The world of weaving is full of colourful characters and one of the brightest is Robbie Trussler, our main man for production. Robbie set up his own company, Drove Weaving almost as a hobby and it has thrived ever since; such is Robbie’s skill and passion that Drove is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary this year.

A romantic and incisive figure Robbie initially moved to the Scottish Borders at the tender age of 17 in a passionate pursuit of Sheila, his wife to be. Needing work he enrolled in a six week training course at Reid and Taylor, the largest  mill in the area and found the world of weaving very much to his liking. A few other jobs intervened but Robbie was drawn back to weaving being offered a promotion every time.

Whilst at Reid and Taylor, Robbie worked on weaving wool, worsteds and tartan cloths, here he learnt all the skills needed for setting up looms and ways of achieving numerous structures and patterns. One memorable design in the early seventies was a special Luna Tartan initiated by the visit of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the design commemorated the Armstrong family which originated from Langholm.

Internal wranglings within Reid and Taylor gave Robbie an excuse to leave and with the financial help of David from Edinburgh Woollen Millshe made the brave move to set up Drove just along the road in Langholm. At the time the area was still world famous for the quality of it’s woven wools. There were at least six mills employing around 1,500 people all skilled in the numerous arts of turning fleeces into fabrics. Nowadays, it’s a different story and finding skilled labour or young people who wish to learn about the craft is very difficult. Despite this Drove continues to flourish, employing 15 people who produce around 12,000 metres of fabric a month.

Without Robbie I can safely say there would be no Dashing Tweeds. He was (and still is) incredibly supportive, helping us create our futuristic designs and with little grumbling was happy to experiment with the technical difficulties of weaving the high tech yarns we sourced along with wools of all types. Robbie’s years of skill are invaluable, he remembers the golden days when there was so much more variety in the fabrics produced in the area and with his help and your support of our designs we all hope that woven wools will once again reign in fashion.

To keep up to date with some of the latest work at Dashing by Drove Weaving, keep posted on our brand new website and follow us on Instagram here.

P.S. In line with Wool Week, there is a brilliant exhibition of film, photography and artefacts to check out that explores how Britain’s textile industry is being reinvented for the 21st century. ‘Weaving the Future’ will be showing at Salts Mill and will run until the 20th October 2019. Our designs by Drove Weaving will be showcased there, so if you manage to stop by don’t forget to take a picture & tag us!