Lagavulin creates Islay tartan
Diageo-owned Lagavulin has partnered with designer Simon Goldman and Scotland’s Lovat Mill to create a bespoke tartan inspired by its island home.
The project is the first collaboration between Goldman and Myles Kusaba’s newly launched creative studio, M&S Co.
“Lagavulin whisky has always been defined by Islay, shaped by its landscape, its community, and more than two centuries of craftsmanship and character in every drop,” said Greg Bruce, whisky specialist and blender at the Lagavulin Distillery.
“Tartan speaks to the same idea: a Scottish tradition that carries history forward through craft.
“Bringing the two together is not about novelty, but about continuity, honouring where we come from and showing how heritage can honour the past while shaping the present through cultural reinterpretations today.”
The tartan’s design pulls from the distillery and its surroundings. It features six amber lines to represent the distillery’s six copper stills, while deep brown threads reference the peat burned to give Lagavulin its signature smokiness.
Deep green reflects Islay’s rolling fields, with layers of white, grey, and blue nodding to the whitewashed walls, slate rooftops, rocky coastline, and shifting ocean hues.
Goldman added: “My work is a reflection of the belief that every fabric carries meaning and memory. When Lagavulin came to me with the shared ethos that craft is about more than form and function, but about telling a story, we decided to convey this spirit’s 200-year story through a new medium.
“With my collaborator Myles Kusaba, an expert voice in the world of design, we’re thrilled to share with you the first look at the Lagavulin Islay tartan.”
The first iteration of the tartan is being woven in the looms of Lovat Mill, based in Hawick, known as the ‘historic heart’ of tartan weaving.
The tartan debuted at Coveteur’s Fashion Week Closing Party in New York City yesterday (15 September).
Lagavulin has also enlisted its longstanding partner, actor Nick Offerman, to wear a production run of the tartan, custom-tailored by Martin Greenfield Clothiers.
The whisky brand’s most recent marketing campaign aimed to ‘redefine perceptions of Scotch’.
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