A tribute to Todd Whitworth

Todd Whitworth 2002 – 2010

Celtic Sheepskin’s longest serving model, and the family Whitworth’s loving pet, sadly passed away in March this year after braving a severe illness for most of his life. He will be missed by all his family and friends, especially everyone at Celtic Sheepskin.

At only a few months old Todd began posing for pictures, kick starting his modelling career in the 2002/2003 catalogue. Making his debut on page 31 of the catalogue, he proudly flaunted his sheepskin pet blanket that lined his seemingly enormous bed. His Brittany Spaniel pedigree stood him in good stead for his forthcoming career. With his big, brown puppy dog eyes and an eagerness to impress for the camera (with a few treats to help!) it was clear from the start he was going to be a real star at Celtic Sheepskin.

After a string of catalogue features - and he didn’t miss out on any catalogue edition - Todd finally made it to the front cover for Autumn Winter 2007. Expertly posing amongst the professional models, Todd was at ease on his local beach (Crantock Beach, for anyone who knows the area). Here he modelled his dog collar while his model owner held his lead, which he was very careful to follow intensely throughout the shoot!

His images made it as far as Dundee, when in September last year the Sunday Post presented a full-page image of Todd and model owner walking through Colan Woods (the woods are found on the outskirts of Newquay). Todd patiently walked beside the male human model, and even though he wasn’t wearing anything of Celtic himself, we think he made that photo!

At 56 years old in dog years, Todd was able to finish his final shoot for the new Autumn Winter 2010 catalogue earlier this year. So at the end of August this year, everyone will be able to see his final work –and I’ll make sure there is a post in his honour to mark that too.

As any true professional would, Todd has handed over his lead to another. Directors Nick and Kath Whitworth along with their children Mike and Clare will soon be travelling to Birmingham to pick up the new little bundle that came into the world only a few weeks ago. So keep an eye out for some beautiful puppy pictures that will soon be flooding this blog!

It's festival time, and they're not just for the fashionistas!

The media has been quick to jump on the festival vibe and pull out collections of on-trend festival clothing. For many this has been of vital information and for the rest it’s gone unnoticed, as they prefer not to get wrapped up in the latest “keep my hands free” bag –and who in their right mind would take a clutch bag to a festival anyway?

Don’t get me wrong, Celtic Sheepskin could shout about our festival gear. We’ve got Gum Boots, Gilets, Waterproof Jackets and the all important “no hand” bags and back packs to make your festival experience even better. Only the other day our wellies were mentioned in an online chat for festival gear by Alice Olins at The Times; http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article7110778.ece

But when it comes down to it festivals are an event of celebration, whether the focus is on music, films or just local crafts. I rationalise the “what to wear” phenomenon as choosing the cherry for the yummy chocolate cake. So underneath Celtic’s sweet cherry of festival clothing, we’ve got a scrummy sugary cake to consider as well. (This blog is making me quite hungry!)

Based in Newquay we’re very proud of our local festival “Run To The Sun” and as I type this I’m sitting in the sunshine, which is making me very confident that our Spring Bank Holiday festival will be justly named. The aim of the long weekend is to cram as many VW cars into our petite town and watch teenagers flock to listen to the bands as “grown ups” show off their Volkswagen wheels. Have a gander at the site if you’ve time http://www.runtothesun.co.uk/

We are always hearing about the big festivals, but it would be nice to learn more about the smaller festivals - the ones that don’t get the media spot light but generate a lot of local support. For instance there’s Bristol festival in September that sounds like a blast and in June Newcastle’s Green Festival is returning after being cancelled last year because their funds couldn’t be accounted for. So let’s hope for their sake they can make a real come back this year!

The bosses of Celtic Sheepskin; Nick and Kath Whitworth and how they work together

Husband and wife Nick & Kath Whitworth became joint directors of Celtic Sheepskin after taking over the (then) small Cornish business in August 1990. Now with two grown-up children and a thriving business they have come along way in those twenty years. Their success can be attributed to the very clear roles they each hold in the business; Nick takes the lead in sales and distribution while Kath looks after the design and manufacturing side of the company. Their relationship is cleverly balanced with love, understanding and experience of their individual business responsibilities, coming together and discussing all major decisions.

Family business teams aren’t unique, but they are admired. There’s an intrinsic need to balance friendliness and business -the hard nose partner approach simply doesn’t work. Nick and Kath were clever to realise this from the beginning and their smart teamwork has seen the business deliver an average 30% per year organic growth with current annual sales at £6.9 million; quite a leap on from taking over a business in the 90s that had only a few pairs of boots on its books.

Nick and Kath honestly believe in Celtic Sheepskin. They live and breathe it. They do everything in their power to produce items of distinguished quality and to keep to ethical business practices in their control. Living in Cornwall they are privileged to have exceptional beauty on their doorstep and because of this and enjoyment of gardening they’ve been keen to preserve and promote the natural world. They have taken on a great many green initiatives in the company and always use their local Cornish landscape as a backdrop to the catalogue images. Teamwork for the greater good, we think they deserve a medal!

Celtic's Organic Cottons and why we choose to make them in Britain

The subject of producing organic food and clothing has been debated for many years now, and for the most part everyone agrees it is for the greater good that we care about how our livestock is being treated and what fertilisers are used to care for the plants. I briefly did some Google research for this blog, typing “devastation caused by fertilisers” into the search engine and the results were as expected –huge. The list produced by The Fertilizer Guide is enough to make my point, but it’s well worth doing the search for yourself if you don’t believe me (http://www.thefertilizerguide.com/effectsofchemicalfertilizers.html). To read about the main counter argument I typed “bad effects of organic farming” and the results were less clear and very old, with many not convinced of the case against organic farming.

