Lochcarron Of Scotland Visitor Centre

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Visitor Attraction

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Lochcarron of Scotland Visitor Centre

Welcome to Kilts, Couture and Cashmere


A family-owned company established in 1947, Lochcarron of Scotland is internationally renowned for the design and manufacture of high-quality woven fabrics and tartans, fine knitwear, contemporary accessories and bespoke Highland wear, shipping to over 20 countries worldwide.

Lochcarron of Scotland’s impressive new Visitor Centre - complete with coffee shop, crystal chandeliers and white stags’ heads - is now open at Selkirk in the heart of the Scottish Borders. Just over an hour’s scenic drive from Edinburgh, it is the ideal destination for a relaxing and informative day out.

Lochcarron of Scotland produces its own prestigious range of fine wool and cashmere knitwear and contemporary accessories, available exclusively at the Visitor Centre, together with Highland wear and accoutrements, Scottish gifts and jewellery.

You will find a wide range of tartan products, over 500 different tartan ties, scarves and rugs, in stock. Many of the garments and accessories can be personalised for gifts, and if you don’t know your tartan we can help you track it down and kit you out in something suitable.

We stock the world’s largest range of authentic Scottish tartans - around 700 - and create new family and corporate tartans as diverse as the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial tartan and the very green Shrek tartan. Why not have your own tartan designed? Come and talk to us about it - our highly skilled designers can come up with some original designs incorporating your colour choices and ideas.

The Visitor Centre is a must for anyone interested in Scottish Clan history, tartans, highland dress, textiles and fashion - as is Lochcarron’s legendary mill tour.

The Lochcarron Mill Tour

The Lochcarron mill tour is a fascinating way to build up an appetite for a coffee and home-made scone, followed perhaps by some retail therapy!

By opening the Visitor Centre next to our design and manufacturing centre of excellence, Lochcarron can showcase the fantastic range of fabrics, knitwear and accessories it produces, and take visitors on a tour of a 21st century mill to show why the products are so sought after by the major luxury brands.

We put our visitors ‘through the mill’, in our new 65,000 square feet production facilities, revealing insider secrets including the bolts of fabrics commissioned by leading fashion designers and destined for the international catwalks. A unique combination of Scottish tradition, craftsmanship, design innovation and manufacturing technology continues to attracts the world’s top designers season after season; Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Paul Smith, Louis Vuitton and Vivienne Westwood, to drop a few names!

The mill tour starts off in our high-tech dye house where you will see cones of natural yarn being loaded into large dye vats, and coming out at the other end, brightly coloured and ready for warping. Follow the weaving process through the mill, watch the “warpers” set the pattern of the vertical threads, plug in your ear-plugs and follow the noise of the looms weaving the cloth at huge speed - before your eyes, thread turns into cloth. The cloth is then checked by a group of sharp-sighted ladies known as the “darners”. You will be able to examine the cloth, up-close, and talk to the darners while they mend cloth that has the tiniest broken thread or knot. This process has been done by hand since weaving began and still is - amazingly, the human eye and hand is still the best way!

Your tour then heads to our warehouse where thousands of accessories, rugs, fabrics and tartans are stored, many with a story to tell, and on to the design studio to see how the fabric collections are designed. The tour continues on to the Visitor Centre where you can browse and buy the finished products, and the luxurious knitwear knitted in our Hawick factory.

The maximum number of people per tour is 12 but we are delighted to accommodate more than one tour with advance notice. Tours cost £2.50 per person for up to five people, or £2.00 for larger groups.

After all the touring and shopping, head to our coffee shop and relax. The coffee shop serves Starbucks coffee, home-baking and light meals during opening hours.

If that’s not enough activity for one day, nearby attractions include Melrose Abbey, Abbotsford House and Floors Castle, with golfing and fishing almost on our doorstep.