| Interview - Linda Pratt |
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| Written by Deborah Knight |
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Knitch: Tell us a bit about yourself. Are you a knitter? If so, when did you begin knitting? Linda: I am a knitter and proud of it. I began knitting around the age of nine, fumbled a bit through my teens, and then took it up seriously in college, when I worked at a fabric and yarn store in downtown Boston.
You could say I got into the business during college. During my senior year, I managed the yarn department for that store, which was the flagship for a regional chain, now long gone, called Beaconway. Our customers were students and working women – and there were a lot of women who would walk from the offices in Government Center and the Boston’s Financial District on their lunch hours. There was a spike in knitting around that time, especially when Good Housekeeping had featured a one skein (four ounces at the time) vest on a cover in the fall of 1979. We were busy and could not keep the classic Bernat Berella 4 acrylic in stock!
Across the street from our store was the bastion of Boston retail, Jordan Marsh. They too were selling yarns, and while we shared the same Bernat basics, their business was more targeted to an older and affluent customer. It was one of my first moments of competitive triumph when the Bernat sales rep took the Jordan Marsh buyer to our store to check out our yarn department.
I left the yarn business for a while, spending some time in fashion and hard goods at Bloomingdales, but in 1986 took a job with Classic Elite Yarns. About a year later, I became their New England sales rep, then later their first Sales Manager. In 1997, I left and became Product Manager for needlework, and then added yarns, also, for JCA.
I had the opportunity to purchase a wonderful existing store, Great Yarns, in Raleigh, NC, at the end of 2000. That was when I began to see how people actually wore their finished knitted sweaters that I had helped design, market and sell. The fashion trending skills that I had picked up at Bloomingdales began to really click in terms of style, regional color, and élan for the Raleigh customer.
Four years later, I was offered a job with Westminster Fibers, moved back to New England, developed Nashua Handknits – which was inspired by my Raleigh clientele. Soon after I became their National Marketing Manager, and my job now encompasses Rowan, Gedifra, Regia and Nashua.
Now, keeping up with fashion – especially in knitting and crochet – is part of my job and still something I love.
Knitch: You’re responsible for a lot of different brands. Can you tell us the differences between each line? Linda: A lot of work goes into this with the brand definition. All of our brand managers have gone through a rigorous thought process to define who their customer is, and what makes their brand different than the others offered.
Rowan is based on timeless knitting fashion. It’s a design led, individual, innovative, premium brand featuring beautiful natural fiber blends. Its inspiration leads to artistic, contemporary and “of the moment fashion” interpreted in a lovely color palette.
Gedifra is a premium fashion handknitting yarn line. The yarns offer a European style “edge” in terms of yarn innovation and trend color range. Designs are aspirational, and reflect a cosmopolitan style gathered from European runways. These are some images from the current Fall/Winter line that I believe emulate the runway looks.
Two different thick and bulky trend looks – both in Gedifra Highland Alpaca from Moments 210 (photos right).
Regia is one of the original sock yarns – it is now celebrating its 60th year in operation – and continues to grow. This brand leads the commercially dyed sock yarn market in terms of color pattern innovation, like the new Hand Dyed Effects, use of designers like Kaffe Fassett, and other fabrications like silk and bamboo.
Nashua Handknits is built upon the belief in “natural fibers, creative designs." With Nashua, we feature North American designers in yarns and styles that North American knitters want to use. Focussed mainly for women, over the years our designs have also covered men, babies and children, with yarns that are long lasting, in natural fibers or blends.
Knitch: Gedifra is considered one of the most fashion forward knitting design houses in Europe. Is this why you chose to partner with them? Linda: As part of the Coats group of products, Gedifra was a natural fit to be distributed by Westminster, which was purchased by Coats in 2004, and now distributes all Coats brands for the independent market in North America.
Business aside, it was personally exciting to be working with such a fashion-driven brand. European style has long been an inspiration to knitters around the world, and since many of the European brands of the 1980 – 1990’s, that had inspired me creatively, had ceased production, Gedifra was one of a select group of what I thought were fashion-fabulous brands to inspire the knitter.
As I met their marketing and design teams in Germany and became more involved with seeing their direction in yarn innovation and design, I took it as a personal challenge to show how Gedifra could be fashionable to all regional segments of the North American market.
Here are a few that I think are really inspirational this year.
This is Gedifra’s new wool and bamboo viscose blend, Videra (photo left), in a long collared shawl. This wrap would knit up relatively quickly in this chunky gauge yarns and is featured in Moments 213.
Here’s another chunky cardigan, with easy texture and sharp details in Gedifra Riana Big (photo right). This pattern is found in Moments 211.
Worked in Samina, Gedifra’s new wool blend with a bit of shimmer, this textured cardigan from Highlights 92 (photo left), should work magic for seasons to come.
Knitch: To whom does the Gedifra line appeal? Linda: The target audience for Gedifra is women 30-49, but certainly can attract those younger and older. She may or may not be married and/or have children, but most likely she is fashion-aware, and wants to create something that is in style, has a bit of an edge, and may be done in a shade that is complementary to her, but different from what she sees in local ready to wear. Gedifra knitters want to make their own fashion trend statement and rely on fashion yarn companies to provide inspiration.
This is an updated look on a doubled breasted jacket – created in Videra, from Moments 213 (photo right). The textured ¾ sleeves and buttons made from yarn crocheted onto rings gives design lots of personality!
Knitch: Do you see any significant differences between the American markets vs. the European market in terms of yarns they choose? Linda: I think the European market is more willing to accept synthetic fibers as a trade off for style and fashion. There are certain yarn effects that are best done with a synthetic fiber because of its finished structure that cannot be done as effectively, or as economically with natural fibers. Synthetics also produce extra loft, which can give the yarn a little more yardage per ball as well as overall lightness.
