WELCOME TO THE CROFT HOUSE!
Our Story
Hi. I'm Louise
I established The Croft House collection of high quality Scottish knitwear and accessories in the Autumn of 2012. At that time, it was a real “Kitchen Table” business. Stock was piled high in my dining room and I juggled picking and packing with caring for my newborn. I still sometimes work from the kitchen table, but things have moved on a bit since then. And my husband now works with me, so it’s become a family business too.
Designed and Made in Scotland
From a base in rural Aberdeenshire in the North East of Scotland, I design the range. My inspiration comes from the Scottish landscape and heritage patterns. I particularly enjoy using the fair isle technique in my contemporary knitwear designs. Look out for "designers notes" on the product pages to see what has inspired the pattern or colours of each piece.
Our knitwear is made in Scotland using luxurious, natural yarns which we source from British woollen mills. All our cashmere is milled in Scotland and our wool is spun in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK.
Find out more about natural yarns here > Natural Wool Yarns - What are they? - The Croft House
Sustainability is at our Core
This is slow fashion. A lot of love goes into every garment we produce. We aim to produce fantastic quality products with each piece able to be enjoyed season after season.
Local manufacturing reduces our carbon footprint and ensures high environmental and welfare standards are met. Many garments are made using a "zero waste" manufacturing technique. We minimise packaging and use only recycled, recyclable or biodegradable packaging to deliver your items. We also recycle all our plastic packaging when it can no longer be reused in our warehouse and any that is returned by customers with refunds and exchanges. We are constantly reviewing this area as new technologies develop to help us reduce waste.
Read our sustainability journey so far here > Sustainability
Direct to You
The collection is exclusively available to purchase directly through our website and occasional pop-up shops. We choose not to wholesale our designs meaning without any "middlemen" you, the customer get great quality at a great price!
Find out where we'll be popping up next here
The Croft House Community
Our customers may be scattered across the globe, but I talk with many by email or on the phone and am always keen to hear your views. Drop me a line via our contact page if you have any suggestions about our range and service, on how we can improve or even just to tell us that we are getting it right!
From our inception I was keen to give back through the business. Over the years we have contributed to various charities. For many years we had an annual "Gift and Give" event, a compassionate alternative to the traditional Black Friday. But for 2024 something big is in the planning....watch this space!!
The real boss!
This is Dougal, our Skye Terrier and the real boss of The Croft House! He likes to see what is going on and is mostly happy, especially if biscuits are involved!
The Skye is an ancient Scottish breed which is currently on the vulnerable native breeds list of the UK Kennel Club, with only 36 puppies born in 2023. The name comes from the Isle of Skye. Originally bred for "going to ground" after the likes of rabbits, they were made popular by Queen Victoria in the 19th C. when she kept both the drop and prick-ear varieties. It is said that no self-respecting Victorian lady would be seen without her Skye!
The famous Greyfriar's Bobby was most likely a Skye Terrier. Bobby belonged to John Gray, who worked for Edinburgh Police as a nightwatchman. When John Gray died he was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk (church) in the Old Town of Edinburgh. Bobby then became known locally, spending the rest of his life sitting on his master's grave. The story was turned into a film by Disney in 1961.