Knitting Italian style with Scots tradition

his considerable expertise on the subject, despite his youthful looks.

At 35, the third generation of a family firm of yarn-spinners based in

the north Italian town of Biella (the equivalent of Huddersfield or

Rochdale), Stefano Angelino is a dyed-in-the-wool fanatic about one of

our most overlooked exports.

He began his career nearly 18 years ago with a one-year spell at

Pringle's mill in Hawick, and his commitment to our knitwear industry

remains strong. Last January he acquired from the Austin Reed Group half

the shares in Robertson's of Dumfries, a woollen mill whose roots go

back to 1770.

Its products became the epitome of male fashion in the twenties, with

those jacquard-pattern slipovers and golfing pullovers worn by the

Prince of Wales. The firm exploited its prestige associations by

exporting to Europe and America; now more than 90% of its output ends up

overseas.

It employs around 175 and has a turnover of around #6m. Although not

as large as some other firms, its Drumohr trademark probably has

considerable cachet in Europe.

With garments selling for between #100 and #300 each, its UK market is

small. Maybe the man from Biella will change this -- he is certainly

looking for ways of adding Italian flair to a product which has sold for

generations on its safe, traditional look.

The battered Scottish knitwear industry is curious to discover what

changes the new owners will introduce. (The equity is divided almost

equally between Angelino and venture capitalists Baronsmead, with

Rothschild Fund Managers taking a minority holding.)

Angelino, casually dressed in des

igner jeans, is at pains to emphasise that Robertson's reputation for

quality must be maintained. On the surface little has changed. The

management team, the workforce and the plant are all basically the same

as before.

''We will take our time,'' he insists quietly. ''My philosophy with

Roberson's is to ask who am I, coming from Italy, to change things in a

business which has existed for more than 200 years, and has been largely

successful during the whole of its existence? I have to carefully mix

Scottish tradition, and the heritage that we all have here, with a sort

of Italian flair and attitude towards design. Our products will change

and show the new influence, but we're not here to make Italian knitwear

in Scotland.''

Paradoxically, Robertson's recently-launched winter collection harks

back to some of the best-selling lines of its inter-war heyday.

Angelino calls them his ''revamped classics''. He has added more

daring colour combinations to traditional garments such as crew-neck

cable-knit pullovers and ''sloppy joes''. Lambswool, Shetland and

cashmere -- accounting for nearly 60% of output -- are still the only

yarns used.

Cashmere, in particular cashmere silk, will be the chief route by

which he hopes to increase the appeal of Robertson's womenswear, using

its combined lightness and warmth to launch a new range of more

fashionable knitwear.

For years, Robertson's has been famous for its seam-free Shetland

pullovers -- competitors have never been able to produce a similar

quality item from traditional fleeces. Now the Drumohr label goes on a

similar garment in two-ply cashmere.

Angelino explains: ''Italy is by far our largest and most important

market and this is the garment that has made us well-known there.

''We are now experimenting with Japanese electronic machinery, and

every day we are discovering new stitches that it can make and reproduce

very economically. It can even do Fair Isle patterns. It may be possible

to provide us with a way of improving margins in the future.''

In Robertson's, Stefano Angelino has a prestige brand from which to

launch his bid to become a manufacturer-designer of knitwear. His

product certainly looks and feels distinctive. But will it cut a swathe

through the mainly Italian competition in a more fashion-conscious

European marketplace, where the label is all-important?

At the moment, the menswear lines tend to sell to second or third

generation Drumohr wearers, and the typical outlet has been selling them

for decades. The firm hardly ever advertises.

It is likely to take several seasons to establish the new look without

sacrificing the traditional customer base. The Spring collection was

launched last summer at a time of general economic uncertainty, both in

the US and Europe, making it difficult to judge how well it would have

been received in more buoyant times.

Returns will clearly need to show a rising trend this year to keep the

new investors and Barclays Bank happy.

Angelino's next step will be to come and live in the country whose

products and traditions he holds in such high esteem. The new home will

need to be on the coast, as he and his wife Monica (who also designs

clothes and runs a boutique in Biella) love the sea, and not too far

from Dumfries.

He is confident they will both take easily to the local lifestyle,

scarcely noticing the difference -- apart from such minor matters as

language and climate. ''I am amazed at how many things Biella has in

common with this part of Scotland.

''I have found it very easy dealing with Scottish people because they

seem familiar to me. Unlike the traditional image of Italians as

talkative and ostentatious, the Biellesi are very reserved, and they

prefer to save rather than to spend. Very much like the Scots I have

met, very down to earth. The town emblem is a bear, which speaks for

itself, I think.''