TEXTILES manufacturer Lochcarron of Scotland has invested in new machinery to increase production and target new markets after securing a £300,000 funding package.
The Selkirk business, best known for its tartan items including the official design for the Ryder Cup in Scotland last year, has replaced items which were more than three decades old with a modern warp mill.
That is said to operate four times faster as well as being able to produce more complex patterns and be used with finer materials including types of cashmere.
Lochcarron, which employs more than 100 people and can trace its roots back to 1859, is said to supply a number of upmarket clothing designers with fabrics although confidentiality agreements mean it cannot name them.
Barrie Knitwear in Hawick is owned by Chanel while Dior is another famous fashion brand known to favour Scottish made cloth.
Cameron Barr, head of finance at Lochcarron, said: "Some of the machinery we were using was over 30 years old so investing in new technology is going to speed up production and help us develop our product range.
"Everybody knows us a tartan manufacturer but we also work with some very high end design houses.
"Our new equipment is able to work with a wider range of quality cashmeres meaning that we can now increase the work we do in the luxury market place."
The funding for the mill was provided by Clydesdale Bank.
Stuart Anderson from the bank said: "It's a privilege to work in partnership with such a well established and important Scottish brand. Lochcarron is one of the biggest producers of tartan in the world and it has strong plans to develop and grow its product range."
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.Â
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.Â
That is invaluable.Â
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 hereComments are closed on this article