Border Couture

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Article Date: 24 August 2010

Lochcarron of Scotland The Border textile industry is alive. We just need to know where to look, to find the glorious clothes and fabrics being made locally. So, here’s your explorer’s guide to the unique and diverse men’s, women’s and childrenswear manufactured in the Borders.

What’s so special about Border clothes is their pedigree: each jumper, jacket or scarf weaves a story of tradition, mastery, innovation, talent and creativity. You can feel good wearing any Border garment, because your purchase stands out in style, quality and exclusivity. Even better, it’s all made right here, on your doorstep, by people you know. To see just how special your Borders-made garment is, let’s first discover how far the raw materials have travelled to adorn you.

Angora, the fluffy, downy coat of the Angora rabbit, bounds from Chile, China or Europe, while mohair, the silky fleece of the Angora goat, treks from Turkey or South Africa. One of nature’s strongest fibres, spun by the mulberry silkworm into a cocoon, is shimmering and lustrous silk, from China, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan. Merino is prized as the softest and lightest wool: the fleece of a single sheep from Australia or New Zealand yields six qualities, from the coarsest at the tail to the finest at the neck.

Every spring, nomadic tribesmen in Mongolia and Manchuria painstakingly comb by hand the cashmere goat’s fine, supersoft undercoat, which insulated the animal against the sub-zero winters of the countries’ highest, most inhospitable plains. Cashmere is so precious it takes the hair of one goat to make a scarf, two a lady’s sweater, three a man’s, and at least twenty four for an overcoat.

Hinnigan, Selkirk Border textile manufacturers are still the centre of an international network, importing the finest raw materials from far wildernesses, and exporting finished clothes to fashion capitals of the world, like Milan, New York, Paris, London and Tokyo.

In Scotland, the fleeces are washed in our soft, pure water, to be dyed into any colour you can imagine, from natural shades of the Scottish landscape, to bright, brilliant hues. Carded fibres are spun into spools of yarn, and then by hand or machine knitted into knitwear by linking rows of loops, or woven into cloth by interlacing “warp” (vertical threads held by the loom) and “weft” (horizontal threads carried by a shuttle). Over the centuries, machines simply sped up manufacture, but the principles of knitting and weaving never changed.

Cottage industries grew into great mills, powered by the fast-flowing waters of the Teviot in Hawick, the Ettrick in Selkirk, Gala Water in Galashiels, the Leithen in Innerleithen and the Tweed in Peebles. In the din and clatter of iron on iron, generations of Border families worked the spinners, looms and frames, as loyal to their firm as their town. The inheritors of their proud legacy are today’s Border mills and designers creating at home – an estimated workforce of 2,500 in total.

Their Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter collections, in traditional and contemporary styles for men, women and children, encompass everyday yet elegant garments like jumpers, tank tops, socks, skirts, shirts, cardigans, coats, jackets, trousers, hats, scarves and gloves, to smart suits, ties, twin sets, kilts, sashes, waistcoats, bow ties and cummerbunds.

Lochcarron shop Inspiring their designs are classic, time honoured Scottish patterns in tweed, shepherd’s plaid, herringbone, chevron, Fair Isle and Argyll – with many designers adding their own modern twists and nuances. Any family tartan can be woven on Border looms in long or short runs, from reproductions true in colour and design to historic Scots and their muted dyes of lichen, moss and alder bark, to the novel tartans for New York City or Hello Kitty in Tokyo.

Beside the Border mills are the individual talents knitting and weaving cutting edge designs in their home studio, and selling their garments online or in department stores and fashion houses across the world. With creative flair and an eye for beauty and a quirky sense of style, their often unique, hand-made designs can take weeks to create, giving you an unrivalled look on the street.

Borders-made clothes are labelled under Ralph Lauren, Vivienne Westwood, Jaeger, Chanel, Laura Ashley, Christian Dior, Jigsaw, and many, many other famous names – you just didn’t know it, because they don’t say ‘100% made in the Scottish Borders’. But these couture houses know, as we do, those words stand for style, quality and exclusivity.

Eribe Knitwear

You can buy this pedigree here, where it’s created: go explore the Borders’ textile mill retail outlets, high street clothes shops and online designers using our guide listed below. Also tour the Crossing Borders Art Trail on the 3-5 September 2010, and visit Border artists' websites at www.crossing-borders.org.uk, and at The Crafters in Melrose.