The Tartan Blanket

We wanted to create beautiful, natural products which would bring warmth to people's hearts and homes, as well as having a truly positive impact on the world around us. However, it didn't happen overnight and the wonderful brand we have managed to create is the result of many evenings dreaming, a crazy amount of hard work, a constant juggle of family and business, an amazing team behind the scenes and a huge leap of faith. Back in 2014 we were living and working in London, but our hearts were still firmly back in our home town of Edinburgh. We spent many nights talking about our dreams to start our own business and what that might look like. Then following our wedding we decided to take a big risk and make another huge commitment to each other, to start our own business together! As they say, 'in for a penny in for a pound'! So we packed up our London life and headed back up north ready to start our new chapter. With Fergus's background in business and experience in the highland-wear industry and my background in fashion buying and merchandising, we saw an opportunity to bring a modern approach to one of our favourite Scottish products: the tartan blanket. Traditional Scottish tartan blankets are made of wool or cashmere which means they are all natural and fully sustainable, which felt really important to focus on, especially in today's world of fast fashion and disposable products. We wanted to take this sustainability element even further and travelled the world looking for mills in line with our ethics to join us in our vision of traditional Scottish goods with a contemporary edge. We soon realised that Scottish mills were not always the most sustainable, transparent and dynamic option, so we began to look further afield. This led to a big adventure around the world learning a huge amount about the process of wool production, dying, spinning, weaving and finishing. After exploring many different production options, we settled on two main partnerships in India and Inner Mongolia. After years of nourishment and growth, they have now become an elemental part of our journey and The Tartan Blanket Co. family. Our partner mill in India is run by a family team, who uses 100% recycled materials and supports a community of women who hand finish all of our recycled wool blankets, creating much needed jobs and giving each blanket a personal, unique finish. Our other partner mill is a family business based in Inner Mongolia who uses traditional, people-led farming methods, putting the animals welfare first. They also work with local dyers, spinners, weavers and finishers, which supports the village community and maintains end-to-end production transparency and control. Due to their climate and farming methods, this area is known for having the softest lambswool and cashmere worldwide and allowed us to expand our range into the most beautifully gentle scarves and baby blankets.