James Pringle

James Pringle, who has died aged 87, was born into a family that had been in textiles for generations. But the family business and the wider industry were in a precarious state when he came up with the idea of a mill shop selling tweed and tartan direct to the public.

His initiative provided a template for the entire industry and under his stewardship the company of James Pringle expanded from its historical bases in Inverness and Skye, with major new centres in Edinburgh and Wales.

When he retired in 1989 the James Pringle business was bought by the Edinburgh Woollen Mill, which retains the name as a clothing brand and on several shops, including those in the High Street in Edinburgh and Buchanan Street in Glasgow.

James Pringle is quite separate from the Pringle of Scotland knitwear brand which has its origins in the Borders. The similarity and confusion have led to arguments and legal actions over the years.

James Creek Pringle, who was always known as Hamish, was born in Brora, where his father was manager of Hunters Woollen Mill. His grandfather met his grandmother after going to Flanders to work and the name Creek was an anglicisation of the Dutch name Kriek.

Shortly after Mr Pringle was born his father bought the Holm Woollen Mills in Inverness, which some sources date from 1771. His father was also James and it is after his father the company was named. But there was little sign then that it would become a multi-million pound success story.

The military's demands for blankets kept the mill going during the Second World War, while Mr Pringle served in the Royal Artillery. After the war he took the post of manager in his father's mill on Skye.

It was running at a loss, but Skye was beginning to attract significant numbers of tourists – Mr Pringle met his wife Nita when she went there on holiday – and he believed he might be able to benefit from the tourist boom.

He opened a mill shop and employed a man to meet ferries and hand out leaflets to passengers. He was instrumental in setting up the Skye tourist board, one of the first in Scotland.

Subsequently he added a coffee shop and encouraged bus parties. He also oversaw the opening of a mill shop in Inverness. But the company as a whole was still struggling, the family was divided and the business on the point of collapse when Mr Pringle took over as managing director.

He cut back on several stages in the manufacturing process, but kept on the weaving operations as an essential part of the tourist attraction, which included mill tours and visitor centres. The company was importing yarn from Yorkshire, weaving it into tartan and exporting kilts to Japan. Tartan travel rugs were also hugely popular.

The retail operation proved so successful the company ended up buying in most of the items it was selling, though it did acquire Ferguson and Rippin in Glasgow, which made tweed skirts.

Mr Pringle opened the Clan Tartan Centre in Aviemore, where visitors could research their family tartan and he opened a major new operation in Bangor Road in Leith and operated it as the James Pringle Woollen Mill, though it was essentially a warehouse selling tartan, tweed and knitwear to tourists.

Looking to expand with a similar operation in England, he acquired the old railway station in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the Welsh village with the longest name in Europe, commonly abbreviated to Llanfair PG. He opened a factory, shop and restaurant there.

In his spare time Mr Pringle was a keen bridge player and one of the founders of the Highland Bridge Congress, one of the biggest in Scotland. He retired in 1989 and moved from Inverness to Broughty Ferry. Recently he had moved to Pitlochry. He is survived by his wife Nita, sons Euan, Niall and Malcolm and four grandchildren.