For a long time, knitting was seen as something only grannies did.
But young Northern Ireland fashion designer Hope Macaulay is reviving this traditional craft for the modern society. Her colourful chunky handmade knitwear, mostly made without needles, exploded onto the fashion scene in 2020 after going viral online. Her pieces have since been worn by celebrities worldwide and featured in top fashion magazines.
But what makes the business so special is Hope’s dedicated team of 20 home knitters across Northern Ireland who are on hand to bring her colourful designs to life. Recently Hope, who was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Retail and E-commerce last year, made her biggest move yet - opening her first ever pop-up shop in Los Angeles.
Revealed in a new True North BBC documentary entitled ‘The Social Knitwork’, Hope and her team base in Coleraine offer a behind-the-scenes look at her ‘close-knit family’ as the team works towards the Hollywood launch revealing more about what makes the Portstewart entrepreneur so ‘yarn-tastic’.
