Patrick Grant on the UK Fashion & Textiles Industry, Welsh Pants and why LESS brings you MORE joy

A few weeks ago I, Emma Duncan, and In Stitches members, Anne, Angela, Sue and Eileen, had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Grant at the Melrose Book Festival.

It was a rainy Thursday afternoon when we set off to Melrose to grab a bite to eat before Patrick’s talk on his new book. Typical Scottish Summer, pouring with rain! This didn't dampen our spirits though. We popped into the bookstore tent to ensure we all had our copies of the books to sign after and went to sit in a very posh marquee (it even had a chandelier) and waited for the talk to start. 

Patrick entered wearing a full outfit of Community Clothing, his UK made brand, and sat down to start talking about his new book. He was very passionate about the fashion and textiles industry, you could tell by how much ‘off track’ he got from actually what was in the book. He spoke about the Savile Row Tailors he bought in 1998 and then how his degree in materials science helped him understand the industry from a different perspective. It was interesting to hear about his background, where he grew up and how this influenced his life.  

Patrick Grant and MADE:SCOTLAND founder, Alexandra on stag at the Border’s Book Festival.

Patrick then went on to talk about welsh pants, about the declining industry in Wales and how a quick marketing strategy about a pants preorder (quicker than they all realised) allowed the factory to get back on with what they did best, make high quality, local pants. 

It was quite a revelation to then hear that the manufacturing business he bought over, Cookson and Clegg in Blackburn, was highly skilled at making our national uniforms. They went out of business because sadly these nationally iconic uniforms, for our soldiers, pilots and naval services are now being made in China. Now on what planet does this make sense? Our national uniforms for the people protecting our country made in a completely different country? Surely making it ourselves by skilled workers in the UK, adding to the UK economy makes much more sense? Sometimes sense goes out the window and we make hundreds of people redundant in order to save a few pounds. Patrick rightly points out that this doesn't really work as the government is then left paying for unemployment - surely one can see that making jobs kept in the UK = more people in work = less money being spent on unemployment = better for the UK economy? But also as Patrick kept mentioning ‘Let’s not get political here’ - but it is definitely hard not to.  

Everything that was said by Patrick rang true to what Creation Mill’s vision is for the future of Fashion and Textiles in the south of Scotland. Creation Mill’s influence has enabled Langholm Academy to start providing a Nat 5 in Fashion & Textiles Technology. This is down to the dedication of the CM staff, going into the primary and secondary classes, teaching life skills and reinvigorating the interest in textiles. 

Talking previously about the man who runs the pants factory in Wales and about how is son is in hospital so he is split 5 days in Birmingham and 2 in Wales….

“Which reminds us that all this stuff is real, you know, there are human stories bound up in all of this stuff, in everything we buy there are real human stories”

“I think the Dior show was amazing…. brilliant, it just shows you, Dior, one of the most recognised and revered brands on the planet working with a load of Scottish textile producers and Scottish clothing producers, just puts it on a … for young people it’s like Ah! you know, Dior is quite cool so maybe Lochcarran are kinda cool, these are the association we need to make. We just need to get away from talking down to the world of making simple things, I think, because making simple things well is difficult and making simple things well is important”

When the talk was finished we queued up to get our books signed. Patrick was so kind to everyone, talking and taking photos, you could see how genuinely nice he was, giving everyone the same time and kindness. When we got to the front I boldly asked whether he could open up our new Textile Hub (hopefully in Spring 2025!) and although he couldn't commit because of an extremely busy schedule, he was interested in visiting Langholm at some point. He is often up in Hawick visiting his Community Clothing suppliers and at Dumfries House, so we hope to welcome him at some point. 

The talk was sponsored by Lochcarron of Scotland.

Eileen & Sue were wearing patchwork jackets they had made with Anna Watson, Patrick was very impressed!

I also had the pleasure of bumping into Kitty from The Scottish Textile Showcase, Susan from the Scottish Yarn Journal and Pat of Carlenrig Farm. An altogether inspiring afternoon!

You can buy Patrick’s book LESS at all leading online and in store bookstores.