Ron Smith

Ron was present at Holyrood on the evening of Wednesday 25^th 2008 for a reception for South of Scotland textiles firms, hosted by South of Scotland Lib Dem MSP Jim Hume. The networking event was attended by the Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather. Ron had the opportunity to speak with representatives of the local factories, and of Scottish Enterprise, and was told of their successes and of some points which they would like addressed. It was an excellent evening, with many of those present commenting that it was good that politicians were showing interest in the industry.

Jim said “Organising the reception was a great pleasure and hugely important because we need to constantly highlight the excellent quality of the textiles industry in Scotland. The textiles industry represents a significant part of Scotland’s economy and this is particularly true in the South of Scotland whose economy is more reliant on manufacturing and land based activities than in the national context, and so it’s crucial to support, retain and develop this traditional industry.

“It’s clear that there are challenges – other parts of Europe and markets further a field are more cost competitive. Scottish design talent and the range of innovative and high quality textiles being produced in Scotland continues to go from strength to strength. Therefore competing on quality and design would seem a sensible conclusion. In the same way that Scotland produces some of the best quality food and drink in the world, I hope that the textiles industry will further excel on the already excellent range and high quality of products sold in and out of Scotland so that we build on our international renown.

“And we need to make sure that our marketing is spot on so that we take every advantage to build on opportunities at home and abroad. I know that Scottish Textiles has been doing a lot of work in that area and I saw quite a few companies from the Cashmere Club, an excellent initiative started in 1998. This initiative recognised that it’s not two companies competing against each other in the same town that we have to address, but the challenge of World competition, as the world becomes smaller with globalisation and competitive advantage of nations.

The MSP continued: “I was delighted to see Hawick and Langholm firms displaying a selection of their excellent products. The House of Cheviot, Peter Scott, Lochcarron, Johnston’s and Hawick Knitwear all from Hawick and Reid & Taylor of Langholm each had tables displaying their products and it was wonderful to see such top quality items on show. It’s really important to keep the focus on the textiles industry and I’ll be taking every opportunity to do so through representations to the Scottish Government.”