Paisley Pattern ‘on trend’ with Pringle

The iconic Paisley Pattern is to feature in luxury knitwear brand, Pringle of Scotland’s, upcoming autumn/winter 2017 collection.

The collaboration occurred after Pringle’s Womenswear Design Director, Fran Stringer, was granted access to the original Paisley Pattern designs during a visit to Paisley Museum. The internationally significant collection is currently valued at £1 million.

In addition to the original designs held at the museum, the archive has also been digitised to allow people to access it for research, education, media and local community reasons as well as commercial purposes.

There are also plans underway for the commercialisation of the Paisley Pattern to support and grow the ambition to connect the town back to the globally-recognised pattern through working with external textile and fashion related industry experts.

In this case Pringle accessed the digital archive to select unique designs for the bespoke creations which will feature in the upcoming collection. Pringle also have a history of using the pattern in their designs having previously used in collections in the 1960s.

Fran Stringer, Womenswear Design Director, said: “There are so many icons in Pringle’s history.

“The archives are always such a rich source of inspiration! Many heritage patterns and signature designs remain relevant today, and we were happy to also work with Paisley in its original form, but printed onto knitwear in much the same way as Pringle first did in the Sixties. I want to continue to celebrate Pringle as the knitwear pioneer that it always has been.”

Pringle announced the Paisley Pattern collaboration as part of a special Paisley-themed exhibition and workshops taking place during London Craft Week.

The event saw collaboration with G F Smith, historic luxury paper makers of Hull, UK City of Culture 2017, Bentleys London and Charles Laurie London with the UK’s largest leather manufacturer, Scottish Leather Group, and two new businesses supported by Renfrewshire business incubator InCube – Misty Concepts and Paisley Pins.

Showcasing Paisley’s textile credentials to the world is part of wide-ranging regeneration plans developed by Renfrewshire Council that will put Paisley back on the global textiles map, boosted by textiles and design festival PaisleyMake.

Makers from Scotland, the UK and around the globe came to Paisley for the inaugural PaisleyMake festival last year – held in partnership with Scotland’s national fashion and textiles organisation Scotland Re:Designed – to be one of the first people to view the complete Paisley Pattern archive.

Jean Cameron, Paisley 2021 Bid Director, said: “Both the Paisley Pattern and Pringle can be recognised throughout the world for celebrating Scottish heritage and this is something we are very proud to support especially as it links with our ambitions set out in our bid for UK City of Culture 2021.

“Partnerships like this amplify the pattern and the town and are part of a much bigger push to use heritage and culture to transform Renfrewshire’s future.”

The collaboration with Pringle celebrates and promotes Paisley’s unique heritage which is also highlighted in the town’s bid for UK City of Culture 2021 submitted to UK Government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport last month.

PaisleyMake returns with a new programme of bespoke and creative events on Monday 28 August 2017. For more information, visit thttps://paisleymake.com.