, I took a short-ish break to survive the pandemic and have two children - Henry and Gus.
And I used some of this time to do my own research, I began to see other smaller luxury brands challenging this high waste/big order framework that manufacturers had created.
And I felt emboldened to do the same - knowing that in a world of waste and over-consumption, knitwear should be made differently.
So that brings me here. To you.
I only make jumpers after you’ve ordered them. In the finest, natural fibres and at a UK factory that I’ve visited myself.
I think that’s all for now,
Lou x
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