Pringle of Scotland is a
fashion brand renowned for
luxury cashmere knitwear
and holds the royal warrant
as manufacturers of knitted
garments. It is one of the
world’s oldest continually
operating fashion companies.
The company has its flag-
ship stores in London's Mount
Street, Glasgow and Shanghai
and is sold by retailers
in 15 countries.

Robert Pringle established Pringle
of Scotland in 1815 in the Scottish
Borders. Initially the company simply
produced hosiery and underwear,
and have been producing cashmere
since as early as 1870. Otto Weisz
was appointed as the first full-time
designer in the knitwear industry
in 1934. The twinset and the
ancient-Scottish Argyle adapted pattern
were designed under Weisz's creative
direction, which became very popular
with several celebrities and
screen stars including Jean Sim-
mons, Brigitte Bardot and Grace
Kelly.

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In 2005, both Winser and Stockdale left the company,
and having so far invested over £35m Kenneth Fang handed
over control to his children, Jean and Douglas Fang.
By this stage sales had risen to almost £25m with loss-
es running at around £8m due to the expansion.

After Claire Waight Keller was appointed the new Cre-
ative Director, 2007 saw the introduction of a luxury
accessories range. In March 2011 ex-Balenciaga designer
Alistair Carr was named as Design Director following
the resignation of Claire Waight Keller.

Massimo Nicosia is the company’s
Menswear Design Director since
2012 and Fran Stringer was an-
nounced as the Womenswear Di-
rector in 2016. The Pringle of
Scotland Autumn Winter 2016-17
campaign was shot by photogra-
pher Harley Weir and art direct-
ed by Christopher Simmonds in

In 2000, the brand which was losing around
£4.5m per annum was bought for £6m by Hong
Kong-based S.C. Fang & Sons Company, Ltd.
This marked the end of production at the
factory in Hawick and manufacture in Scot-
land, with all manufacturing outsourced
to Fang's third-party suppliers in Asia.
Pringle still has headquarters in Hawick,
Scotland and a flagship store in Glasgow,
and produces some of its limited editions
in Scotland, but much of the work now takes
place in Italy.

In 1967, Pringle of Scotland
was acquired by Joseph Dawson
(Holdings) Limited, who were
later renamed Dawson Interna-
tional Plc. Throughout the
1980s and 1990s leisure and
sportswear played a key role
within the Pringle of Scot-
land brand with top British
golf players including Nick
Faldo and Colin Montgomerie
being sponsored by the group.
It was during the early to
mid 1980s that Pringle be-
come a household name on the

football terraces and still
holds a nostalgic place
in the heart of the casual
movement.

espite its slightly vulnerable position,
Pringle gained a fresh lease of life in the
new millennium, under the leadership of
newly appointed chief executive Kim Wins-
er formerly of Marks & Spencer. A brand
vision and strategy was put in place to
re-establish it as an international luxury
fashion retailer. Winser and Stuart Stock-
dale led the company's efforts to return
to the high-fashion status it had formerly
enjoyed, exhibiting at London Fashion Week
with new designs based on the company's
trademark twinset and Argyle pattern.

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