Yorkshire’s wool-recycling heritage drives new circular knitwear launch

Yorkshire has long been synonymous with wool, once home to England’s influential Heavy Woollen District and a bustling network of rag merchants who turned discarded fibres into new textiles. Now, British outdoor brand Finisterre is returning to the roots of that heritage with the launch of Revive, its first knitwear capsule made from old jumpers.

Arriving in Autumn 2025, Revive represents one of the brand’s most meaningful steps in circularity to date. The collection is produced in partnership with iinouiio, the recycling venture led by Dr John Parkinson, widely regarded as the last traditional wool recycler in the region. Parkinson—who grew up in the trade and inherited deep expertise from his family’s shoddy mill—has dedicated his career to proving that wool waste is a valuable raw material, not an endpoint.

Finisterre’s team recently visited iinouiio’s Yorkshire mill to see the process firsthand. Parkinson enthusiastically guided them through the machines that transform discarded knitwear into renewed fibre, explaining that the method mirrors traditional wool production. Instead of virgin fleece, old garments are mechanically broken down into a clumpy wool-like material, then carded, combed and spun into yarn.

For Revive, the resulting yarn blend includes 80 percent pre-consumer recycled wool, 20 percent post-consumer recycled wool and 5 percent Finisterre feedstock supplied through Reskinned.

Beyond the collection itself, the initiative signals broader industry momentum. Parkinson and iinouiio are now installing the first dedicated wool and luxury fibre recycling line in the UK in 25 years, located at Camira Yarns in Huddersfield. Once operational, it will enable larger-scale conversion of waste textiles into new yarns and fabrics, re-establishing a capability that vanished when the last Yorkshire wool-recycling mill closed in 2000.

For Finisterre, Revive is both a return to tradition and a step toward the future. For Parkinson, it is proof that the craft he has spent a lifetime preserving still has relevance, and enormous potential, in a more circular fashion system.

As he puts it, “It’s not over until it is over.”