Leather goods maker bags funding

About the business

Based in Helensburgh, Leather Guild design, manufacture and wholesale a comprehensive range of leather and tweed accessories such as handbags, wallets and tweed caps. Founded by husband-and-wife team, Mairi and Stephen Clayton, Leather Guild were highly commended in the 2022 Gift of the Year competition with two new and innovative products: Chipsafe – a wallet that allows safe contactless payments without removing the card, and a Dog treat bag - originally commissioned by Balmoral Castle Estate. Leather Guild’s goods are available to purchase from their retail store, Tweedie.

We knew we needed to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic, and Business Gateway helped us by advising on what we could do to build resilience into our business model.

How Business Gateway has helped

During the pandemic, their shop, Tweedie, was closed and other routes to market such as trade shows were cancelled. To adapt, Mairi and Stephen worked with Business Gateway for help with social media and marketing, which has supported business growth through online sales.

Through Business Gateway, Stephen and Mairi received grants from the Local Growth Accelerator Programme which is funded by Argyll and Bute Council.

This funding enabled work that would otherwise have been contracted out to be undertaken locally. The purchase of specialist equipment allowed the couple to move tweed stitching in-house and expand their team by hiring four new members of staff from the local area. This has resulted in greater control for Stephen and Mairi and increased output and flexibility for the business, as they no longer rely on contracted production.

Mairi and Stephen have also benefited from a range of Business Gateway’s growth services, including one to one guidance from a dedicated adviser, specialist advice and Scottish Enterprise support with intellectual property and exporting.

Stephen, Co-founder, PM Leather said: “We knew we needed to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic, and Business Gateway helped us by advising on what we could do to build resilience into our business model. The team then signposted us to funding that enabled us to increase our production in Helensburgh. This has not only ensured our business growth, but kept us based in Argyll and Bute, which is vitally important to both of us.”