A NORTH-EAST family business renowned for making ropes and hand-sewn sails and high-spec kit bags for the fishing and offshore oil and gas sectors has diversified into a new area.
Montrose Rope & Sail, which has been in business for more than 200 years, has set up a new division manufacturing bags and luggage for consumers. It will sell the goods, which are hand-made at its workshop in the Angus town, under a separate trading entity, The Montrose Bag Company.
Rudi Wyper, general manager for Montrose Bag Company, explained the rationale behind the move: He said: “Over the last forty years countless offshore workers have come to depend on us for specialised kit bags and backpacks that are durable, versatile and reliable. However, time and time again we’ve been asked to make our unique range available to the wider public.
“This demand led us to invest in technology at the forefront of textile manufacturing allowing us to create a more consumer led range where the quality and durability we’re known for is matched by the slick design of our products, that can be used in everyday life.”
The range initially offered by the company to consumers includes backpacks, holdalls and messenger and shopping bags. A service allowing people to order tailor-made luggage is also available.
Montrose said the bags and luggage are made from 100 per cent waterproof PVC, noting that this taps into the trend for creasing fashion accessories from industrial materials.
Mr Wyper added: “The feedback we’ve received from customers is that our bags not only look impressive but that they are so adaptable for everyday life. “
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here