Bendigo Woollen Mills turns 40

This weekend the Bendigo Woolen Mills are celebrating their 40th year spinning their way into homes across Victoria.

General manager Kai Crosson at the Bendigo Woollen Mills. Picture: Zoe Phillips

For 40 years, Bendigo Woollen Mills has spun its way into Victorian homes, and a recent resurgence of the art of knitting and crocheting means the business keeps growing.

“During Covid, people were at home and had time to sit and watch YouTube videos and teach themselves to knit and crochet, and I think that has stayed with a lot of people even when returning back to normality,” Kai Crosson, general manager of the Mills, said.

After selling 13,780kg of wool between 1984 and 1985, the Mills has gone on to become Australia’s largest hand knitting and crafting yarn manufacturer, selling 306,188kg of wool last year.

Ahead of its 40th birthday celebrations this weekend, Kai said though some things have changed over its history, others have remained the same.

“In some ways not a lot has changed, we still make yarn for hand knitters and the machines that we have are second-hand, older machines, and they’re still doing the same processes now as they were back in the day,” Kai said.

“In 1984 it was all mail order, and it transitioned from mail order to taking orders over the phone, and now to being more website-based … we’re still doing the same thing, just accessing our customers in a different way.”

Using Australian-grown wool from the NSW Highlands region, Kai said the hank dyeing method used by the Mills maintained the softness of the product – and that consistency in quality mixed with a view to new products would bode well for the Mills in coming years.

“I think there’s a little bit of ‘keep on keeping on’, but we’re always looking for ways to do things a little bit differently because you need to keep the customers excited,” Kai said.

To celebrate the 40th birthday, Bendigo Woollen Mills will be offering some giveaways in store and through online orders, while a new mural commissioned by Melbourne artist Juzpop will be on display at the factory.