SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE JULY 2016
New Scotland Clothing Co.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • JULY 2016
Even they admit that their accent is hard to pinpoint. It is not quite the “Scottish twang” of their emigrant grandmother. They have been mistaken as Irish on more than one occasion. But like their products, they are Nova Scotia made, accent and all. They are Dartmouth brothers Scott and Kevin Saccary, co-founders of New Scotland Clothing Company. You have probably seen their retail line whether you realize it or not. Since debuting in late fall 2014, it has been shipped to six continents. T-shirts, hoodies, and onesies emblazoned with a rampant lion are proudly worn the world over. For some, it is their first tangible connection to Nova Scotia. For others, it is a symbol that connects them with a part of who they are.
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JULY 2016 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS
By David MacDonald E nthusiasm for New Scotland Clothing Company products is not simply the result of marketing and brand recognition. The image of the rampant lion is embedded in the hearts of all those who love Nova Scotia, which, for you Jeopardy players, is Latin for “New Scotland”. The modern flag of Nova Scotia is more-or-less a banner adapted from a coat of arms granted in 1625 to what was then a Scottish colony. At its centre: the very same rampant lion that adorns the Royal Standard of Scotland as well as the Royal Standard of Canada. It is a symbol folks growing up and living in the peninsular and island Maritime province on Canada’s east coast are accustomed to seeing on diplomas, in the artwork of pub signs, slapped onto the guitar and bagpipe cases of talented buskers who line the Halifax Waterfront each summer, and proudly displayed on the bumpers of east-bound trucks with Alberta license plates. “It’s a bold and powerful figure,” Kevin explains. The brand is popular because it is culturally relevant before it is stylish. “We’ve been at markets and sales events where people come right up to us, pull up their sleeve or show us their back or what have you, and there’s a tattoo of the rampant lion we designed. They usually give us a big thumbs-up – or something – because they recognize what we’re doing,” explains Kevin. “We’ve been at markets and sales events where people come right up to us, pull up their sleeve or show us their back or what have you, and there’s a tattoo of the rampant lion we designed. They
usually give us a big thumbs-up – or something – because they recognize what we’re doing.”
What they are doing is as much a celebration of who the Saccary brothers are as it is entrepreneurship gone right. First and foremost, the brothers are curlers, which, again for you trivia buffs, is a sport of mediaeval Scottish
invention. “We grew up curling at the Dartmouth Curling Club and are still active members,” Kevin boasts. “My grandmother who originally came from Scotland was curling into her 70s. She loves her tea and still loves the sport in her 90s. Original- ly in their mind’s eye, New Scotland Clothing Company was going to be a line of curling apparel. “We were really trying to design something that exemplified the Scottish pride that so many of us curlers have in Nova Scotia,” Scott recalls. And the Saccarys have had occasion to swell with pride for their province in the world of competitive curling. In 2002 and 2003, the brothers wore Nova Scotia colours alongside their team- mates at the Canadian Junior Cham- pionships. But the pursuit did not end there. “A kid growing up playing
hockey, his dream is to win the Stanley Cup. For me and curlers across Canada it is to win the Provincial Curling Championships and then represent your province at the Stanley Cup of Canadian curling, which is the Brier,” explains Scott. Scott lived his dream this past March in Ottawa, Ontario. Keeping things relevant to who they are and what they represent is more at the heart of the business model and the success at New Scotland Clothing Company than it seems. “Our customers are constantly telling us that they’re happy to see our labels and know that the majority of our clothing is made in Canada. And soon,” Kevin teases, “we will have Nova Scotia made products!” Stanfield’s Limited, a 160-year-old family owned garment manufacturer out of Truro, Nova Scotia whose progeny are amongst the mainstays in Nova Scotia provincial politics and infrastructure – Robert Stanfield, the namesake of the Halifax Stanfield International Airport was the grandson of company founder, Charles Stanfield and the 17th Premier of Nova Scotia as well as the Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1967-1976 – is eager to do business with New Scotland Clothing Company. “It’s quite exciting to be able to say that you are collaborating with a 160-year-old Canadian company,” explains Scott,” but to be able to follow our main goal, staying local and using local content all at the same time, makes it that much better.” “We were really trying to design something that exemplified the Scottish pride that so many of us curlers have in Nova Scotia.” “We’ve had a dialogue dating back to early 2015 with Jon Stanfield, President of Stanfield’s Limited,” Kevin recalls. “Just last year we sat down for lunch together and now we are an authorized retailer of their Truro made products with our private labels printed on. The first t-shirt design will debut later this summer and it’s really exciting, not to mention some speciality underwear and sweaters we have stocked already.” The Saccary name seems to be a good fit alongside the Stanfield name. On May 7 New Scotland Clothing Company launched a kiosk at the Halifax Stanfield Inter- national Airport to great applause. New Scotland Clothing Company products can also be found near the world famous Murphy’s: The Cable Wharf Restaurant on the historic Halifax waterfront from where the iconic Bluenose II schooner departs twice daily. Their standalone shop is located beside Historic Properties and the Gahan House Restaurant on the boardwalk.
