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Abstract

Scottish cashmere is a luxury product which is sold throughout the world to an international clientele. This article investigates the image of Scottish cashmere that is projected in texts on company websites with a view to establishing how Scottish cashmere companies are promoting themselves to international consumers and what values they are putting forward as inherent to their brands. To date little, if any, research has examined materials used by Scottish textile companies to communicate with consumers about themselves and their products. This study aims to fill that gap, thereby complementing existing work on other industries, including international designer fashion (e.g. Bruce and Kratz 2007; Okonkwo 2007; Fionda and Moore 2009) and the luxury wine industry (e.g. Beverland 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2006); in doing so it contributes to our understanding of image and marketing communications in the luxury textiles industry and of luxury products more generally. Through a detailed thematic analysis a number of attributes are identified, particularly product integrity and relationship to place (i.e. Scotland). The article suggests that studies of luxury brands may wish to pay more attention to issues of place and that further research might complement the findings presented here in relation to whether and how the physical landscape is used in global business and marketing communications. Issues of sustainability, on the other hand, do not appear to feature despite increasing consumer interest in 'responsible luxury'; this may be an area Scottish cashmere companies could look at incorporating into their communications.

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