KINLOCH Anderson, the Highland dress specialist, now has a presence in more than 20 stores in China as it maintains overseas growth.

John Kinloch Anderson, sixth generation director of the firm founded in 1860, said the business now had outposts in a "reasonable number of areas" across the vast country, after opening its first outlet in Guangzhou in 2012. Around 30 per cent of the Edinburgh-based firm's sales come from the US and the Far East, where it sells kilted skirts and other luxury clothing.

"What we are trying to do is sell Scotland and its lifestyle to these countries," Mr Kinloch Anderson said. "We are still at the development stage in China, it is a challenging market." In 2012, Kinloch launched an Edinburgh Zoo tartan to mark the arrival of the giant pandas in Scotland.

Commenting on abbreviated annual accounts showing the firm booked a £78,407 profit last year, just above the 2012 figure, Mr Kinloch Anderson said it had been a "pretty solid year".

The company has continued to consolidate its existing divisions which span Highland dress, employing 25 at Leith, a corporate arm which designs tartans for organisations, and the brand's business which ­partners with about 30 ­licensees in Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China and the US.

Mr Kinloch said the firm had "a couple of exciting new projects" in the pipeline, one of which might see Kinloch build on its presence in the flagship Brooks ­Brothers store in New York's Madison Avenue.