Dundee knitwear designer Jen McAlinden has big ambitions for her small independent design studio.
The 43-year-old would like to see Solasonach eventually become one of the top luxury Scottish knitwear names.
Jen founded the venture in 2017 – the year she graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.
The mum-of-three said: “I’ve always loved textiles.
“Even when I was small I used to love to play with scraps of fabric and my granny taught me to embroider very early on.
“I loved the colours in her box of embroidery threads and would spend hours playing with her box of buttons.
“It was like treasure to me.”
Parents wouldn’t allow art college
However, Jen’s initial career path was in science – a world away from knitwear design.
She explained: “I really wanted to go to art college, but my parents wouldn’t allow it.
“As the first person in my family to get the opportunity to go to university it was important that I did something sensible!
“So I left my home in Edinburgh in 1996 to go to Glasgow University to study medical biochemistry.”
After four years in Glasgow and a year-long placement at a pharmaceuticals company in Essex, she headed to Cardiff for a PhD in neuroscience and transgenics.
In her spare time she was sewing handbags and set up her first business Sac Majique.
Towards the end of her PhD, she unexpectedly fell pregnant. She did write her thesis, but all her enthusiasm was gone.
She said: “When my fiance at the time got a job in Dundee, we moved up here nearly 17 years ago – that was the final nail in the PhD coffin.
“I decided to try and make a go of the Sac Majique business, and also folded in doing house clearances for elderly ladies in Edinburgh.
“It was pretty good for a few years, but eventually the property crash caught up with my handbags clientele and it was time to move on to something else.”
‘It was time for a leap of faith’
After leaving her first husband and seeing her daughter Eve, now 14, go to secondary school, Jen was at a crossroads in life.
Feeling lost, she decided it was time for a leap of faith and returned to her original dream of going to art school.
In 2013, she started a textile design degree at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.
As regards the creation of Solasonach, Jen felt there was a gap in the market for women dressing up for an occasion.
She added: “Usually for a woman, this means either looking glamorous whilst being cold and uncomfortable or being under dressed but warm and comfortable.
“I wanted to create a line of knitwear that allowed women to combine warmth, comfort and glamour.
“I didn’t really see anything out there that accomplished this.”
Branching out a ‘logical step’
Jen said she wasn’t nervous about branching out on her own, as it seemed the logical thing to do.
“There aren’t many textiles jobs in Dundee, so working for someone else wasn’t much of an option.
“My parents helped me get started with the business and bought me a second-hand knitting machine when I was still at university.
“They’ve helped me a lot since then as well, with financial, moral and practical support.
Jen said Solasonach’s unique selling points are the designs, and quality of the products.
“The finished pieces aren’t like what anyone else is doing right now – they are luxurious, glamorous and practical all in one.
“Not high fashion, but statement designer pieces that they’ll wear year after year.”
Solasonach’s best sellers to date are the wraps, often with matching handwarmers.
The handwarmers retail at £30, while waterfall cardigans sell for £195.
Those are the largest and most time-consuming pieces Jen create.
Family support key at Solasonach
Jen said that, when Covid-19 hit, she was really worried about the business.
“The model for sales had been to take the business out to events like the Royal Highland Show, and arts and craft fairs.
“Obviously all that stopped with the pandemic. But actually it forced me to focus on online sales.”
While Jen is Solasonach’s only employee, her husband John helps with the IT and her eldest daughter Maisie designed the firm’s logo.
The 16-year-old also helps with sewing on sequins from time to time.
Jen has had a busy time of it in recent weeks as she had a baby, Arya, in the summer.
Asked about plans for the business, Jen said: “I’d really love to get Solasonach into some more retail spaces.
“Expanding the social media network and getting more traffic to the website is also high up on the to-do list.
“Generally raising the profile of the brand and developing a larger customer base is what it’s all about this year.”