Founded in 1797 by Alexander Johnston, Johnstons of Elgin (JoE) is the leading name in the Scottish cashmere industry. Although Italy and Scotland do not produce cashmere, the world's top cashmere brands are basically from here, in addition to the brand's exquisite production technology and technology, it is also related to its natural environment. Scotland's perennially cold climate has led to a strong focus on the cashmere/wool industry, which is why cashmere products made in Scotland are often crowned with top titles in the industry.
 
Although JoE set up its own factory as early as 1797, it was not until 1981 that it opened its first retail store to sell its own brand. Today, JoE has a comprehensive product line of clothing, accessories and homewares, and is a long-standing supplier of fabrics to London's Savile Row, with products all over the UK. JoE currently provides more than 70% of the raw materials and textiles for the world's first-line luxury brands, and is best known for providing Burberry with nearly 100 years of scarf processing, in addition to Hermes, LV, Chanel, Drake's, Brora, Mulberry, Hugo Boss, etc., only about 25% of the raw materials are used to make their own brands.
 
As a brand from a professional foundry, JoE's scarf products are completed by its own factory from the original raw material dyeing, spinning, weaving to finishing, and controlling the production process and quality from the root, and it is definitely a big brand in terms of quality, although it is not as famous as Burberry. JoE's accolades are a testament to its status in the industry, from the Gold Medal at the 1851 London World's Fair, to the Queen's Export Award in 1978 and 1994, to the Scottish Fashion Awards in 2008 as the Scottish Textile Brand of the Year. In 2013, he also received a British Royal Warrant to customize clothing for the Prince of Wales.
 
Similar to Loro Piana, JoE scarves are mainly made from cashmere, merino wool and vicuña, and are made from roughly the same source. However, JoE's division of cashmere and the pursuit of fineness of merino wool are not as extreme as Loro Piana's, for example, JoE generally uses adult cashmere with a fineness of about 15 microns, and does not use finer small cashmere. So JoE's cashmere/wool scarves are the same as Loro Piana in terms of warmth, but not as soft and light as Loro Piana in terms of feel.
 
JoE began to introduce vicuña hair in 1847 and was the first brand to introduce vicuña in Europe, even earlier than Loro Piana, but JoE's share of vicuña hair resources is far less than that of Loro Piana, so there are fewer types of vicuña hair blended products. In addition to the pure vicuña hair scarf, it was not until the autumn and winter of 2017 that the cashmere and vicuña hair blended scarves and shawl products were launched, and the price was more affordable than the pure vicuña hair, for example, the price of the pure vicuña hair scarf was about 20,000 yuan, and the blended vicuña hair scarf was about 5,000 yuan, which was extremely cost-effective.
 
In terms of style design, JoE is dominated by checks that show the British style, and there are many varieties of colors, which are more colorful than Loro Piana, which is mainly based on plain primary colors. JoE is a highlight in the dyeing process, not only has more than 6,500 subdivided dye colors, but also after the dyed fiber is spun into yarn, in order to prevent the yarn from breaking, and enhance the weaving strength, a layer of protective oil will be applied to the yarn, and then washed and removed after spinning into the fabric, so that the fabric is not only bright in color, high in color fastness, but also stronger and more resistant to washing.
 
Another feature of JoE is the fleece process, the use of natural plant fleece instead of the machine, this kind of thorny plant produced in Europe can not be achieved by the machine so far, it rubs the fabric to produce soft fluff to enhance the warmth of the performance, and enhance the surface gloss, is still some of the old textile factories in Scotland will be the common use of the fleece process.
 
JoE has a complete production line from raw materials to finished products, which can effectively reduce costs, and there is no high brand premium like other luxury brands, so the price is much more reasonable than the first-line brands of the same quality, and pure cashmere scarves are mostly concentrated in 1000-2000 yuan. JoE currently has a number of physical stores in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, which can be purchased online in the official WeChat official account, but there are fewer styles. If you want more styles, you can go to the official website, which supports domestic mainstream payment channels and Chinese direct mail, which is very convenient. Since the vicuña was included in the list of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Animals and Plants (CITES, also known as the "Washington Convention") as early as 1976, the exporter needs to apply for a CITES certificate when the products containing vicuña hair fiber are circulated, and the process takes about a month.