Knitch Magazine

Stephen Sheard, the British founder of Rowan Yarn, is one of the industry’s most respected leaders. In this interview with KnitchMagazine he discusses the history of his company, the obstacles he had to overcome, and the tremendous importance of consumer relationships. He tells us how the desire for excellence and integrity led him to launch the careers of some of the world’s top knitting designers – like Debbie Bliss and Louisa Harding. In this interview, we get a glimpse of a man who has for some many years helped us explore our own creative energies with a craft that celebrates the traditional values he has embraced and encouraged in others.

Knitch: Stephen, please tell us about your vision for Rowan Yarn and how you got it started.

Stephen: I started Rowan in 1978 in the hand weaving craft sector. We had no money and the banks would not lend us the cash to buy a weaving machine to enter the weaving industry, which is the area in which I had been trained as a textile designer. Three years after, I came to see that hand knitting was the area where we could speak directly to the consumer and build an identity of our own.

In the 1970’s, textile companies were typically pushed back down the pipeline and the fashion designer or even the fabric merchant had a higher profile than the real skill people: the yarn or fabric designers and producers. In the whole of the textile industry, the only group who were able to create their own brand or image, and develop the beliefs they had, appeared to be the hand knitting yarns sector.

It was meeting Kaffe Fassett in the first year of Rowan’s life that I saw the possibility of a different future. Kaffe was clearly a great talent but no-one in the UK seemed to see that. He was looking to get his designs to the knitter but with typically 20 colours per garment it was not going to be easy. We had been designing and making weaving kits with a dozen colours and it just seemed obvious to develop knit kits as a way to get to the consumers, first through fashion and home interest magazines and then to the stores.

Photo: Kaffe Fassett

This led to working with more and more of the British designer knitters of the 70’s and 80’s who were hand knitting incredible art pieces through home-knitters. Designers like Sasha Kagan, Jean Moss, Annabel Fox, Jamie & Jessie Seaton, Sandy Black and many more were selling their art pieces at the US Ready to Wear Shows. We supplied them with their yarns and then collaborated with them to make knitting pattern books of their designs.

Knitch: Rowan books are popular with knitters throughout the world. Can you tell us what inspired you to develop these truly magnificent collections of designs?

Stephen: Rather than selling single knitting patterns, we saw the creation of a magazine as a better way to build the Rowan name and reputation among knitting designers. We wanted a vehicle that would showcase their talent and build our reputation as the place to go for creativity: The Rowan stable of designers was developed.

They were very demanding visually and so we needed to develop a distinctive look and feel, hence the magazine’s format. The Rowan Magazine was born, working with new very creative visual teams to produce something special. As time went by these became established as the leaders in knitwear trends.

After 5 years in business, the Rowan Magazine helped get us established in a very competitive yarn market with our own brand, our own identity.

Publishers from around the world approached us to work in a three-way partnership with the designers, Rowan and themselves. Using our visual expertise we produced many of the books for them. They marketed them in the book trade and we marketed them in the yarn trade. This gave us all a much higher premium profile to which the consumers of the world responded enthusiastically throughout the 1980’s.

Knitch: What was your business model, and has it changed over the years?

Stephen: As you see above, the business model took several years to develop. The next challenge was to find stores around the world that could take it on board. Back then the message often got lost in a mass of conflicting merchandising. Apart from a few very good and very professional retailers in different countries, it was hard to sell the concept at first.

The consumers got it and the books and magazines created a pull-through. We needed something more to drive the business and so we started the Rowan International Club to get our best consumer customers in 40 countries to go into stores and ask for Rowan. They could buy the visuals from us directly but they needed to find a store to buy the yarns either face-to-face or by mail order post. We had always published our complete approved dealers list in the magazines -- unlike our competitors. This became a strong marketing tool for a stockist to buy the season’s range to become an approved dealer in the magazine.

We set up the concept of the Kaffe Fassett World touring exhibition which showcased his genius and travelled for five years from 1988 to the capitals of 17 countries. Kaffe gave lectures and appeared on many TV shows and media articles spreading the word about Designer Hand Knitting.

About this time department stores in a number of countries were getting out of the needlecrafts sector. To maintain our position and turn things around we opened Rowan concessions in a number of leading department stores in the UK, Japan and France. This gave us immense experience in understanding the consumer. This is how the extensive Workshop programme started. Without teaching new knitters we were losing our customers. It gave us the chance to create a showcase of excellence for the brand.

Photo, right: Kaffe Fasset Design from Rowan Magazine 44

The model has not changed over the years as new designers have always injected new blood into the company – Rowan’s stable of designers. We build their reputation along with our own.

Knitch: At what point did you recognise your company was a success ?

Stephen: By 1989, ten years after start-up, the company had become a success. But around us it was all gloom and decline – this was a real worry.

Remember, the backcloth to all this was between 1986 and 1996 the hand knitting world lost approximately 80% of its spinners, brands, stockists and -- worst of all -- its knitters. Knitting was out of favour. People wanted to do other things. It had lost its excitement.

Rowan's designer offered an alternative to the established companies and their programmes: knitting concept with lavish books and a classic palette of natural yarns – a virtual "paintbox"

Knitch: That alternative you offered was the result of a lot of hard work by your designers – and Rowan attracted the best. Can you tell us about some of your key partnerships and collaborations over the years?

