Hi, I’m Hope Macaulay – a fashion designer from the beautiful North Coast of Northern Ireland.
I launched my namesake contemporary luxury fashion brand in 2018, shortly after graduating with a degree in Fashion and Textile Design. Since then, I’ve been deeply involved in every part of the creative and business journey - from designing my knitwear collections and painting our prints to sharing behind-the-scenes moments on social media.

To learn more about the story behind the brand, visit our About the Brand page. You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok to see what we’re up to and meet the team!

We create our chunky knitwear pieces all over Northern Ireland, by our talented team of 20 local hand knitters! We strongly believe in high quality, made-to-order, handmade garments, shopping small and supporting local women in our community. To meet our wonderful knitters, check out our Responsibility page!

We use Hope’s Wool, available to order at hopeswool.com. Due to huge demand, we are so excited to bring you exclusive Hope Macaulay knitwear kits and premium soft yarns for your handmade projects. We have special limited edition drops of new bold colours and soft fibres, hand-picked by Hope with a focus on sustainable and ethically sourced materials, such as recycled yarns and 100% merino wool.

Most of our garments are handmade to order in small quantities and will take anywhere between 1-4 weeks to create especially for you. Please see product description for exact estimation. Made-to-order means we only create a garment when it has been ordered by one of our customers. This reduces waste and means that it is specially made for you!

Yes, We sell kits and patterns at Hope's Wool. Happy Creating!

Our biodegradable nylon collection has been designed to be kinder to the planet and vegan friendly. Using new and innovative technology (the first of it’s kind), this collection biodegrades in around 5 years when disposed of under landfill conditions, compared to more than 50 years for synthetics in general. This reduces the environmental impact and the amount of waste left to future generations. The yarn has also been manufactured by recycling processed water.

Our Merino and Corriedale wool is a natural, renewable, and biodegradable fibre known for its soft and smooth handle. Wool decomposes in less than 12 months under landfill conditions, substantially minimising environmental impact and reducing long-term waste accumulation for future generations.

The chemical structure of synthetic fibres, generally speaking, does not allow for bacterial penetration, which makes the degradation process more complex and slower. Our nylon collection on the other hand, is produced using enhanced polyamide, which – under landfill conditions – facilitates access and digestion of waste material by bacteria, thus accelerating the biodegradation process.

The biodegradation properties only become apparent under landfill conditions, where there is no oxygen and bacteria specifically in charge of anaerobic decomposition are found. Therefore it does not decompose after standard use and this product’s lifecycle is the same as that of traditional polyamide yarns.

Our merino wool is responsibly sourced and RWS certified. This means that it comes from farms which are inspected and meet not only the 5 freedoms criteria, but also further welfare standards for their animals such as no mulesing. They also are inspected with regards to their working environment as well as their land management and environmental impact to ensure that all they are doing is in keeping with the RWS requirements. The RWS is a voluntary standard, so farms apply to be part of it and are only accepted if they reach the correct standards.

Our corriedale wool is also responsibly and ethically sourced from non-mulesed flocks. The dye used in the wool also has a OEKO TEX 100 certification meaning it doesn’t contain any harmful chemicals.

Due to the handmade and made-to-order nature of the garments, each piece may vary ever so slightly – but don't worry, it may not even be noticeable! Any variations or unevenness in the design are characteristics of their handmade nature should be considered an asset. This is what we love about them!