A BORDERS mill has answered the call to produce a tartan for Britain’s largest charity supporting wounded servicemen and women.
The Help for Heroes range will be officially launched at Edinburgh Castle in the coming weeks, but Selkirk company Lochcarron displayed its latest garments at Scotland’s Trade Fair in Glasgow’s SECC Arena earlier this week.
Royalties from sales of the products will go to the Wiltshire-based benevolent fund, which has raised £124million in just five years to provide numerous services for thousands of UK soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lochcarron sales manager Dougie Young said: “A business in Edinburgh called GB Tailoring is run by two ex-military guys who approached us with the concept to set up a tartan for Help for Heroes.
“The design is influenced by the colours of the army, navy and air force, with the GB Tailoring guys and ourselves working on it for around a year.
“We put a programme together to show them what we could do and then got word from Help for Heroes that we would be an official supplier. They have been very supportive and I think they will promote the new tartan on their website.”
As part of the negotiations, Dougie – a former Olympic boxer – visited a Help for Heroes’ personal recovery and assessment centre.Seeing the support offered by the charity first-hand persuaded Dougie and Lochcarron to go ahead with the tartan project.
Dougie said: “It was a Victorian building, but I couldn’t believe the facilities on offer for servicemen and women wounded in action.
“It was first class and showed how much Help for Heroes had spent supporting those injured while serving their country. We realised that this was a fantastic opportunity for us to help the charity.”
Dougie added: “I like the tartan and I think it will sell well as an accessory item such as a scarf, although you never know – the kilt does look quite striking, so it may also be popular.”
Lochcarron expects the Help for Heroes tartan to be available at its Selkirk visitor centre next month.