Edinburgh Woolen Mills

Fennel I am going to have a look as my dh loves their check soft cotton shirts for winter, thanks gut the heads up. We have found quality to be good and are sorry they are closing,

I don't know for a fact that they're closing but it looks suspicious,

I love their clothes and think it will be sad when they go but I think the writing is on the cards. We have an outlet in our local Dobbies and the quality still seems good.

Yes, they are closed permanently, the administrators are in. They were part of the same group as Jaeger and Peacocks. Sad.

I worked for them for years and the quality was always good. They are selling their stock now as many stores are closing. Last I heard they may be saved but probably have surplus stock at the moment I’d go for it.

I've just visited their website. I think it lacks somewhat with it's filtering. No ability to filter by colour or fabric, an unclear way of sorting by price ascending or discending and when you do use their clunky tools, the number of garments decreases for some reason. I suspect that all companies wanting to stay viable will have to adjust to an online presence which is far easier to navigate.

I used to live in their lambswool crew neck sweaters, which washed and wore beautifully. Then they changed the brand, and although it was lambswool, the wool seemed coarser, the fit was poor and they washed badly and didn’t last, so I haven’t shopped there for some years. Didn’t know they were closing though. They’ll leave a hole in the high streets of many a country town.

I'd never been in an EWM shop until just before lockdown #1 but a friend and I were out in a nearby town and nipped in "just to have a look". I ended up buying: 2 pairs of denim jeggings, 2 cowl neck tunics, a dress and 2 tops in the sale. I've not had the opportunity to wear the dress yet but everything else has proven to be excellent quality and washes very well with no shrinkage or pilling.

The only jumper I really like of several I've bought over the last 2 or 3 years was from EWM. It's warm, long, has washed well and still retains its shape, it was a Country Rose sweater.

Two M&S ones from last year have completely lost shape and are in the rag bag.

This year I bought some from Woolovers - never again. Two went back because they felt like sandpaper, one which was washed according to the instructions would now fit a small DGD!! I thought I was buying British but all were made in China.

Oh, and a nice looking long wool sweater from Woolovers is pilling badly the first time of wear without even being washed. The bits are falling off it.

It's a pity EWM has gone into administration, some of the clothes were very 'old-ladyish' but there was some good stuff too.

Our Edinburgh mill closed last year
Last (and only thing) I bought from them had a big slit up one sleeve They changed it when I took it back but shouldn’t have got on the shelf I think their stuff is quite old fashioned personally or maybe it changes from store to store bu5 the one we had here was

I agree that quite a bit of their stuff us old ladyish but their sweaters and tops are pretty classic and, as Callistemon says, is infinitely better quality than M&S. The last jumper I bought from M&S was terrible quality and didn't make it past its first wash.

I bought a top from Bon Marche recently and it had a Country Rose label. EWM and Bon Marche are part of the same company now, I think, available on line.

I haven’t bought anything from M&S for about 2 years, awful styling and wrong sizing.

Edinburgh Woolen Mills has gone bankrupt, or to us the modern phrase 'in adminstration', but the name, stock and some shops (but not many) will remain. Read all about it! www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/12/edinburgh-woollen-mill-bonmarche-ponden-home-rescue-deal-saves-2500-jobs-300-stores

Yes I've noticed the deterioration in the quality of Woolovers jumpers too. and M&S.
Agree about some of EWM's things being 'nunty' but i'm going to try them.

MOnica you beat me to it.
I didn’t know they were “in administration” but I thought they probably were. I worked in an independent tourist shop in Glasgow. I was laid off at the start of the lockdown as the shop was struggling. We had two EWW shops in the same street. Both had been there since at least the eighties. We had terrible competition from cut-price knockoff merchants who bought up all the local empty units. They sold shoddy goods at high prices to tourists and had no comeback as people were home before they realise what they had bought.
We had endless people complaining to us about their stuff. I know they had the same problem. Unfair competition coupled with the death of tourism. It’s mo wonder they’re in trouble.

Our local EWM closed a couple weeks ago and the one in bigger town 5 miles away last Autumn, they have been in trouble for some time.
My OH liked their "work shirts" as he calls them, so he did manage to buy a couple extra before the shop went.
Everything we have bought from there over the years has been fine.