Collection: BAKKA

Mary Macgregor moved to Shetland in 2010 to start a small business in textiles. She creates sustainable contemporary heritage Fair Isle textiles under the name BAKKA.

Mary’s aim is to promote and help preserve Shetland's famous Fair Isle textile heritage by bringing it firmly into the 21st Century. All her designs are inspired from old garments in the collections of the Museums of Shetland and Edinburgh, and she has replicated the natural colours of the past. But she does not use the traditional Shetland wool, opting instead for the world leader in 100% superfine merino, a luxurious silky soft, warm and affordable yarn which is both sustainable and traceable.

One of the most important properties of merino wool is its strength or durability. Because of its high crimp count, it is also excellent at regulating body temperature, especially when worn against the skin. Moisture is wicked away from the body; the wearer is warm without being too hot. Merino wool has an excellent warmth-to-weight ratio. Additionally, merino contains lanolin with its useful antibacterial properties. For all these reasons, merino wool is often used for top quality outdoor clothing.

Merino wool comes solely from a strain of Merino sheep bred for its wool. Average merino wool is about 21.5 microns, fine merino is 18.6-19.5 microns, superfine is 15-18.5 microns, and ultrafine anything less than 15 microns.

BAKKA uses the 100% superfine merino produced by world renowned Italian firm Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgesesia SpA. Their 100% superfine merino has a registered trade name, it is recognised to be the first and unmatched superfine merino, and has been used by top knitwear producers around the world for over 30 years. This reputation is well-deserved. Their 100% superfine merino is synonymous with quality and innovation. Each year the purchasing office at Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgesesia SpA purchases the best merino possible from the top producers. Quality tests are done on the fibre to make sure that its quality meets the high standards required by Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgesesia SpA. Then the fibre is sent to the factory in Italy to be turned into yarn. Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgesesia SpA is the only Italian company which undertakes the whole process from raw fibre to finished yarn in Italy. The teasing, carding and spinning processes use innovative, exclusive, patented technology developed by expert engineers. It is this combination of the very best raw material and the specialist know-how in the preparation and treatment processes which ensures that the resulting 100% superfine merino wool is an unmatched market leader.

The factory process from raw fibre to finished yarn is as sustainable as possible.

BAKKA only uses five colours in their work, two of which have been specially dyed for them by Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgesesia SpA to replicate the natural colours so familiar in Shetland's textile heritage.

Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia is sufficiently confident about the quality of the entire processing of their yarn that they provide unique garment labels to be used by their customers on their products. These labels have a unique number which, should the quality of the yarn be questioned by a customer, would enable Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia to trace the lot of yarn in question right back through all stages of processing to try ascertain where and how a problem occurred.