Woolbrokers’ hip-hop surprise

LOCAL woolbrokers Jamieson & Smith enjoyed a surprise piece of exposure in America this week when a chart-topping hip-hop star wore a jumper featuring the company’s old logo on stage.

Lil Uzi Vert, who has 4.2 million followers on photo sharing platform Instagram, wore the top – which centres around the word ‘Shetland’ – at a gig in Atlanta, Georgia at the weekend.

Images of the jumper spread around social media and left many confused as to how he came to be wearing a top with a Jamieson & Smith logo.

The woolbrokers’ Ella Gordon told Shetland News that Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten asked to use the logo after they bought wool from the Lerwick company.

It was then used on a sweater, which can be found online for the pricely sum of $750.

“Dries Van Noten purchased wool from us for their Autumn Winter 2017/18 collection and they asked if they could use the cover of an old shade card as a print,” Ella said.

“They were using a lot of heritage companies in the collection for wool, woven fabric, material etc and they wanted to have examples of the companies used as prints.

“We saw the jumpers on the runway in January but we were alerted to the rapper Lil Uzi Vert wearing the jumper on stage in Atlanta, Georgia at the weekend when someone tagged us in a photo on Instagram.

“Since then we have had a lot of people wondering how our name came to be on a jumper worn by a rapper in the USA. We think it’s great! I can’t say I know who he is but I might try and get into his music now if he’s a fan of ours…although he’s maybe too busy to be knitting.”