- written by John Jameson, with a lot of help from Google.

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Top quality, premium wool yarn, as used in knitted sweaters and other wool garments, is much sought after today, the world over. Wool yarns from sheep raised in the Shetland Islands off the far north coast of Scotland, are often thought to be some of the best in the world and highly respected, especially those knit in the Fair Isle (between Orkney and the other Shetland Islands) style.

The Shetland Islands are a subarctic archipelago located 170 km (106 miles) northeast of mainland Scotland. They form the dividing line between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. Only 16 of the 100 islands of the archipelago are inhabited with people. On the Shetland Islands however, live far more sheep than people. Shetland not only offers breathtaking scenic beauty, but is also home to the famous Shetland ponies as well as the Shetland sheep. The unique terrain and the climate, ample vegetation and overall environment, create ideal conditions for rearing livestock such as these sheep that produce one of the finest wool varieties anywhere s in the world.

Similar to the ponies, Shetland sheep are small and grow slowly, but they live long, adapt, and are thrifty. The flocks roam free, and their wool is exceptionally soft and fine, especially on the neck and shoulders; it ranges from 10 to 20 microns in diameter, which corresponds to the fineness of cashmere.The wool has another unique feature: In the spring, Shetland sheep repel the wool themselves; you can then pick it off them and get fibers without gating, which is even more attractive for further processing.

Many Jam?sons of the Shetland Islands have been involved with raising sheep, as well as knitting and with the wool yarn business, some for as long as there has been humans and sheep on the islands.

There are two different Jamieson wool businesses in the Shetlands, together they produce the vast majority of yarn and knitted products in all of the Shetlands. So much so, that Shetland wool is often referred to as "Jamieson" wool, the world over.

The "Jamieson's of Shetland", is the older of the two companies. It is a family owned business, which has specialized in wool from the native Shetland sheep for five generations. The business was started in the early 1890’s, set up by Robert Jamieson in Sandness, on the far west coast of the Shetland Isles. From his shop, he bought or exchanged for goods, knitwear from the local crofters. The knitted goods were then sold on to meet the public demand for fashionable Shetland garments beyond the island’s shores.

Over the past century, each generation of Jamieson's brought their own skills and ideas to develop and progress the business. Andrew (Robert’s son) became one of the islands first wool brokers. Times were changing and Andrew had to start looking for yarn for his knitters, as hand-spinning steadily declined. This meant buying wool, and sending it to the mainland of Scotland to be spun. Frustratingly, when the Shetland wool reached the spinners, technology and experience was such that it was blended with coarser clips from bigger sheep, to make spinning easier. A pretty good yarn was the result, but one which was never quite good enough for him, as many of the unique qualities of pure Shetland wool were now missing.

The next generation, Bertie (Andrew’s son) expanded the business in 1952 by opening a retail outlet in Lerwick, Shetland’s capital town. That shop sold, and still sells gansies, happs, scarves, gloves and all the other garments which Shetland women have produced with their hands and on their machines over the years. This was the start of the Jamieson Knitwear brand. 

Since 1978 their efforts to produce a 100% pure Shetland yarn of their own, were successful and in 1981 they opened "Jamieson’s Spinning," Shetland’s only commercial woolen mill. This unique mill, completes all the stages of yarn production under one roof. This includes grading, scouring and dyeing fleece before color blending, carding, spinning, twisting and balling to produce their 100% pure Shetland yarns.

With the business now moving into its fifth generation, Peter, and his son Garry, continue to develop and promote their prized unique Shetland products all over the world.

"Jamieson & Smith" (Shetland Wool Brokers Ltd.), is the other and newer "Jamieson" wool business in Shetland. It began in the 1930's, when it was founded by the Smith family in Scalloway, on the east coast of Shetland. It has occupied its current premises overlooking Lerwick harbor since the 1960's. Their operation in Shetland is similar to that of "Jamieson's of Shetland" providing wool products  such as fleece and  knitting yarns, along with a small variety of blankets and rugs, to the world. Jamieson & Smith however, does not process any of the raw wool themselves on Shetland. Basically they operate in this regard as a wool broker. They purchase Shetland wool from over 600 of Shetland's crofters and farmers, claiming over 80% of all the wool produced in all of Shetlands. Unlike the Jamieson's of Shetland company of Sandness, Jamiesons & Smith does not spin the raw wool or process it further beyond sorting. Since  the Smith family retired in 2004, Jamieson & Smith joined with Curtis Wool Direct, in Yorkshire, England, who then process (spin the raw product into yarn) and return a finished product to Shetland. Jamieson & Smith continues to be staffed by Shetlanders and remains a stand alone company, in that the profits received from the sale of Real Shetland Wool and Real Shetland Wool products come back into the Shetland economy and are passed along to the wool producers. Jamieson & Smith's primary products are fleece, knitting yarns along with a small variety of blankets and rugs.

Both companies operate similar end product businesses and in competition with each other, as you would expect. Aside from any difficulty with any obvious name confusion issues, both seem to enjoy support and success from a hungry and appreciative world market. In addition, there is a huge world wide supportive cottage industry of serious amateur and commercial knitters, very devoted to Shetland wools and these two Jamieson Shetland wool yarn providers. It would be hard to overstate the dedicated and loyal (some might say 'fanatical') following. The Jam?son name is widely recognized and respected within the serious wool yarn world.