Stephen: Some I’ve already mentioned, but in addition there are many talented people who have contributed to the brand’s success. All have had a design–led visual integrity. We were never a yarn-led business, we are always a design-led visual business.

Kim Hargreaves, our resident in-house designer for many years, had a massive impact on our company and continues today to do so as an independent designer.

Kenneth and June Bridgewater of Westminster Fibers have had probably one of the biggest contributions in starting as our partner and in building Rowan in the USA over twenty-five years. They got it! Many did not or failed to follow through. Kenneth and June had the long view to work at it for the long term.

Fifteen to twenty key American stockists have been key players over the years at different periods. The succession of Vogue Knitting Editors in Chief has always been a great support, from Margery Winter to Nancy Thomas to Trisha Malcolm. Also Alexis Xenakis at Knitters magazine has been of great support.

Since being bought by Coats Crafts in 1995, John Laurie, their President for the North American division, has had a tremendous impact on supporting Rowan ideas and concepts, specifically when we all believed hand knitting was not going anywhere in the late 90’s.

We started the Rowan Fabrics Division using exactly the same principles as we had built with hand knitting 20 years earlier. Thanks to John and his team it is now a major player in the premium lifestyle fabrics market.

One of the greatest continuing partners from day one when we entered the USA market in 1986 has been Liza Prior Lucy. It is rare indeed to work with people who not only have taste and vision but also the commercial nose to understand what people want and the enthusiasm to work at it. She has been Kaffe's collaborator also for over twenty years. It is no exaggeration to say that Kaffe and Rowan would not be in the fabrics market if it were not for Liza’s perseverance.

At this point I would like to thank the many, many people, too numerous to mention by name who have undertaken the journey with us. Some like Debbie Bliss and Louisa Harding have now gone on their own path and we wish them all the best.

Knitch: What was it about Rowan that attracted all this wonderful talent to you?

Stephen: A large part of this question has already been addressed. But it needs to be said that we have found that on many occasions the maxim from one of my favourite films has held true: “build it and they will come.“

The best talent seeks you out if you continue to stick to your principles of integrity and excellence.

Over the years we saw that we were not just building a “brand” but “a way of thinking.” This perfectly mirrors my hero over thirty years , Steve Jobs of Apple. He has gone against the trends and mores of others so many times – he is a true inspiration.

Knitch: Rowan has just launched Magazine Number 46. We know this is going to be a difficult question to answer, but we’ll ask it anyway. Which of the magazines is your favourite?

Stephen: Many people think it is Rowan Magazine No 10, the children’s story from the English Lake District – Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome featuring a very young Kate Moss and some of the most superb designs from Kaffe and other designers.

However, it is actually Magazine No. 4 which featured actors in the English Fens and was done in sepia with colour at the back. Why? Because you could never do something so over the top and indulgent again. It was a one off statement of the times...around 1988. Interestingly, if our knitters have a copy, hang on to it, as at different times they have been reported as trading on e-Bay at up to $400!

Photo: Stephen Sheard's favorite Rowan magazine issue

Only the last dozen or so issues are still in print but every few years Rowan or another publisher issues a compendium of the best designs and photographs.

Knitch: Are you still active in the business?

Stephen: No, I believe it is time to let the younger generation carry the message and values of Rowan forward into the next phase. With Kate Buller as the senior Brand Manager and her opposite number in the States, Linda Pratt, I trust it is in good hands.

I retired nearly two years ago and worked as a consultant for the Crafts Group until a few months ago.

I am now working as the Chair of a Fair Trade Cooperative in my local valley up in the Yorkshire Pennines of England. The Cooperative movement of Britain has developed rapidly in this time of recession and of distrust for large banks and institutions. Fair Trade products are seeing a surge in a world that is hungry for some different answers to commercial exploitation.

In addition I am involved fundraising with a major new gallery, The Hepworth, named after Barbara Hepworth a famous Yorkshire sculptor. She and Henry Moore, who is also from Yorkshire, are two of Britain’s greatest 20th century sculptors.

I can now indulge my passion for reading and have just finished re-reading, 40 years after first reading it, Herman Hess’s Siddhartha, a truly world-changing message, again for the times we are living in.

Knitch: What are the most pronounced changes you have witnessed in the industry over the years?

Stephen: Without doubt the re-ignition of hand knitting this decade from its fifteen years in the doldrums. The Craft Yarn Council of America, CYCA, under the leadership of David Blumenthal and Rick Caron did an incredible job in promoting knitting to the people as an easy fun thing to do – and stars do it, too! It has completely revolutionised the hobby around the world and we all owe a great deal to their "can do" attitude.

Secondly, the Internet has transformed the hobbyist’s ability to get what they want, when they want it and opened up so much choice for everyone.

Knitch: Before we let you get back to your reading, do you have any predictions for the future?

Stephen: Hand knitting and crochet will continue through all its cyclical ups and downs to give immense pleasure to ongoing generations of people. It is a profoundly enjoyable pastime that along with gardening and cooking gives people all around the world a sense of personal satisfaction, achievement and creativity in a world that can seem at times to be de-personalised.

KnitchMagazine would like to thank Stephen Sheard for taking time to answer our questions and for giving us a personal glimpse of his world. We truly appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the life and achievements of a man who has contributed so much to those of us who, thanks to Rowan’s wonderful books and yarns, are able to express our own individuality in a traditional pursuit. We wish Stephen a very happy and fulfilling retirement.

Where to buy Rowan yarn: Yarnmarket.com