New Business Advice

[àluinn]

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Ministry of Tartan are two entirely different things. The MOD does not have a tartan registry.

The Ministry of Tartan is a commercial company that designed a series of for various military units and organisations. Each is registered with the SRT, here's an example - Rifles Regiment. Although the SRT records these as military tartans, the vast majority of these are unofficial insofar as they are not, and never will be, authorised for official use in uniform or Mess Dress.

As a former member of the armed forces I understand the difference between a government ministry and what is quite clearly a commercial operation.

There’s a wee bit of shooting the messenger here and I’m not sure why. I checked the SRT for a number of their tartans listed but couldn’t find them, so then asked google why and it suggested the MOD will hold some sort of regulation over them.

Anyway, this is has turned into a bit of a distraction which isn’t really adding anything.

[Adrian]

Hi Stephen,
Followed your thread for a few days and I question it all, particularly this gap in the market you claim..

Researching is not just done on a computer, you have to get out and go places..go to Edinburgh, go to the Royal Mile and other streets, Inverness...visit some of the retail woolen Mill outlets that are scattered across Scotland

There are significant players out there and well healed people behind these businesses...look at their products both online and in their premises...

Look at the following -

House of Bruar - visit
A n t a - visit
Scotweb, clan.com
Scotland Shop
International tartans in Eyemouth - visit
Edinburgh woolen mill

Website - curious and unusual tartans, it's a quite a database of other tartans

There are a lot more businesses out there in this space.

Have you a handle on whats in, this autumn's fashions ?

Can you survive pouring a load of money in and not taking any wages for 1 or 2 years and having some losses ?
Not every tartan design you produce will be a winner, you may make 1000 scarfs and sell 100, not covering your costs and you have to store what's left.


Regarding getting stuff produced - it can be done but volume capacity for any handwork operations in Scotland is limited and takes months.
Making a scarf is not a case of buying a roll of what is kiltmaking Tartan and chopping it into pieces...its a different weave and finishing to get the texture, never mind the other steps in the process to produce a product. Proper scarf weaves are done in a way so the roll can be separated into scarfs.

Remember this - in the last 10 years the Scottish woollen industry has suffered, lost people, companies have been in liquidation and Covid impact its not what it was.

Nothing wrong with wanting to do something, don't discuss it all online others watch and improve their own positions from what they learn.

Quite frankly given your background do look at the UAV aviation sector, you have transferable skills and its a growth area and pays well.

Good luck

[àluinn]

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for your reply.

Where to start with that, first there are a lot of assumptions there, the first is I've not already done many of the things you outline.

I am not looking to start a bricks and mortar business, I'm not looking to compete or step into that model. Fashion trends are important but this would be targeted to a specific audience and are pretty timeless.

It's precisely because of competitor behaviour you outline I've deliberately not outlined my target market, marketing or plan. However, by not doing so and being vague is enough to presume there is no market and things are destined to fail. If you look back at my initial questions it was specific to the manufacturing process and mills/companies capable of producing a product for me. If anyone can infer what my plan is from that, fair play to them but I really can't seem to win here.

With respect to my investment, yes I agree, all aspects of business carry risk. I would hope to launch a website and attain pre-sales during the 3-4 month manufacturing lead time to mitigate that before any items are produced and also increase or decrease quantities based on interest.

Joining this forum was done so because I thought it could be a valuable part of my research. I'm all for anyone taking on the role of devil's advocate, that sort of thing helps identify oversights or omissions and ultimately helps contribute to a better solution.

[Adrian]

No harm in playing a bit of Devils advocate if it flushes out some oversights, I'm certainly curious given whats out there already in the market, already plenty of good products and I'm trying to work out you...have you done your homework...would I want to do business with you, can you financially produce whats required to get off the ground ?
Special weave orders are money up front, is it worth my while discussing and exploring further...