We’re Back as an Independent Community Interest Company!

We’re Back as an Independent Community Interest Company!

After 15 weeks offline, we’re delighted to announce that the International Tartans online shop is open again. This time, we’re standing proudly on our own as an independent Community Interest Company (CIC).


Our relaunch is more than simply bringing our tartans back online. It’s a fresh beginning, a clarified purpose, and a deeper commitment to doing business in a way that places community benefit, heritage, and craftsmanship at its centre.


What Actually Is Community Interest Company…..?


A Community Interest Company (CIC) is a business that trades for the benefit of the community, rather than an individual or private shareholders. For us, that means:

  • Ethical production – Every tartan is woven by local mills committed to high environmental standards, and our wider supply chain is chosen with care to reflect our values of fairness and climate consciousness.
  • Delivering training, skills and employment for people in rural areas – all our products are manufactured by skilled craftsfolk – training, supported and employed by us.
  • Cultural connection – Each tartan tells a story, inspired by the history and identity of nations and communities here in Scotland and around the world.


When you buy from International Tartans, you are investing not only in a piece of cloth, but in heritage, culture, and community. You are helping sustain craftsmanship in Scotland, supporting humanitarian projects abroad, and strengthening intercultural connections between Scotland and the wider world.


Tartans for the World


From the Ukraine Tartan - created in 2014 by ethnic Ukrainians for the Global Wounded Warriors, weaving together the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag with the Scottish Saltire as a gesture of solidarity - to the Norwegian Tartan, celebrating a century of independence, each of our designs carries meaning, memory, and story. Each design has also included representatives of those nations and regions our tartans represent – from Consulate Generals and Parliamentarians to community groups and refugee projects, round table events to design our tartans have happened all through the years. Those events examined Scotland’s shared history and cultural connections with the countries and commemorations they represent. 


Our collections span Global Tartans, Tartans for Africa, European Tartans, Regional and District Tartans, Commemorative Tartans, and even US State Tartans - each one a thread in the much larger tapestry of shared heritage.


Why This Relaunch Matters


To say our three months offline were not easy would be a most fantastical understatement. That time of peddling fast to reinstate our business has offered us time reflect and realign who we are and how we want to use Scotland’s Icon for the good of others. It’s also been a time of extraordinary resourcefulness and creativity as we could never have imagined. So now, with full independence and a renewed mission, we’re back off the bat:

  • Offering beautiful, authentic, and ethically made tartans and tartan products.
  • Building partnerships that carry our designs to new international audiences – watch this space for updates on some exciting propositions.
  • Running training in advanced tailoring, textile design, and heritage crafts for women and young people; equipping them for fairly paid work and step on the career ladder to creative industries…

So stay tuned for the next chapter and meantime:


Everything you buy from us helps sustain local weavers and mills, honours cultural heritage, and strengthens communities here in Scotland and around the world.

International Tartans as ever, changing the world, one tartan at a time.

 

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