In Elgin, Scotland, Tracing Fashion History Through Cashmere

This rich heritage is why Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri chose Johnstons to make five key pieces for her cruise spring-summer 2025 collection. Unveiled at Drummond Castle, in the central Scottish county of Perthshire, last June, it renewed the fashion house’s ties with Scotland after nearly seven decades: Christian Dior showed his 1951 and 1955 spring-summer collections in Perthshire and at the Gleneagles hotel. Scotland’s textile tradition runs through Chiuri’s collection. She commissioned Harris Tweed to create cloths reflecting the hues of Caledonian landscapes; knitwear designer Robert Mackie for accessories; and contemporary kilt specialist Samantha McCoach for a fresh take on the traditional Scottish belted plaid. Johnstons, meanwhile, was responsible for two crewneck argyle sweaters woven on Japanese Shima machines and a hand-embroidered boatneck sweater inspired by a 1930s map of Scotland’s woolen mills, unearthed from the Johnstons’ archives.

Chiuri’s curiosity is shared by the many travelers who visit the mill each year. I’m greeted at its monogrammed gates by CEO Chris Gaffney, who accompanies me to the top of the mill for a view of the Cairngorms mountains. Clouds of steam puff from the chimneys of the dyers and washhouses below, and a hum of activity rises in the air. Down in the raw-goods warehouse, he shows me giant sacks stuffed with unprocessed Chinese and Mongolian cashmere. I dip my hand into one and find the cotton-candy-like fiber seductively soft. Even in its raw form, the allure of cashmere is easy to grasp.

But it’s in the carding rooms that the metallic clamor of industry really rings out. The pistons, belts, and pulleys create the ambience of an engine room on a steamship, as clumps of fiber are separated and realigned into uniform fabric. Gaffney leads me to the spinning room to witness a blur of threads rapidly twining around spinning cones. Complex formulas are marked on a whiteboard by technicians near the machinery. The process feels not dissimilar to the making of a complex dish in a Michelin-starred kitchen. “The funny thing about textiles is it’s very old-fashioned but highly technical,” says Gaffney, who has spent almost 15 years at the business. “You’re always doing research and calculations.”