Pathfinders to the Parliament

TEXTILES SECTOR PATHFINDER
Introduction
The Group was chaired by Belinda Robertson of the Belinda Robertson Partnership. Other members of the Group were:
Kenneth Short	Shorts Of Hawick
Blair McNaughton	McNaughtons Of Pitlochry
Leslie Moore	Laidlaw And Fairgrieve
Graeme Sands	Barrie Knitwear
Tom Sellar	Lyle & Scott
Barry Allen	Hood Morton
Elie Chilton	Altamira
Craig Walker	Zigzag
Deirdre Nicholls	Celtic Silks
James Sugden	Johnstons Of Elgin
Raymond Eagleson	Hunters Of Brora
Bill Cooper	Patons
Roland Brett	Robert Noble
Alan Rutherford	Gelfer Ltd
David McMorrine	Scottish Textile Association
Tracey White	STUC
Ann Keith	Belinda Robertson
Helen Bottle	Scottish Borders Studio
Julia Scott-Barrett	Scottish Textiles Manager
What are the strengths of the Scottish textiles industry?
Flexibility. Broad sector with wide diversity of products. Quality. Skills. Innovation. Design. Reliability.
Who is the Scottish textiles industry competing against?
The answer to this question depends largely on the sector concerned. Some examples are:
Turkey - manufacturers benefit from 100% grants and cheaper labour costs; France/Italy - benefits from greater European assistance although social costs and labour costs are higher in certain cases; Far East - low labour costs and less strict labour laws: this affects high volume more than niche markets; former Warsaw Pact countries - lower labour costs and companies benefit from development aid. What does the Scottish textiles industry want to achieve? Making the industry more attractive thus encouraging investment and making the sector an attractive vocation prospect for young skilled workers. Branding - creating a positive and aspirational attitude to Scottish products. Company growth. Encouraging new companies to start-up - both niche market and high volume.
How can this be achieved?
The textile sector is broad with many different needs and should be sub-divided, for example: knitwear, clothing, fabrics, industrial textiles. Companies which are succeeding should be identified and encouraged. Above all, there is a need to encourage an enterprise culture in textiles. Scottish businesses should be supported in identifying and proactively pursuing opportunities; in addition, they should be educated in achieving profitability and reinvesting profit to retain their competitiveness and growth.
Marketing
The Group appreciated the need to market the added value element of Scottish textile products.
It was debated whether Scotland could aspire to compete with the Far East as a high volume manufacturing base.
The crucial issue was not the products themselves but how they - and their country of origin - were perceived by consumers. There was a need to change the meaning of "Scottishness" of products, also projecting the special nature of the product thus creating an environment of "price maker not price taker". This would mean a need to portray a glamorous lifestyle in addition to better branding generally of the textiles sector. The Scottish Parliament could assist with funding a marketing project to build Scotland as an aspirational lifestyle brand.
Branding
What is the importance of "Scotland" on a label? In most countries, Scotland is synonymous with quality of production. Scotland has all the components (design, quality, diversity) to be strong. What it requires is a long-term programme financing a branding campaign.
In addition, tax breaks on capital investment would be highly beneficial in this crucial factor of company growth and competitiveness.
Funding/Grants
The dearth in start-up and growth in the textiles industry is caused by lack of funding - with aversion on the part of venture capitalists as textiles are seen as high risk and there is a prevailing lack of vision of the returns in the future from successful textile brands. Thus a new environment of long-term vision backing textile companies and supporting them through the lean formative years should be encouraged.
The inflexibility of certain sources of funding was exacerbated by the variety and breadth of the sector.
A major difficulty is caused by the employee-based criteria for grants and funding. The Scottish textile industry has increasingly invested in state-of-the-art technology which has led to greater productivity and decreased employee levels. They are therefore not considered as eligible for some of the LEC grants which are equally applicable in terms of productivity and success. This should be addressed.
The Infrastructure
There is a need to improve rail and road links to certain areas, lowering supply costs and making companies more accessible.
Skills Base
The Group agreed that a skills shortage existed at all levels - including management. There was a need to encourage new talent to enter the industry. Currently it is not seen as an attractive, glamorous industry with low prospects of a vocation and very low rewards. In addition, the skills required in certain areas are changing greatly and these are not being adequately addressed.
Thus the industry should seek to attract people with value added skills. This should be addressed through a campaign of information and industry awareness. Funding for training and the establishment of centres of excellence would provide companies with a qualified and highly skilled workforce. Graduate placements are an excellent means of introducing young people - thus contributing new skills - to the sector.
In addition, "Expert teams" of experienced panels of business developers or experts in a specific field would provide companies access to business development skills and prove more useful than a general consultant.
Lobbying
The Scottish Parliament would be well placed to lobby on the behalf of the sector in issues beyond its remit.
In addition, it was felt that a lot of good would come from a permanent body acting as intermediary between the Parliament and the industry. Each area of the textiles industry would have its own issues and interests, but for issues of mutual concern, such a body could deliver a weighty argument. The Scottish Textiles Association would fulfil this role.
It was suggested that an important initial lobbying role would lie in persuading retailers to back Scottish goods.
The supply chain
Not all goods are quality driven, but ultimately all goods are price driven.
The large retailers are becoming increasingly powerful with more becoming price not quality - driven and a downward spiral of ethical conduct, buying increasingly from overseas without penalties.
It was mooted that a code of conduct for retailers, together with a system of penalties could be implemented. However, it was counter-argued that such a system would be unworkable.
The changing face of the global textile market
Several members of the Group raised the point that the issues and challenges debated were not isolated to Scotland, but formed part of a global problem. The Scottish Parliament could set up a working party following the model of the Pathfinder Group to identify the changing nature of the industry globally.
Conclusion
The Group was encouraged that the Pathfinder initiative was a step in the right direction: an industry - led think tank addressing the real issues concerning it.
The main concern was that we develop our strengths of which there are many. Design, flexibility, quality are key to Scottish products. There is a need to market it better and this is an area where we need most assistance. It would have an impact not only in terms of sales but also on the financial markets and their willingness to invest into what is an exciting sector.