£166 for a garter stitch scarf!
May 26, 2010
I've been catching up on BBC1's High Street Dreams on accessories because I'd heard rummours of people pricing a plain hand-knit garter stitch scarf at £130 and £166 for one with cable or rib.
The programme features fashionistas saying I want it look "handmade but not homemade". I wasn't sure what that meant but to me the scarves where the sort of thing I use to teach beginners. Brightly coloured chunky wool and fat needles in garter stitch.
The big marketing gimmick was "hand knit by nanas" - even though it turned out that younger knitters were actually more productive. I admit this was a second knitting stereotype that annoyed me.
On the other hand, the fact that the retail guru Jo Malone decided the Beryl the scarf woman (aka Beryl Brewis Handmade Scarves) could pitch to the Jigsaw fashion chain, and get an order for 200 scarves, may of course raise the credibility of knitting and we knitters (and especially the knitting shops) will be teaching the classic chunky scarf more in the future.
Either that or knitting groups should set up retail businesses immediately.