Johnstons of Elgin: Cashmere on the Course

Brand guide to Johnstons of Elgin. Spinning cashmere on the same River Lossie site since 1797. The cashmere house that supplies many of the world's luxury labels — and sells direct, at the mill shop and online, for less than the equivalent department-store price. The 230-year version of getting it right; the practical version of which pieces to actually buy for a Scottish golf trip.

The 1797 site

Johnstons of Elgin began in 1797 when Alexander Johnston bought a wool mill on the River Lossie in Elgin, Moray. The business has been continuously operated on the same site for 230 years — through five generations of the Johnston family until 1920, then under the Harrison family ownership since 1930.

The Elgin mill spins, dyes, weaves, and finishes cashmere and fine wool from raw fibre to finished cloth. A second site at Hawick (acquired 1980) handles the knitwear-finishing operations — the Elgin mill produces the cashmere yarn and woven cloth; the Hawick site turns it into the V-necks, crews, scarves and accessories that wear the Johnstons label.

This vertical integration is rare in 2026. Most cashmere brands buy yarn from external spinners (often the Mongolian or Italian houses) and have garments knitted in third-party factories in Asia. Johnstons of Elgin controls the supply chain from raw fibre to finished garment, on Scottish soil. The genuinely-Scottish-made claim is structural rather than marketing.

Why this matters in cashmere

Cashmere quality is determined primarily by fibre length and fibre fineness. Longer fibres produce stronger yarn; finer fibres produce softer yarn. The best cashmere comes from goats farmed in cold-climate regions (Mongolia, parts of China, Iran) and is graded by the producer; the highest grades sell for materially more than the standard.

Johnstons buys high-grade Mongolian cashmere as raw fibre and processes it on-site — the spinning, dyeing, and finishing all done at the Elgin mill. The end product is denser, more uniform, and longer-wearing than the equivalent garment knitted in Asia from medium-grade fibre.

A Johnstons cashmere V-neck at £350 in 2026 is genuinely a different garment from a £150 cashmere V-neck from a high-street brand. The price differential reflects:

• Higher-grade raw fibre
• Vertical UK manufacturing (genuine UK manufacturing labour costs)
• Hand-finishing on the Hawick line
• Lifetime durability — Johnstons cashmere bought today will outlast the equivalent Asian-manufactured garment by perhaps 5-10x in actual wear

Whether that price differential is worth it for a given buyer depends on the buyer. For visitors who are buying one heritage Scottish garment, Johnstons is the answer that delivers the most quality per pound spent.

The product range

Three product lines worth knowing for a golf trip:

Cashmere knitwear

The flagship. V-necks, crews, half-zips, polos, cardigans, sleeveless slipovers. Available in over 100 colour options across the range. The standard V-neck weight (gauge 12, 2-ply) is right for spring and autumn Scottish golf; the heavier weight (gauge 7, 4-ply) is for winter.

Price tiers:

• Lambswool V-neck (the entry, £150) — wool not cashmere; same Hawick manufacturing; the value pick for visitors testing the brand
• Cashmere V-neck (£350) — the heritage piece; the right buy for the visitor making one Scottish-luxury garment purchase
• Heavy-gauge cashmere (£420) — the autumn-and-winter version
• Cashmere-and-silk (£450) — slightly lighter; for the tailored business / city trip rather than the round
• Cashmere half-zip (£395) — the in-between layer for shoulder-season

Scarves and accessories

The cashmere scarf is the small-ticket Johnstons piece. £160-£260 for a standard cashmere scarf; £350-£500 for the limited-edition tartan or check patterns. Pairs naturally with a wool sweater for the autumn round; works equally as a city-trip piece for visitors who want one Johnstons memory without the full V-neck spend.

Fine wool / cashmere-blend

For visitors who want the Johnstons quality at a lower price point, the lambswool range and the cashmere-wool blends at £180-£250 deliver most of the durability and most of the heritage cachet at half the cashmere price. The honest answer for many first-time buyers: start at lambswool, upgrade to cashmere on a subsequent trip if you've been pleased.

