Mohair Yarns offers great flexibility

Gina Moolman

MOHAIR YARNS A LUXURIOUS AND VERSATILE PRODUCT

Mohair is a luxury natural fibre, exceptionally versatile, and can be blended with a variety of other natural or synthetic fibres. ‘Mohair is still as popular as ever and our collection of rich loop and brushed mohair yarns of different thicknesses, textures and blends is still highly sought after’, says Gina Moolman, Head of SAMIL Yarn Sales Division. ‘These are all offered to clients in dyed or undyed form supplied on cones, hank/skein or in ball form’. Despite the challenges being faced by the Mohair Industry in terms of the ongoing drought in the Karoo regions of South Africa where the Angora goats are farmed, as well as the world wide COVID-19 pandemic, there is still an unceasing demand for highclass mohair yarns.

‘We operate to high industry standards and use only the best mohair top processed at our own combing facility in the Eastern Cape. We may be far from our main customer base in Europe and China but we take pride not only in our product quality but just as importantly, our dedication to providing the best service in terms of meeting or exceeding customer expectations in terms of delivery’, she says.

SAMIL spinning produces yarns in a variety of blends. ‘We are not limited to being only spinners of mohair. We consider ourselves as a spinner of the Noble Fibres such as mohair, wool, silk, alpaca,

bamboo though we can also produce yarn blends of these natural fibres mixed with synthetic fibres such as nylon and acrylic should the customer request it’.

SAMIL spinning is geared mainly for the export market in terms of fancy hand knitting yarns, although it also produces a significant range of worsted yarns for the South African domestic single jersey and sock knitting industries.

‘We invested in a new dyehouse and colour matching lab in 2016, in order to enable us to satisfy customers wanting custom colours, beyond colours already available in our established range. This is one of the most significant influences towards our growing our Hand Knitting business by more than 40% in the last 2 years’, Gina Moolman comments.

‘We have just completed our Autumn/Winter 2021/22 collection which we usually present in Florence at the Moda Baglioni In July. Unfortunately, we have not been able to show our collection in Florence in 2020, due to the COVID pandemic, but none the less we have managed to put a smaller collection together to send out to our customers’.

Although these collections are particularly aimed at the hand knitting market, there are yarns that are suitable for machine knitting, as well as weaving. The company has also just added another 3 stock service yarns, to its ever-popular Kid Mohair/silk stock service yarn. The reason for this is to cater for the market that is seeking high quality yarns but on a smaller scale, at a premium price. ‘The collection not only shows our versatility in making yarns, but initiates ideas to the customer in making a yarn to their own specific requirements’. ‘SAMIL spinning is extremely fortunate in that we are able to source mohair directly from our own Combing &Trading Division. This enables us to access mohair directly from specific farms, (including our own), which, in the very near future will be certified to the new RMS (Responsible Mohair Standard)’.

AFRICAN EXPRESSIONS:

In 2011 SAMIL created their own inhouse, handknitting brand, African Expressions, which is available in 14 yarn qualities. This range was initially developed mainly for the South African market, to provide a high-end knitting yarn, with the intention of educating the local market in South Africa about this noble fibre. African Expressions has since expanded into the international market and is slowly but surely making a significant name for itself.

‘The African Expressions Brand will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary next year and we intend to do so in style. Stay tuned for some exciting ideas!’. ‘It is our aim at SAMIL Spinning to provide customers with the most luxurious knitting yarns. This is achieved by using our homegrown mohair, blended with other natural fibres as well as making blends with synthetic fibres – all of which then get the extra special beauty treatment in our specialised dyehouse to further enhance their inherent natural beauty.

‘It is, however, just as important to us to provide excellent services in terms of delivery in order to keep our customers satisfied for many more years to come. We invest a lot of time in market research, on current and developing trends, inspiring us to create trend related ranges. However, there are always the classic yarns that we will continue to manufacture, due to the customer trusting and knowing the product they have been working with for many years and thus being a staple yarn in their collection. Our ultimate goal is that one day in the foreseeable future consumers the world over have a SAMIL Spinning Mohair yarn in their range.”

Gina Moolman can be contacted at - Gina@samil.co.za