City company wins £1.4m military clothing deal

Mar 30 2007

A BIRMINGHAM firm is celebrating after being awarded a £1.4m contract to supply sporrans to the new Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Ammo and Co Ltd will provide 5,000 horsehair sporrans over the next four years.

The contract is part of a multimillion-pound deal which sees the new regiment's kilts made in Scotland by Motherwell-based Glensila Kilts and the material provided by Robert Noble of Peebles.

Leeds-based Turner Virr Co Ltd will complete the look with a £1.7m deal to supply trews, jackets, socks and spats.

The new regiment was formed last year from six historic former units, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the Black Watch, the Highlanders, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the King's Own Scottish Borderers and the Royal Scots.

The regiment's new pattern is known as Government Tartan 1A, which has previously been used by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

Announcing the contracts at Edinburgh Castle, armed forces minister Adam Ingram said it was good news for UK business as the MoD had followed EU regulations and had opened up tendering to foreign companies.

He said: "This is good news for Scottish manufacturing and the Scottish economy, the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the MoD. We are all winners here."

The contracts follow a year-long tendering process that saw kilts tested in different weather conditions for their resilience, shape and clarity of pattern by soldiers from the regiment.