Kiltmaker designs COP26 tartan inspired by Australian bush fires

A kiltmaker has designed a new tartan for COP26 – inspired by the earth on fire.

Briain Halley who co-owns Slanj Kilts, was inspired by the devastation caused by the 2019-2020 bushfires in Australia, the worst in the country’s history.

The tailor, who has made custom tartans for Barack and Michelle Obama, has turned his attention to the climate crisis as crunch talks get under way in Glasgow.

He works with brother Craig and they sent tartan face masks and scarves to Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg, personalised with their initials.

Brian said: “It’s basically the earth on fire, but obviously tartan is all squares and straight lines so I couldn’t do that.

“But the blue, green and white is supposed to be the earth and then the orange, red and yellow are supposed to be the fire.”

Sir David sent back a “lovely” handwritten thank you note on receiving the gift.

A fifth of all sales of the special face coverings, scarves, ties, bowties and kilts will be donated to charity Friends of the Earth Scotland.

Face masks made with the Climate Emergency tartan have been sent to<meta charset=utf-8>Sir David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg.”/><cite class=cite>Gordon Terris via SWNS</cite></div><figcaption aria-hidden=true>Face masks made with the Climate Emergency tartan have been sent to<meta charset=

The Glasgow-based clothing company is also selling a t-shirt with the iconic design of Lord Kitchener from the First World War.

The t-shirt is printed with ‘Your planet needs you’ above the famous picture of the field marshal pointing.

Brian added: “It’s a wee bit cryptic but there’s a serious message underneath it that everyone needs to do their bit for the climate I think and it’s partly fun.

“At Slanj we’ve done tons of t-shirts over the years and kept them topical, so it was a see souvenir for people for the event.

“It’s a wee bit of fun really.”

“I’m in the clothing business, and all I can do is what I’m good at so hopefully it will help a bit, and the charity’s been very pleased with the funds we’re sending them so far.

“I think tartan can be very effective in raising the profile of a charity.

“It’s the whole Scottish identity you can add to a business or charity.

“I was looking for the biggest charity who worked on climate change and that was the first one I thought.

“It is a UK charity but they’ve got a separate identity, Friends of the Earth Scotland, and it’s specifically them we’re working with.

“I’ve known about the charity for a long time and I was really pleased they were keen to work with us.”