Behind the Scenes: How Our Ponchos Are Made in Himachal Pradesh
There is a moment, when you hold a Hawick of Scotland poncho for the first time, when you understand that something different has happened here. The weight of it in your hands, the way the fabric drapes, the softness against your palm — these are not accidents. They are the result of a process that begins months before the finished garment reaches you, in the workshops of Himachal Pradesh, where our artisans have been perfecting their craft for nearly four decades.
The Yarn: Where It All Begins
Every Hawick of Scotland poncho begins with the yarn, and the yarn begins with the fibre. Our lambswool comes from the first shearing of young sheep, when the fibres are at their finest and softest. Our cashmere is combed by hand from the undercoat of Changthangi goats in the high-altitude regions of Ladakh and Mongolia, where the extreme cold produces fibres of exceptional fineness.
The raw fibre is cleaned, sorted by hand to remove any coarser fibres, and then spun into yarn. The spinning process is critical — the twist of the yarn determines the character of the finished fabric, its softness, its drape, and its durability. Our yarn is spun to a specification that has been refined over nearly 40 years of making luxury knitwear.
The Knitting
Our ponchos are knitted on flat-bed knitting machines that allow our artisans to control every aspect of the fabric — the gauge of the knit, the tension of the yarn, the structure of the stitch. The machines are set up and monitored by experienced technicians who have spent years learning to read the fabric as it comes off the needles, adjusting the tension by fractions to ensure that every piece meets our exacting standards.
The knitting of a single poncho panel takes several hours. The fabric that comes off the machine is a flat piece — it is in the finishing stages that it becomes the garment you will wear.
The Finishing: Where the Magic Happens
Finishing is the stage of production that separates a good garment from a great one, and it is where the skill of our Himachal Pradesh artisans is most evident. The knitted panels are first washed in cool water with a gentle detergent to relax the fibres and allow the fabric to bloom — to open up and reach its full softness and drape.
The panels are then blocked — stretched and pinned to precise measurements on a flat surface and allowed to dry naturally. Blocking is the process that gives the finished garment its shape, its drape, and its dimensional stability. A properly blocked poncho will hold its shape through years of wear and washing.
Once dry, the panels are seamed by hand using a technique called mattress stitch, which creates an invisible join that is as strong as the fabric itself. The edges are finished, any decorative details are added, and the garment is given a final inspection by our quality control team.
The Final Inspection
Every Hawick of Scotland poncho passes through the hands of our quality control team before it is packed and dispatched. They check the dimensions against our specifications, examine the seams and edges, assess the evenness of the knit, and evaluate the hand — the feel of the fabric against the skin. Only pieces that meet our standards in every respect leave our workshop.
From Himachal Pradesh to Your Wardrobe
The journey from raw fibre to finished poncho takes weeks. It passes through many pairs of skilled hands, each contributing their expertise to the final result. When you wear a Hawick of Scotland poncho, you are wearing the accumulated skill of nearly four decades of craft, the traditions of Scottish knitwear, and the extraordinary talent of our Himachal Pradesh artisans.
We think that is worth knowing.
