‘We’re finally here’
Cape Breton tartan designer opens first retail shop
SYDNEY — A Cape Breton tartan designer is having the busiest year of her career and Deana Lloy is loving every minute.
For the first time in 26 years in business, the owner of Red Label Kilts and Tartan Design has been commissioned to create six unique tartans for clients which include Augusta University in Georgia.
And she's opened the doors on her first retail outlet — something she started planning five years ago — at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion on the Sydney waterfront.
"It seems like forever getting to this point but we're here. We're finally here," she said.
A man, walking by Red Label Kilts one morning before it was open, yelled to Lloy, "So nice to see this place is open."
Lloy smiled as she stood next to a display that featured Scottish haggis, tartan alcohol flasks and her mother's knit goods. On shelves behind her are wooden bird carvings created and painted by her uncle as well as her sister's tartan jewelry.
She also has products from other designers such as Ness of Scotland's bags, purses and clothing — whose only North
American distributor at the moment is Red Label Kilts.
"It's warm when I walk in the door. It's mine," Lloy said. "We have people walk in who are familiar with some of the products because they've been to Scotland. They'll say, 'You have Ness?' Or say they haven't seen something since they'd been to Scotland."
Lloy currently produces her tartans out of two locations — her home studio and a space at the New Dawn Centre for Social Innovation in Sydney's north end.
At the Red Label Kilts store, Lloy is able to consult with clients and do fittings, allowing them to pick a tartan they want or create one with her.
"It's a bit of a struggle running back and forth between studios, when I leave something I need at one," said Lloy, who opens and closes the retail shop as well.
Since she started planning five years ago, Lloy knew she wanted a shop in downtown Sydney where both cruise ship passengers and locals would be found.
And although she's just opened, Lloy is still thinking ahead to a time when she opens a second larger shop, where production and retail will be housed in one location.