Where to buy

Three primary routes:

The mill shop at Elgin

The flagship retail experience. Open seven days; located at the working Elgin mill (free guided mill tour at 11am and 2pm, weekdays). Stocks the full range plus mill-shop-exclusive seconds and end-of-line pieces at meaningful discount (typically 30-50% off retail).

For visitors driving the Speyside whisky trail, the Elgin mill is a worthwhile stop on the route between distilleries. The mill tour itself is a 45-minute proper industrial-heritage experience — visitors see the spinning machines, the dyeing vats, the finishing operations.

The genuine bargains at the mill shop are the seconds and end-of-line cashmere — items that didn't pass the final QC for cosmetic reasons (colour variation in the dye, a small loose stitch) but are functionally identical to the full-retail equivalents. A £350 V-neck in seconds at £180 is the same garment.

Direct from johnstonsofelgin.com

The full range plus the seasonal capsules. Free UK delivery; international shipping at standard rates. Twice-yearly sales (January and July) offer 20-30% off selected lines but not the heritage cashmere. The website carries roughly 80% of the mill shop's inventory; the seconds and end-of-line don't appear online.

Department stores and resellers

Johnstons knitwear is stocked by Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, House of Bruar, Begg & Co (the related brand), and select premium UK department stores. Pricing matches direct retail; selection is narrower than direct or mill-shop. The right route for visitors who want the Johnstons piece without making the dedicated trip to Elgin.

What to actually buy

For visiting golfers, working priorities:

First Johnstons buy

A lambswool V-neck at £150 in a colour that suits your wardrobe. Test the Johnstons quality at the Tier 1 entry price; see whether the durability and the heritage feel justify a future cashmere upgrade.

Suggested colours for Scottish golf use: navy, oatmeal, moss green, rust, dove grey. All read appropriately at any Scottish clubhouse; all pair with the standard mid-tier golf trousers.

Second Johnstons buy

A cashmere V-neck at £350 in a complementary colour. The genuine heritage piece. Paired with a Lyle & Scott Eagle V-neck (£75) for casual use and a heavier-gauge cashmere half-zip (£395) for shoulder-season, the full Johnstons commitment is around £900 across three garments and covers most Scottish links wardrobing for years.

Long-term Johnstons buy

A cashmere scarf at £160-£260. Small-ticket; high-impact; the right gift for the next time you're stuck for a present for a serious golfer.

Sizing and care

Sizing: Johnstons cuts run conservative — properly tailored rather than oversized. UK sizing is true; American visitors should size up by one (a US "L" is closer to a UK "XL"). The fit is meant to be slim through the body and allow proper layering underneath; oversized fits aren't part of the Johnstons aesthetic.

Care: hand wash in cool water with a wool detergent (Persil Silk & Wool or similar). Reshape on a flat towel to dry; do not hang. Steam (not iron) to remove any wrinkles. Properly cared for, a Johnstons cashmere V-neck genuinely lasts 15-20 years of regular wear; that's the per-wear cost calculation that justifies the upfront spend.

A short note on Made-in-Scotland

The "Made in Scotland" label on Johnstons knitwear is verifiable rather than marketing. The Elgin mill produces the yarn; the Hawick factory produces the garment; both are operating Scottish industrial sites with documented continuous production. The label is one of a small number in the British apparel industry that means exactly what it says.

For visitors who care about Scottish manufacturing — for the heritage-supports-jobs reasons, the supply-chain-transparency reasons, the cultural-continuity reasons — Johnstons is the brand that most clearly delivers on the claim. For visitors who don't care about the manufacturing origin but want quality cashmere at the best per-wear cost, Johnstons is also the answer.

The 230-year history is real. The current product still earns it. For visiting golfers making one heritage-apparel purchase, the Johnstons cashmere V-neck is the answer that holds up across decades of subsequent rounds.