Naturally Yarns

Back in the 1980s Went Ferdinands ran a yarn business in Auckland, and he had one dream – to get a ball of yarn into every retailer in New Zealand, under a label of his own. He sat down to work out how, scribbled the word 'Naturally' on a scrap of paper, and there it was.

The first yarn was exactly as plain as it sounds: un-dyed New Zealand spun wool, sold in hanks. It stayed that way for a good long while. The label crossed to Australia in 2001, and that's when the fashion yarns started turning up alongside the plain wool.

Since 2007 the business has belonged to Vimar 1991, an Italian yarn producer – and it still keeps the 'Made in New Zealand' at the heart of the Naturally range, made from local wool and backing New Zealand wool growers wherever it can.