A recent innovation in yarn involves the actual filling of a mesh tube with fiber. One of Gedifra’s new fall yarns – our best-seller, in fact – Samina, is actually made this way, with 100% wool “blown” into a nylon mesh tube. Instead of being around 125 yards, the average for a 20-21 sts = 4” yarn, there are 165 yards – which makes this a great value. However the nylon part of the yarn still turns some people off. This is actually a great innovation that is to the advantage for the consumer, so we have to be diligent to communicate the benefits
This is in Samina, from Moments 214 (photo left). Knitch: How do North American women compare to European knitters in terms of pattern selection? Linda: I believe that many knitters in North America like patterns either written out or written out with charts. They like clear instructions, perhaps analogous to reading a good road map. Many patterns from the European continent are much more terse, and presume knowledge and inner trust/belief that if you do as written, it will happen. That takes more self-confidence sometimes, and can turn knitters off if the instructions raise too many “what ifs?” The North American consumer doesn’t always have the time to explore the possibilities; they need to have confidence in the answers.
Knitch: Which yarns do you think will do well in the autumn/winter 2009/2010 fashion season? Linda: As I mentioned, Gedifra’s Samina has been a hit in North America this season. Not only does it have a dedicated pattern booklet (Gedifra Moments 214), there are featured editorials in the winter issues of both Vogue Knitting and Knitters Magazine!
Videra, which is a wool, acrylic and bamboo viscose yarn, is also very nice for a quick, fashionable winter knitting project. The bamboo viscose makes the colors light up and the chunky gauge makes this yarn say “knit me – now.” Since we are speaking of magazines, Videra will be featured in our winter ad in Verena.
Knitch: Tell us about your own design philosophy. What do you like? Linda: I learned to sew when I was nine years old. I made a lot of my clothes when I was a teenager, managed the costumes in school plays, made my prom dresses, etc. However, when I arrived in Boston for college, there was a bit of a veer in my learning curve and I somehow fell captive to, Yves Saint Laurent’s Russian Collection of the late 1970’s (photo below left).
Dressing like a member of the Ballet Russe corps did not really fit with college trends. Fortunately this was temporary. The part time job in the fabric store in Boston led to better choices in sewing fashion. Following this by a few years in ready to wear at Bloomingdales, and I had a much better sense of what was on trend.
Right now, for knitwear, I like rich colors and lovely merinos to wear indoors, often with jeans or black trousers. But, when I go outside, I often choose a more dramatic knitted jacket or coat to show off the personal art expression of knitting.
It’s hard to pick one garment from the whole collection – but this is my favorite Gedifra sweater from their fall collection.
Knitch: What is the most popular design in the history of Gedifra? Linda: I cannot say for certain that this has been the most popular design in the entire history of the brand, but since Westminster Fibers has been involved, there is only one answer – the Lordana Boucle jacket from Highlights 72 (photo below left).
Knitch: We see you at trade shows throughout the world. Which ones do you think really set the style for knitting fashions? Linda: This is not an easy question, so I have to list two.
Pitti Filati, in July, in Florence. So many reasons – first and foremost, you are seeing styles and trends that will carry you 1-2-3 years into the future. While not all the vendors show hand knitting yarns, most of them show some sort of color or silhouette story. Add to this the wide selection of international knitwear and fashion publications sold there and you start designing yarns and colors on your walk back to your hotel.
Later, when you have a chance, walking the streets of Florence, you can check out the wonderful boutiques like Luisa di Roma (photo right).
However – if your want to observe what other yarn companies are doing for trends and directions – the Handarbeit and Hobby trade show in Cologne Germany in late March is an important resource (see below photos). Every major European yarn company has their most fashionable styles featured in their booths and it’s very inspiring to walk around and catch the wave to interpret for the North American market a few months later!
Cologne is a fun place to visit, too!
Yarn industry divas Nancy Thomas and Amy Olson shopping on the day before the show starts (photo right).
Along the Rhine River, old row houses are brightly painted and offer drinking and dining below (photo left).
Knitch: What are Gedifra’s plans for the future? Linda: Gedifra’s key plan is to continue and grow as the leading fashion yarn company in Europe. With head designer, Karola Gottwald, leading a wonderful team in the design studio and strong brand management and yarn sourcing talent, Gedifra has all the right elements to grow.
Knitch: Any secrets you’d like to share? Linda: A girl has to keep some secrets…so I can enjoy the privilege of another interview someday, but what I would like to say to KnitchMagazine readers is to encourage them to take a new look at yarns and designs from Gedifra, with an eye to seeing how they would translate in their personal lifestyle. Not every design and every yarn will work with every knitter – but it is a lot of fun to think creatively and imagine yourself in some of these wonderful inspirations.
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One of the behind-the-scenes leaders of the knitting industry is Linda Pratt, National Marketing Manager for Westminster Fibers. From her office in Nashua, New Hampshire, Linda oversees marketing programs for Rowan, Gedifra, Regia, Nashua Hand Knits and Anchor needle crafts. We see Linda at all the major industry shows – from The National Needleworks Association event in Columbus, Ohio to Pitti Filati in Florence, Italy and Handerbeit + Hobby in Cologne, Germany. She literally travels the world seeking out new trends and inspiration for the various product lines she represents. We specifically wanted to learn more about Gedifra and its edgier approach to yarns and designs because we’ve been seeing a lot of excitement in the market over the new releases -- especially amongst our more fashion-forward readers. Catching up with Linda was a challenge – as you can imagine – and we feel fortunate that she took time out of her very busy schedule to tell us about herself, her career and the fantastic Gedifra yarns and patterns.
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