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Posted By Laura on July 16, 2010

I have just come off Ravelry and I now have a rather sour taste left in my mouth.

Cascade Yarns have brought a lawsuit against Knitting Fever Inc (AKA KFI). Apparently, various yarn companies have been, allegedly, selling yarn that does not have the fiber content stated on the label. Cascade believe that various yarn companies have been putting on their labels that there is, for example, cashmere in their product when, in actual fact, there is no cashmere content at all.

Basically, various companies are selling, alledgedly, yarn that is wrongly labelled so that the companies can gain an extra few pence for the more luxurious ‘content’. The companies involved are Debbie Bliss, Elsbeth Lavoy, Louisa Harding and Noro.

Now, I know that this is all just allegations and may not be supported in a legal capacity, but the fact that these allegations are out there leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth that puts me off purchasing these yarns again. I have to admit that leaving these out of my shopping basket is not something that would affect me greatly (I’ve never purchased Louisa Harding or Elsbeth Lavoy and I am not a big fan of the scratchiness of Noro or the price of Debbie Bliss!).

But it does make you think. How do I know whether the yarn I purchase is exactly what is written on the tin? I don’t have the capabilities to check these things. Now, I don’t normally worry about what is in the yarn as my main criteria is the squishy squeezy test, but if I am purchasing for something specific, particularly if allergies are concerned, then I want to and need to know the exact content of the yarn that I am purchasing.

Now, I know that there is a possibility that Cascade is scaremongering so that any lost business from any of these companies may result in higher sales for them. But looking at Ravelry again (my source of all knitting information!) Cascade 220 is the most popular yarn with over 52,000 projects being knit/crocheted using it. So one cannot blame profiteering completely. Which makes me think that there is some sort of substantial evidence to bring a rather costly claim against one of the largest yarn distributers out there.

My biggest concern is your average Joe Bloggs, though. Have people been fleeced? How many? How will this affect us in the future? I think that I shall take this as a positive, mind. I think this will encourage me to support more local yarn companies and independent yarnies as they are less likely to fleece me as they are just trying to make a living instead of all the larger, more convenient yarn companies.

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