Important Announcement: D.C. Dalgliesh Ltd

[Nick Fiddes]

Most of you know of the D.C. Dalgliesh weaving mill in Selkirk, Scotland. And you'll probably be aware that for some years it has been the last surviving weaving mill on earth able to produce any tartan in short lengths.

This is of no small importance, since most of us want to wear our own tartan, or at least one of our choice. And without them we'd be limited to the few hundred fabrics woven by the big mills. What's more, most tartans from the big mills are now woven on high speed rapier looms, which don't give the proper kilting selvedge of the traditional flying shuttle loom.

You might also have seen that Scotweb has for years specialised in promoting this full range of tartans, and making them available in as wide a range of authentic products as we can. We've been pretty successful at that, and for some time have been D.C. Dalgliesh's largest customer. In fact, without our business, they tell us they would have folded years ago.

But our trade wasn't enough. And for quite a long time now, we have been quietly propping them up financially - first by preferential payment terms, and for the past couple of years via a series of increasingly large cash advances and interest-free loans. We asked for nothing in return. Our reason for doing so was simply to keep an important producer and valued supplier on its feet, as we felt it would be a real tragedy for this last mill of its kind, and all its skills, to be lost forever.

Despite this, earlier this year the mill's owners came to us and explained that they saw no way forward, and to ask if we could see any way to help them avoid immediate closure. We of course wanted to help. But being realistic we couldn't ourselves afford to throw away large amounts of money on a dying industry. Nonetheless, we agreed to give them another immediate cash injection to keep them afloat, while we looked hard at the situation.

To cut a long story short, we believe that the mill still has a unique product of real value. We hope and believe it can not only be rescued, but brought back to life with a strong and secure future. But... and please take this seriously... we can't do this on our own. We need you all to help! More on this below.

We have bought the mill as a going concern, debts and all. And let me emphasise at this point, it has been bought by myself and my partner Adele, and not by Scotweb. We intend to manage and operate the mill as an independent and separate business, with the Dalgliesh family still very much in charge of day to day operations.

Nor will there be redundancies, and in fact with our new funding we've already recruited one extra weaver. We've also already restocked the yarn supplies - incidentally, giving an important financial shot in the arm to the local dye house... that's how fragile the industry ecosystem is.

But we're not going to do a 'Brian Haggis'. We will ensure that all trade customers are treated to the same prices and quality of service. The only exception is that we've implemented a quick buying route for retail (non-trade) customers to buy D.C. Dalgliesh fabrics through Scotweb. It's a trade-only manufacturing service otherwise, but we need to sell their fantastic tartans as effectively as we possibly can. But any reputable trade buyer can still deal directly with the mill, just as before.

Our first and most urgent task is to stabilise and then turn the business around financially. We believe the key to this is better marketing. And that means two things: (a) telling their story better; and (b) spreading the word.

We've already begun on the first of those. We've created a new web site, and video, which should be propagating around the interweb as we speak, or at least within the next day or so. It's at www.dcdalgliesh.co.uk. The aim here is to communicate just why their tartans are so special, and just how much work, skill, and care goes into each and every piece. I hope you'll find it as interesting as I found it to work on.

But it's with the second task that YOU come in. Please. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to do whatever you can to help us raise the profile of this neglected gem. There's no way we can do this on our own, but we absolutely have to make the world aware that it's still possible to source tartans of this quality, even just for a single garment. We need to get this message out to the public at large, to the kiltmaking community, to the Scottish diaspora of the Burns Clubs and the Caledonian Clubs and the Highland Games and the pipe bands and the highland dance networks etc., to the textiles business, to the fashion world, to the media, and to anyone who will listen.

You may think that you don't have much influence in any of those. But even just sending the web site link to a few friends would be a good start. Tweeting and Facebooking would be great too. And we've created a page of banners and things at http://www.dcdalgliesh.co.uk/support.html that you can put on your own blog or web site. Please do if you possibly can! And if you do know anyone in the media, or a celebrity who'd be willing to tweet about us, or anything at all, now is the time to help. :-)

We'll be sending out a press release over the weekend in the hope of getting a bit of coverage in the local press or even further afield. But frankly we're not that great at this side of things. So if there's anyone listening who has such skills or contacts, I'd be glad to send you a copy of my draft press release, or even just listen to your ideas and suggestions.

Adele and I are risking not just our own savings but our children's future security on a blind leap of faith that just because hundreds of other weaving mills and artisan heritage businesses have gone to the wall from the onslaught of the tartan tat merchants and globalisation, we don't believe this one - the last of its kind - has to. We're going to put everything we can into turning it around, not because we expect to get rich from it, but because we don't want this major piece of Scottish history and heritage to be lost forever. We believe that tartan has an enduring value as a symbol of community, and belonging, and it's important that this remarkable tradition endures. So anyone should be able to wear their own tartan, even if their surname isn't Stewart or MacDonald. And if future generations are to be able to do so, we simply have to save this business and return it to stability and strength.

So if you share these values, and you'd like your own grandchildren to still be able to purchase their own tartan in the authentic tradition, please help!