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22nd August 25, 09:11 AM
#1
 Originally Posted by SMcCandlish
Industry scuttlebutt has it that at least two of the major tartan weavers (D.C. Dalgliesh, and I'm not sure what the other was, maybe Lochcarron) were really messed up by the pandemic
In midsummer 2023, (ALMOST post Covid), my sister, son, and I spent a good part of a day touring Lochcarron's mill, warehouse, and gift shop. We saw many happy employees, including a portly matron happily replacing a single repeating transverse error in a VERY long piece of newly woven cloth armed only with a special needle that could remove one thread and insert another..
Actually, it wasn't QUITE post-Covid, because our return to the US saw us snake along in a back-and-forth line among hundreds of other returnees and immigrants, many of them coughing and unmasked, in a cavernous basement room at ORD, all queueing up for a small number of immigrations and customs agent kiosks (all of us envying the occasional person who would stroll up to a automated kiosk, flash his passport at a scanner and his face towards a camera and be on his way within a second or two). Two consequences:
- We all applied for Global Entry and won't ever travel internationally again without it
- We all got symptomatic Covid
Here's a picture of that same smiling matron, taking a break from her work at the same station. She has an excuse (the guy shaking hands on the right). But, while we saw her work, she gave us the same smile and an informative lecture on her work.
And, of course, they DID weave some tartan just for him…
That tour was one of the best parts of our two weeks in the country.
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22nd August 25, 12:17 PM
#2
 Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc
... spent a good part of a day touring Lochcarron's mill, warehouse, and gift shop. We saw many happy employees ...
I'm glad Lochcarron is going strong; I can add them to my list of potential mills for my project. I'm now at a loss for what the other weaver was who was said to be having severe problems. Maybe it was another of the several (like DCD) now owned by ScotWeb/Clan.com. (I don't really have the heart to go dig up that detail again, since it'll entail poring over email with a kiltmaker I placed a $2K order with, who between my order and over a year of waiting in vain for cloth to be made, ended up going out of business, without a means to either repay me or provide the kilt and stuff I ordered.)
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22nd August 25, 02:24 PM
#3
I may be able to help, own the yarn stock that came from the liquidation of D C Dalgliesh, it fills a shipping container. Currently working on a business relationship with various parties to be able to offer some kind of service and weave some tartan, PM me with some details.
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22nd August 25, 03:27 PM
#4
 Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc
In midsummer 2023 my sister, son, and I spent a good part of a day touring Lochcarron's mill, warehouse, and gift shop.
That tour was one of the best parts of our two weeks in the country.
My wife and I, in 1986, did a similar tour of the Lochcarron facility. Yes it was one of the coolest parts of our trip.
One really cool thing was to see the bolt of tartan my pipe band had ordered being woven. We went through that bolt quickly, and had to order another. Pipe bands go through a lot of tartan! (I'm front row, third from left.)

 Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc
And they DID weave some tartan just for him.
I see a gent in the background wearing a kilt in what seems to be that same tartan. (He looks familiar but I can't place him.)
I wonder what tartan that is.
Last edited by OC Richard; 22nd August 25 at 03:35 PM.
Proud Mountaineer from the Highlands of West Virginia; son of the Revolution and Civil War; first Europeans on the Guyandotte
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22nd August 25, 03:37 PM
#5
 Originally Posted by OC Richard
I see a gent in the background wearing a kilt in what seems to be that same tartan. (He looks familiar but I can't place him.)
I wonder what tartan that is.
His name escapes me but he is one of the Lochcarron team. His tartan is not the same as that being viewed by HM.
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22nd August 25, 10:07 PM
#6
 Originally Posted by figheadair
His name escapes me but he is one of the Lochcarron team. His tartan is not the same as that being viewed by HM.
Are we talking about the man on the far right? That's Keith Russell.
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22nd August 25, 10:30 PM
#7
 Originally Posted by User
Are we talking about the man on the far right? That's Keith Russell.
Of course it is, thank you.
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22nd August 25, 03:46 PM
#8
 Originally Posted by jsrnephdoc
IHere's a picture of that same smiling matron, taking a break from her work at the same station. She has an excuse (the guy shaking hands on the right). But, while we saw her work, she gave us the same smile and an informative lecture on her work.
And, of course, they DID weave some tartan just for him
I had the privilege of designing the tartan and being there that day.
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22nd August 25, 03:50 PM
#9
There are three weavers in Scotland that will do custom runs: Andrew Elliott Ltd; House of Edgar and Lochcarron. I have worked with all three but my default would be Lochcarron. This is because they have their own dyehouse and so are very proactive on shade selection. Plus they have the ability to use Scottish wool in their heavy weight range.
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22nd August 25, 06:32 PM
#10
 Originally Posted by figheadair
I had the privilege of designing the tartan and being there that day.
Are you foreground left in the picture? Is there a colloquial name for the modern kilt jacket (I have one, from K-A. It looks just like HM's, but I'll bet not quite the same amount of care was expended making it. What tartan are you wearing? And who is the guy with the braided stuff over his R shoulder? I see that he has a bow or rosette on his kilt; I assume he's an assistant to the King.
But the fabric repair lady was one of the real highlight of our visit. She NEVER stopped smiling.
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