These satellite locations are 26 minutes and 9 minutes,
a major role in the vibrant urban renewal taking place just off Halifax Harbour. Joel Plaskett, a Canadian rock musician, recently opened New Scotland Yard Emporium, a three-business partnership that features a record store, a coffee shop, and a hair stylist all surrounding his pro- fessional recording studio on Portland Street. “The music industry is huge around here,” Kevin explains, “and Scott and I play a lot of music together. We love going to see local talent and just being around the bands and the music. Scott is well on his way, actually. He’s in the middle of recording an album and has actually used Joel’s studio to record some of it, and it should be released in the months to come.” Plaskett has also enabled the Saccarys to realize another passion of theirs: giving back. In 2015, Plaskett reached out and asked the brothers to join him along with the “Friends of the Khyber” volunteer group in a fundrais- ing effort to save the registered Historic Property known as The Khyber in Downtown Halifax. “We did t-shirts for them and all of the money went back to save what is now called The Khyber Centre for the Arts,” Kevin says. Scott has been a member of the Canadian Progress Club – Halifax for four years and is no stranger to ambitious charitable events. “Last year I was the chair for one of our
respectively, away from New Scotland Clothing Compa- ny’s home base in Downtown Dartmouth. “We opened our very first location back in May at 20 Wentworth Street – which is just a stone’s throw away from our curling club. We always knew we wanted to be a Dartmouth company located in Dartmouth. We started asking around and came across Kate Hamilton, the owner of Bodega Boutique, who was planning to expand to a larger location downtown. It worked perfectly because we get to be in the middle of the growing and vibrant Downtown Dartmouth Commu- nity,” Kevin explains. “My wife and I are in the process of putting our home up for sale so that we can move downtown and raise our kids there like we were. There are a lot of new, young families doing the same thing – it’s an exciting time.” Scott lives on Lake Banook which is right in the heart of historic Dartmouth, just minutes away from their shop on Wentworth Street. “It’s quite overwhelming to be able to say that you are collaborating with a 160-year- old Canadian company.”
For those unfamiliar with Downtown Dartmouth, Went- worth St. intersects with Portland St., which has played
major events, The Big Spring Auction & Gala. We sold out the Cunard Centre downtown and had over 700 people for dinner. We raised over $120,000 – which is huge. I’m very passionate about that kind of thing. We’re constantly giving away products to silent auctions and fundraisers.” “The other organization we’ve committed to working with in December 2016 is the MS Society of Canada – Atlantic Division,” Kevin explains. “We were at the MS Walk in May and realized we could create a hook to donate more. We’re still in the planning stages with them but it might be a special shirt we design and donate money to the Atlantic Division based on its sales. That’s a pretty special one. It’s close to home, I guess. I actually have MS myself. I was diagnosed in 2008, right in the heart of my curling - right when we were kind of at the top of our game. I’m still super competitive, but it slows me down a little bit. The driving force behind this company, for me, has been the fact that I don’t want to slow down; I want to keep going and that’s why I push myself every single day. What we’ve done, I think, in the last year- and-a-half is pretty amazing. Building our web presence. Selling more than 7,500 units. Shipping products to the U.S.,
Europe, New Zealand, Scotland, Thailand, South Africa, to name a few. Working 18-hour days. You’ve got to look back at it and think “You did well.” Despite the MS, it’s quite a bit.” “We opened our very first location back in January at 20 Wentworth Street – which is just a stone’s throw away from our curling club. We always knew we wanted to be a Dartmouth company located in Dartmouth.” The Saccary brothers are also a familiar sight through- out the province during festival season. New Scotland Clothing Company is mobile and becoming a regular at annual events like July’s Antigonish Highland Games. If you have not seen The Saccary brothers or the New Scotland Clothing Company brand we are confident that you will soon.
New Scotland Clothing Co.
20 Wentworth Street, Downtown Dartmouth 1 Bell Blvd, Enfield Halifax Waterfront (Next to Gahan House)
www.newscotlandclothing.ca
as spotlighted in the JULY 2016 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
www.spotlightonbusinessmagazine.com
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