Every year we have a different set of colours of yarn. The colour or colours becomes that year’s ‘vintage’. This makes the yarn so special – because no two year’s yarn is the same. As the flock grows, more yarn is available, but in the meantime, we are running with a small collection with limited numbers of each type of garment. The garments are individual in colour, texture, and volume, making then truly collectible, limited edition and future vintage.

The flock consists of many colours. Currently we have white, moorit (a very specific sort of brown), black and katmoget grey Shetlands.

The tup (male sheep who will be responsible for the lambs that year) plays a big part in determining the colour of the fleeces each year. 

The blending of the different coloured fleeces results in the colour palette. We are calling each year’s colour palette, the ‘vintage’.

The significance of VALUE lies in the authenticity of each piece, its quality and longevity, and the mindful choices we can make.  

Each piece results from the time spent and the dedication of the hand maker. The care and respect taken in making each piece without cutting corners.  

It is about the skills and craftmanship. It is about the fundamental knowledge and tradition embedded in each hand made piece. 

It is about the design and material, the individuality & the natural characteristic of the hand-crafted piece. 

The harmony between nature, the sheep, the artistry and conscious consumption reflects immense value. 

It is about the usefulness of the piece – its wearability, its warmth-giving properties, its style. It is about its connectiveness to the land and the comfort it provides. 

The LG brand is about the lack of dyeing, the lack of the unnecessary, designs stripped back, and seeing the beauty in elegant simplicity and nature.

CIRCULARITY means focusing on the real worth of available resources and then preserving their value through continual cycles, in this case of the wool used in the LG collections. 

Reducing the waste by thinking out of the box, using the material that is there, recycling when necessary, and returning the wool to the earth through composting is seen as a necessity. 

Wool has become a waste product in Scotland with farmers burning or burying their fleeces rather than selling them since they now hold little or no financial value;  At Bonnytoun Farm, we see the beauty of wool,  valuing its amazing properties and are enriched by the natural processes of the wool seasons. The sheep at Bonnytoun Farm graze only on clean grass, have freedom and good health, and are kept with a view to produce the annual wool crop. 

The sheep and grass are the beginning and the end of the sustainable chain. 

The wool is used is for spinning, knitting and weaving, The ‘waste’ wool always has a purpose; donated for insulation, composting or art projects. In 2024, the waste wool is being used in an innovative collaboration for the WORTH project. 

The wool processing and making of the LG garments is kept as close to the farm as possible and by using the most energy efficient methods. 

The New Lanark Spinning Mill run on hydro-electro power spins the Shetland wool. Transport is via electric vehicles and heating the atelier and Future Vintage Shop is powered by solar panels.  

(Scouring is at the Natural Fibre Company – England. They do a fabulous job and are the only scourers in the UK working at the volumes required by LG.)

Each LG price can be returned to the farm for mending (visibly or otherwise), the garments repurposed, passed on, worn out and finally returned to the earth. This represents circularity in every sense.

Sustainability is a journey. It’s how we think, and how we engage with the world. It is about considering our actions today and reflecting on the impact of those actions in the future. 

It is about adapting to changing global challenges. It’s about accountability, investment into the planet and people. 

Our commitment to sustainability is embodied in all we do on Bonnytoun Farm; it is about environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and about creating, nurturing and maintaining a living soil; it is our commitment to increasing biodiversity and providing habitats for wildlife; it is about planting trees and hedges. 

It is about welcoming respectful people onto the land. It is about our organic farming business of 25 years. 

It is about dealing with the wider environmental challenges by creating carbon sinks. 

We have installed solar panels on the farm so that we can generate our own energy. We use electric vehicles charged by our solar panel system. 

It is about reusing stone and renovating old buildings with nesting areas. We dig up natural clay on the farm and use it. We create ponds for wildlife. We plant wild bird seed and green manure in our farming practices. 

We employ regenerative farming practices. Our methods minimize harm to the environment, laying down the groundwork for future generations. 

We mill felled timber and use it for buildings and furniture. We keep hardy sheep who keep giving year after year in their fleeces. 

It is about respect, kindness and care of all the animals living on our farm. Wool is sustainable at its core with an annual ‘crop’ which provides for us in garments and objects for generations and can be returned to the earth since biodegradable. 

It is about planting positive seeds in the mindset of our teams on the farm; nurturing, educating, training and developing our people so that our businesses are sustainable. 

It is about remaining relevant. 

It’s about living consciously.

Our garment prices reflect the costs paid to skilled workers throughout the making process; from the farm to the wool processors, and back again to creating the garments on the farm.

Lindsay and her family care for the sheep daily, all year round.

Ewan, an expert shearer travels from the Borders of Scotland to shear once a year. Shearing day needs the whole family and extra helpers to handle the sheep & sort and skirt the fleeces.

The scouring is done by the Natural Fibre Company in England - scourers who can handle the volume of our fleece - bigger volumes than domestic but smaller than industrial! This year (2024) they are taking the fleece all the way through to yarns of 4 natural colours. NO blending this year, all colours as seen on the sheep in the field, made possible by their small batch spinning.

The New Lanark Spinning Mill (close by the farm) converts cleaned wool into yarn using traditional and heritage machinery, hydroelectric power and oodles of knowledge. One day we are hoping they have a scouring plant to handle the fleece cleaning, so that our Shetland yarn can be produced entirely in Scotland.

Lindsay designs the pieces and works with the super talented Maija Nygren who works her magic with patterns. Maija has extensive knowledge and experience and brings technical excellence to the atelier. Together, the final pieces come together.

A keen and able graduate knitter - this year Dora Kapus - knits and links the pieces. Finishing, washing, pressing, blocking & steaming is carried out by Lindsay and her team, including additional skilled local knitters.

Small quantities of waste wool and scraps are returned to the land on the farm. Larger pieces/fleeces are repurposed in other projects.