Barnsley knitting entrepreneur wins John Lewis retail contract

A former NHS manager-turned entrepreneur has secured a contract to sell her wool products to John Lewis.

Claire Gelder, who has moved her business into new premises in Barnsley, quit her NHS job to set up Wool Couture.

The company creates DIY knitting packs with giant needles and giant yarn, and also sells Merino wool yarn, handmade crochet hooks, chunky scarves, hats, blankets and dog beds.

Wool Couture has just moved into the 500 sq ft office at the Barnsley Business and Innovation Centre (BBIC), at Wilthorpe, and is now receiving support from Enterprising Barnsley, the economic development arm of Barnsley Council.

John Lewis will retail the nine different DIY kits that Wool Couture creates. These include one for a chunky throw, which uses 50cm long knitting needles; a pom-pom hat that takes just two to three hours to make, and scarves which are knitted by hand in just half an hour. The kits will be sold at its Oxford Street store and online.

Claire said: “Normal knitting means it can take six months to knit a scarf and I can’t wait six months for something to be done, I wanted it to be done in a weekend.

“So I started with small needles and then they just got bigger and bigger; until we ended up with ones that we made ourselves and are up to one metre long.

“And with the 30-minute and 60 minute scarf kits you don’t use needles at all; you use your arms and hands to do the knitting. But that means you can easily produce a scarf over a weekend, which will appeal to a lot of busy people.“

The Merino wool, which is imported from South America and South Africa, is coloured and baled in Yorkshire, and the giant needles are made from tulipwood. Wood turner Rob Ing makes 120 pairs of giant needles a week in Claire’s converted garage at her home in Wakefield.

Claire started her career working in the private sector for blue chip companies, before bringing up two children with health issues made her see the value of the NHS.

She then worked for 15 years for the NHS in improvement, culminating in a role where she was director of transformation for a clinical commissioning unit. But her hobby changed her life about 12 months ago.

Claire explained: “I was in the pits of depression and doing a lot of knitting when a friend said you really need to sell these. So I put a giant chunky scarf on the online shop Etsy and straightaway I was getting orders in. The fact that people wanted to buy my scarves was really uplifting for me.“

Claire then took what she describes as a “huge leap of faith” to volunteer for redundancy. She set up Wool Couture and a health innovation centre at the same time. But with the orders coming in, Claire soon decided to concentrate on Wool Couture. The company now has two other employees and various sub-contractors including a team of ten knitters.

Wool Couture is receiving business support via the Sheffield City Region Launchpad scheme, a programme of startup support for new companies being delivered through the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub and led by Enterprising Barnsley.

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