Billie Eilish’s Grammys Shetland hat is a copycat
Daniel Shailer
A Shetland hat worn by Billie Eilish at the Grammy awards on Sunday was, in fact, a copycat made from imitation wool.
Yorkshire-based manufacturers Abraham Moon confirmed that its “Shetland-type wool” used in the baseball cap was shorn entirely from sheep in New Zealand, then milled in England.
The singer-songwriter was photographed wearing the “Shetland-quality” LA Dodgers hat and looking happier than ever, despite leaving the Los Angeles ceremony without any gongs this year.
Abraham Moon, which make luxury clothing and upholstery mostly to order, said the “Shetland” label was used as industry standard for products not made on the islands but which are “reminiscent” of “true Shetland” products.
“It’s become used as descriptor for a character of a cloth yarn type, rather than denoting a specific breed or origin,” Moon’s brand and product director, Joe McCann, told The Shetland Times.
“In Italy you can also find products being marketed as Shetland which probably have less to do with the UK than ours.”
Shetland’s wool-mongers were not convinced.
“Shetland wool has been hijacked,” said Oliver Henry, the director of Jamieson and Smith Shetland Wool Brokers.
“It’s like Cheddar cheese: producers in the Cheddar Gorge were imitated and now we’re imitated,” he said. “It’s very frustrating.”
With the help of local crofting unions Mr Henry, 76, has been attempting to strengthen a designation of origin protection for the islands’ knitwear since imitation Shetland wool first appeared in the 1970s.
“Shetland has the finest wool in the world,” said Mr Henry, running his hand through a matte of raw wool on Thursday morning.
“Feel this softness – you can see the peat and the heather. This was shorn last year and it’s still alive,” he added.
“Imitations from Australasia aren’t so good, but they are cashing in on our name: Shetland.”
Moon were celebrated in a Guardian article after the photo of Ms Eilish was published as a “thriving” success story and one of last surviving wool mills in the UK.
“Shetland wool is a lovely product,” said Mr McCann. “There isn’t much of it available, certainly in the kind of consistency and quality that a larger scale mill would require.”
“We’d love to do more with British wool, and we are working with the British Wool Marketing Board to bring back more onshore,” he added.
What was the hat made for? £130. Ms Eilish’s agents were also approached for comment.
• Read the full story in this week’s edition of The Shetland Times, out Friday, 7th February.
