Kiltmaker in new tartan to shine light on climate issue
AGLASGOW kilt maker, who previously designed pieces for Barack and Michelle Obama, has created a Climate Emergency tartan as COP26 begins in the city.
Brian Halley, who co-owns Slanj Kilts with his brother Craig, first designed the tartan in February last year after seeing the devastation caused by bushfires in Australia.
Using the expertise that allowed him to create a kilt using the official Obama family tartan for the former US president in 2018, Brian decided he wanted to produce a tartan to do something about the “depressing” images he saw on the news.
He said: “It’s basically the earth on fire, but obviously tartan is all squares and straight lines so I couldn’t do that but the blue, green and white is supposed to be the earth and then the orange, red and yellow are supposed to be the fire.”
Ahead of COP26, Brian sent Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg each a tartan mask and scarf, personalised with their initials, and even received a handwritten thank you note from Sir David for the gift.
With 20% of all sales of the tartan going towards Friends of the Earth Scotland, Brian is hopeful Slanj will be able to do its bit towards fighting climate change. He said: “I think tartan can be very effective in raising the profile of a charity.
“It’s the whole Scottish identity you can add to a business or charity.
“I was looking for the biggest charity who worked on climate change and that was the first one I thought.
“It is a UK charity but they’ve got a separate identity, Friends of the Earth Scotland, and it’s specifically them we’re working with.
“I’ve known about the charity for a long time and I was really pleased they were keen to work with us.”
He added: “I’m in the clothing business, and all I can do is what I’m good at so hopefully it will help a bit, and the charity’s been very pleased with the funds we’re sending them so far.”
As well as the tartan, Brian has also designed an unofficial COP26 t-shirt, featuring the iconic image of Lord Kitchener with the words “Your Planet Needs You”.
“It’s a wee bit cryptic but there’s a serious message underneath it that everyone needs to do their bit for the climate I think and it’s partly fun,” he said.
“At Slanj we’ve done tons of t-shirts over the years and kept them topical, so it was a wee souvenir for people for the event.
“It’s a wee bit of fun really.” To view or purchase the Climate Emergency tartan and unofficial COP26 t-shirt, visit slanjkilts.com