If you agree then I’d like to take you to our next point –making them in Britain. It’s wonderful that many countries are taking on organic farming practices, ensuring the farms we have invested in overseas are being looked after. However at Celtic Sheepskin we wanted to keep the emphasis on buying locally. We believe in paying a fair wage to our own UK workers and the result is high-quality organic clothing, certified by GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard http://www.global-standard.org) Unfortunately we can’t get all our organic clothing made in the UK and a handful is made in Portugal. This is less than 20% of the miles away we would import from if we opted to produce our clothing in China, as we are keen to keep our carbon footprint to minimum levels.

So what delights have we got in our spring collection? Well our gorgeous model Amelie had great fun dancing around on our Cornish beaches and eloquently posing on shore-side decking! In the images above she wears (left to right) Organic Longline Cowl £45, Organic Pointelle Hoodie £56 and Organic Cotton ‘Skress’ £52 all three pieces are made in the UK.

My time at Celtic by Christopher McGovern

I am a second year fashion student and as a part of my course I had to do work placement, and for five days I had the chance to work in the press office and factory of Celtic Sheepskin. Before I got the placement I didn't have much experience in the fashion industry, just my enthusiasm for fashion and my experience in my degree, and straight away I was amazed how friendly everyone was! From the media fashion films and stories you get the impression that the devil actually wears Prada, but everyone greeted me with a smile and everyone knew each and everyone else's name. The size and the efficiency of the organisation took me by surprise as well. I knew that in the fashion industry you have to work months ahead, but putting that into practice is a different matter. Charlotte Cole the Press Officer was there at hand to help me even though she must have been moving at a hundred mph. I also learnt methods when using professional computer graphics.

As well as gaining the experience, I learnt the ethics of the company and the brand identity that all the employees work so hard for. I also got to interview one of the directors Kath Whitworth; a woman I have tremendous respect for because of the dedication she has for the company and the brand identity. She will not sacrifice hard work, money or effort for the product.

I have come away with a great deal of experience from Celtic Sheepskin. It was a real eye opener and I don't think this would have been possible without the support of the employees and the time they were willing to give up for me and my degree.

Double Act

After a quick trip to our local café –we love living in Cornwall by the way; Cornish pasty and a sea view, heaven! Anyway… we found May’s Elle Magazine (yes, the copy was almost out of date!) with a feature on “Dream team” (p82) by Lucia Debieux. Lucia chose some favourite bags and shoe combinations, which are gorgeous! It got us thinking about our own styles, and the result is the image you see above.

With a little Photoshop magic we’ve pulled together some great bag & boot/shoe combos that may help you to style your own Celtic wardrobe. Sticking with this season’s trends, we’ve brought together…

Tehidy Bag & Rustic Boots in whisky. The Tehidy was launched last week and the name alone has sparked great conversation on Facebook. They’re following this summers trend for bold colours, and before you suggest sheepskin boots can’t be worn in the summer, consider our British summers and remember that natural fibres breathe!

Suede Crescent Bag and Nubuck and Suede Flip Flops in blue. Double denim is SO in, and perhaps these two aren’t made from cotton, but the shade is bang on for this trend and the style is relaxed as denim is best worn.

Blue Twist Bag and Gum Boots in stone. For those days when the rain aint shining! Nautical stripes are everywhere, and the bold blue bag with its twisting imitation rope is every bit on trend for those sailor types. Then for those amongst you who really do love the ocean waves, Gum Boots are totally the boots for sailing.

Antique Back Pack and Celt Sandals in natural. To tie up this fun bunch of summer loving duets, what better than a pair you can take straight to your favourite festival. The open-air musical season is upon us, so pull on your nude Celt sandals and put a few essentials in your backpack and enjoy the party!

Celtic Sheepskin –why we don’t just do boots

If you read the “about us” section on our website, you’ll learn all about our history and how Celtic Sheepskin was bought by Nick and Kath Whitworth in 1990 with only a few pairs of boots as stock. Twenty years on, the company is considerably bigger -you need only count the number of boots styles & colours we do to get an idea for their popularity. So when we’ve created such a brilliant following for our Celt Boot, why don’t we just do boots?

We dipped our toe in the water with outerwear and accessories for a few years, but our clothing line didn’t officially begin until 2005, for the fifteen years before this we dedicated our talents to mastering the footwear industry. By 2005 we had started telling stories in our catalogue using images of where and how our boots could be worn, choosing pictures of models wearing our footwear in different settings around Cornwall. To create the right mood we wanted to show the whole scene and not just the models feet. Customers who were shopping for our footwear subsequently started to ask where the clothing came from, and were often frustrated that it wasn’t also available to buy from us. So for the autumn season of 2005 we decided to look into making the clothes ourselves, and we haven’t looked back since!

Producing a clothing line is a whole different ball game to sheepskin footwear, but we have always been keen to ensure the same messages run through the entire collection. There are two key rules we apply 1.that they are made using natural products and 2. they are made to the highest quality.

Our fabulous design team work meticulously, considering the smallest detail from a wooden button to a flattering hemline. As a result the clothing range is expanding in popularity and volume every year, and we have learnt many lessons along the way. We are very proud that the majority of our clothing is made in the UK and Ireland, as we are eager to cut down our carbon footprint and invest in our own nation’s talented work force. We ensure local crafts men and women are paid a fair wage and in return we get fabulous clothing and footwear to offer our customers.