DC Dalgliesh, a tartan weaving family firm, which was running in losses, has been rescued from going out of business.
The Selkirk-based firm which prepared tartans for the likes of Nelson Mandela and the Queen has been taken over by Nick Fiddes and Adele Telford, owners of Edinburgh-based tartan goods website Scotweb and biggest buyers of Dalgliesh's tartans. Through the takeover, the Scotweb owners want to ensure subsistence of the traditional art.
Closure of the firm probably would have meant that 90 percent of the tartans would have never been produced again, it being the sole firm producing family designs in quantities, small enough to cater to the needs of majority of the individual buyers. It would not have been like just one more firm running out of business, but an end to a generation's old tradition.
With the takeover, jobs of the 17 weaving artisan who run Dalgliesh's traditional looms - the only kind which churns out the exclusive fabric used to prepare traditional kilt, have also been saved.
Dick Coultard Dalgliesh, a tartan expert and enthusiast, established the company in 1947, which later on was managed by his son.
During 1960s, though the firm enhanced its capacity, but retained the age-old machineries, as new high-speed techniques failed to produce fabric with clean cut edge on both sides, which is the hallmark of real authentic kilt.