McIntosh is a London-based company offering hand-dyed wools and yarns available in a wide range of colours for knitting and crocheting. The company only uses premium natural fibres, including Bluefaced Leicester wool, cashmere and merino wool.

Founded in 2021 by James McIntosh, the company invites people to use knitting as a mindfulness tool. James said: “I call it ‘knititation®’ a mindful approach to hand knitting and quite frankly, it saved my life.” In May 2023 at King’s College London, James participated in a Tedx Talks, taking a deep-dive into ‘Is knitting a mindfulness based intervention for fidgeters?’.

Scroll down to read James’ feature with UKFT Rise.

James McIntosh in the process of hand-dyeing yarns.

Company launched in: The McIntosh brand of wool for knitting and crochet was launched in 2021.

Company based in: All the wool is hand-dyed in the kitchen in my flat in Peckham, South East London.

How many people are in your team? Just me – James McIntosh.

My background is in… I studied for a master’s in food and Welfare Studies at the University of Dundee graduating in 2000. After that I had a few jobs in industry, developing ready meals for ASDA followed by a few years in the world famous Le Cordon Bleu cookery schools, where I wrote their cookery books and student programs. I followed this by a spell in the Good House Keeping Institute testing and writing about domestic appliances and stain removal!  It was at this point I decided to go self-employed.  AGA, the world famous Great British Cooker was my first client and I spent 13 years with AGA demonstrating AGA, Rayburn, Rangemaster and their other brands in the UK and launched AGA across Europe, North America and China. As I was working freelance, I wrote a few cookery books that lead to opportunities and one of them, after winning the World Cookbook Awards, was to co-present a 20-part TV series travelling along the Silk Road in China. I became really famous in China, at one point having 100 million viewers watch my TV shows.

Growing up in Northern Ireland in the 1980’s I knew from my world of food travel that sharing food brings an understanding of cultures.  I put a lot of effort into Northern Ireland in my freelance career but the homophobic abuse was too much for me.

McIntosh’s hand-dyeing equipment.

I decided to start my business because… Due to the homophobic abuse in Northern Ireland that was both covert and in my face –  I collapsed.

Diagnosed with a ‘moderately severe depressive episode’ at the age of 35 I was extremely ill and spent a year in bed with panic attacks, depression and anxiety.  All I could do every day was watch Netflix, that is not a life! I wanted to get better, but I did not know what to do, and even if I did, I did not have the energy to do it. So, for some reason I found 2 chopsticks and a piece of string in my flat. Looked on YouTube and learn how to ‘cast-on’ – I stated to knit, stitch by stitch I started to get better and heal and I loved my knitting.

The mental pain, anger and anguish inside of me that Northern Ireland left me with I was able to put into my stitches – realising that as a stitch is tangible and critical to a knitted garment so too my thoughts and feelings are worth something and integral to me.  That is, if those stitches were not present then the the whole garment would unravel. So too, my thoughts and feelings were worth something, that I was worth something and all of the homophobia and, dare I say it, narcissistic abuse, I had suffered was not about me, that I, unlike what I was being told, I was actually worth something.  I call it ‘knititation®’ a mindful approach to hand knitting and quite frankly it saved my life.

I wrote the book, crowdfunded to publish it and was able to start again in life.  But I realised that most of the yarns out there were synthetic, plastic and other things and not of British Origin.  As a farmer’s son, I know all too well just how important it is to have British product used, praised and championed.

McIntosh was born. All the wools are hand-dyed by me. All natural wools, in an array of stunning colours.  2 of my ranges carry the British Wool accreditation of being British Wool. I love the hand-dyeing of the wool to the marketing, to having a wonderful brand that I created from a dark place that puts colour and joy into my life and that of other knitters too.

McIntosh yarns.

Something that really helped in getting my business off the ground is… Mentorship and community. Asking others in the industry for advice and listening to them. Also having the UKFT Rise What’sApp group has given me some great contacts.

One thing that’s going really well is… Distribution. My wools are available globally through a third-party retailer. I put great effort into this as distribution is everything in a business.

An area of business I’d like to gain more knowledge of is… Email marketing automations and flows for my own e-commerce.

A brand I find inspiring is… Harris Tweed. The heritage story, the colours, the crofters and home workers and the dedication to keeping the brand pure yet stylish.

Something happening in the industry that’s inspiring me right now is… The understanding by the industry of the need to invest into and support new mediums like TikTok.

One thing I wish I’d known before launching is… Just how hard having your own e-commerce actually is!

Success for me looks like… Contentment in my life outside of work with the funds that I have learnt myself to enjoy my life.

McIntosh yarns.

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