\'Sakura\' tartan aimed at Japanese buyers

Tag : woolen cloth

LONDON (Kyodo) A Scottish entrepreneur has specially designed atartan aimed at Japanese consumers and is hoping to use it tomarket a wide variety of products.
David McGill from Edinburgh has just finished work on the "sakura"(cherry blossom) design, incorporating the colors pink, white,green and brown.

The colors are supposed to represent the cherry blossom trees thatare much loved by the Japanese, who pay great attention each yearto when exactly the blooms arrive.
Many people go on tours to look at the beautiful trees and havepicnics under them with family and work colleagues.
McGill, who runs International Tartans Ltd., decided to come upwith the design after consulting Japanese friend Shizue Melvin, whotold him about the national obsession with cherry blossoms.
"I did the design and Shizue came up with the colors. We hope thatin the future we will be able to make a sakura liqueur andchocolates. The design is currently being listed with the ScottishTartan World Register as a unique tartan and we will then weave thedesign into woolen cloth. We will then use the woolen cloth to makesample products," McGill said.
He plans to use the design on a wide range of accessories,including ties, scarves, shawls and blankets.
The entrepreneur is also hoping to use the design on miniskirts,and given the craze for pampering pets in Japan, he is planning touse the design on a range of products for dogs.
Consumers should be able to buy the products direct from his Website, but he also plans to contact Japanese firms with sampleproducts in an effort to secure big orders.
McGill also designed a Japanese tartan a few years ago,incorporating the colors of the Scottish and Japanese nationalflags. The tartan design proved popular with Japanese peopleplacing orders for ties and scarves.
He came up with the idea of incorporating the two flags afterlearning about the important contribution made by Scotsman ThomasGlover (1838-1911) to Japan's economic development. Glover arrivedin Japan in 1859 and is viewed by many as having been instrumentalin the development of the country's shipbuilding, mining and railindustries.
"I see tartans as a symbol of fraternal greetings," McGill said.
He has already designed tartans for many countries, includingPoland, France and Norway, as well as some U.S. states.