Knitwear companies in Shetland are failing to fulfil orders due to a shortage of knitters.

Reported by the Telegraph, the garments which are highly prized in Japan are under threat because skilled knitters are a ‘dying breed’.

Doreen Brown, of Shetland Collection, the largest hand knitting company in the islands, said: "We have two dozen knitters but they are a dying breed," she said. "Our oldest is 94 and the youngest is 60 and we can't get any more."

Turnover in the sector, which has 150 full-time staff and hundreds of knitters working from home, dropped from £4 million in 1996 to £2.5 million in 2003.

Higher wages offered by the oil industry are blamed, claims the report.