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
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • DECEMBER 2016
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