A Collaboration Around Geelongora Wool

You might not recognize the name, but chances are you’ve already worn this wool!

Produced by the British company Z. Hinchliffe & Sons, it is used to make the Barra beanies at Mackie — a staple in our selection for years. After extensive research, including contacting the mill directly, we found that no brand offered a sweater in Geelongora.

We discussed this with Melik, the grandson of the founder of the workshop Nitto Knitwear, who was immediately enthusiastic about exploring this avenue. A few weeks later, the first prototypes came to life in his workshop.

Before we give you more details, let's introduce the key players:

Nitto Knitwear: French Craftsmanship at the Heart of Knitting

Founded in 2022, in the Paris region, Nitto Knitwear is the heir to a family knitting workshop established in 1972. Led by Melik, the founder's grandson, the brand continues a craft passed down through three generations.

The name "Nitto" nods to the Japanese word meaning "knitting," a reference to the brand's close ties with Japan, where its products were initially intended.

Nitto Knitwear stands out for its fully internalized and French production. Each piece is designed, programmed, knitted, washed, fulled, assembled, and ironed in their workshop in Clamart.

Z. Hinchliffe & Sons: The Excellence of British Wool

Founded in 1766, Z. Hinchliffe & Sons is a British mill renowned for the quality of its wools.

Discover the production of Geelongora wool in this video

This video showcases a particularly impressive stage in the mill's work, Z. Hinchliffe & Sons: the preparation of wool fibers before spinning.

It particularly shows how fibers of different colors, previously dyed, are laid out on the floor in successive layers, then vacuumed to be mixed precisely before moving to the spinning stage. This process, very telling visually, allows for obtaining subtle and nuanced shades, rich in depth and perfectly reproducible from one batch to another.

The Geelongora is a yarn made up of 75% Geelong lamb's wool — a fine and strong fiber that provides structure and durability — and 25% angora for superior softness and a silky feel. The spinning process uses short-fiber angora, specifically chosen to minimize fiber loss and ensure better garment durability over time. The result: a yarn that feels incredibly soft, with a slightly fluffy appearance and a rich visual texture.

The angora used is certified by the Caregora™ Scheme, a program ensuring complete traceability and strict adherence to animal welfare. Fiber harvesting is done by shearing, in a completely non-violent manner, only from responsible farms. This is a commitment that is important to us, allowing us to offer a piece that is both beautiful, comfortable, and respectful.

What really sets this material apart is thus its ability to combine softness and robustness. Where very soft yarns can sometimes lack structure or wear out quickly, the Geelongora combines the silky plushness of angora with the natural resilience of Geelong wool. This results in a knit that is both comfortable and durable, pleasant to wear, but designed to last.

From prototype to final piece: building a sweater around a material

Working with Nitto Knitwear means relying on a flexible and responsive structure, capable of turning an intuition into a prototype in record time. Once the Geelongora yarn was available, several trials were necessary to understand how this particular material reacted to knitting, shaping, washing, and wearing.

We ultimately opted for knitting in gauge 8 — an ideal thickness for this yarn, which reveals all its softness, natural loft, and lightness. The sweater is knit integrally, meaning without any seams, thanks to the expertise of the Nitto workshop in Wholegarment® technology. This construction preserves the purity of the piece: no side seams, no shoulder joints, nothing to disturb the garment's line.

Choosing such a unique yarn also required special attention at every stage of production. The angora, which makes up 25% of the blend, provides remarkable softness and warmth, but requires meticulous knitting to avoid any deformation or fiber loss. Here is where the expertise of the Nitto Knitwear workshop was crucial.

For the cut, we worked on a round-neck sweater knit integrally, with a comfortable, slightly loose fit. We will add images of the model as soon as the sampling phase is complete.

Tell us your preferences

This collaboration will result in a limited series of sweaters, available exclusively at Flâneurs and on the Nitto Knitwear website.

We are currently at the stage of selecting colors. Below you will find the shades considered for this first edition, with delivery scheduled between September and October 2025.

If you are intrigued by the project and a particular color catches your eye, feel free to click on the image, then on the "Prevenez-moi lorsque le produit est disponible" button on the product page.
The colors that generate the most interest will be the ones we choose for the final production.

The Geelongora palette features 80 colors: therefore, this is a project we plan to continue over several seasons, similar to our collaboration with Harley of Scotland.