THE Scottish textiles industry has a great story to tell. In fact, it might even be described as a ripping yarn.
But until now too few people have read all about it, at least that’s according to John Glen, managing director of Rothesay-based Bute Fabrics. Despite its rich heritage, continuing importance as an employer and enduring influence on contemporary fashion and design, Mr Glen feels Scottish textiles could do with being a bit less shy on the publicity front.
“As Scottish exports go, we perceive ourselves as being up there alongside the food and drink industry,” he said. “Whisky would be the market sector of products we align ourselves with.
“But in the textile industry we have never been very good at selling ourselves. I don’t know if it’s a Scottish thing or a culture thing. We’ve got some amazing, fantastic products, but just we tend not to showcase them properly.”
The history of Bute Fabrics is arguably as romantic as anything you will find in the textile trade, or even the Scotch whisky market for that matter.
The company came into being two years after the end of the Second World War, set up by the 5th Marquess of Bute to provide work for service men and women returning from the front.
In the decades since it has evolved from being a high volume producer, making fabrics for men’s suits and jackets, to something altogether more specialised, providing luxury materials for hotel, theatre and office upholstery and furniture. It supplies the residential market with accessories such as curtains and throws. And it continues to be guided and nurtured by the owning Bute family, whose interests include the Mount Stuart visitor attraction in Rothesay.
Mr Glen said the fortunes of Bute Fabrics and its island home are inextricably linked, and said collaboration between businesses is commonplace.
“We as an island community look at Arran and the success they have had,” he noted. “They’ve got Arran Aromatics, Arran Cheese, they’ve got a lot of nicely profiled branded businesses. We don’t aspire to be an Arran, but there is no reason why Bute, which is far more accessible to Glasgow, shouldn’t have a similar offer.”
That link with Glasgow – Mr Bute notes it takes less than two hours to get from the city to Rothesay via Wemyss Bay – is a feature the company is keen to emphasise. “What we are trying to market is this combination of this idyllic island community with a very urban, Glasgow feel about it,” he said.
Mr Glen’s passion for textiles shines through during the conversation. Save for a spell running Scotia Double Glazing, a firm he acquired with some friends, he has spent more than two decades in the sector, starting off in sales roles before rising through the ranks, learning about markets and the production processes along the way. His CV includes a six-year spell at cashmere weaver Alex Begg and, before that, Morton Young & Borland.
Mr Glen, who joined Bute 16 months ago, admits his brief hiatus from the industry had been financially driven. But the temptation to the return to textiles was too strong to resist.
“Bute Fabrics is a phenomenal company to work for because there is so much opportunity,” he said. “Our owner, Johnny Bute, is hugely supportive of what we are doing and loves collaborating [and] loves creating opportunities with us.”
And he has big plans for Bute, whose core business lies in supplying fabrics for the hospitality industry, offices and theatre auditoria. The recent £100,000 investment sanctioned by the board to relaunch its website and branding has set it up for a new phase of growth.
Mr Glen envisages a marginal turnover lift to £2.95 million this year from £2.7m last time. But within five years he forecasts increasing revenue 100 per cent, noting that the company is increasingly global in its outlook. Exports account for 40 per cent of sales and Mr Glen sees that percentage rising.
Key to its growth strategy is building relationships with influential architects and designers in cities such as London and New York.
Making the Bute Fabrics brand visible at major events such as Clerkenwell Design Week and Proposte in Como, Italy, is a priority, alongside collaborations.Mr Glen highlighted a recent project with wallpaper designer Timorous Beasties. “It’s one of their typical designs where you look at the fabric and you see a blur of motifs and colour combinations, but when you look at it more closely you see rows of rams heads,” he said.
To help realise its growth ambitions, Mr Glen hopes to add a further six staff to its 44-strong headcount this year. Four of those will be production roles at the factory in Rothesay, where 40 staff are currently employed. The recruitment drive will also include one further sales person and an additional designer.
Mr Glen takes satisfaction from mentoring up-and-coming employees, and said the importance of the creative process cannot underestimated, revealing that staff are given “fresh air design time every week to be creative.”
Mr Glen said: “Ultimately, the objective of that is not to necessarily design for specific clients, but to do stuff they have fun with. The basis of future fabrics is going to be in that creativity.”
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