We’ve just had Paisley gin — and now we have Paisley towels!
Talented Margaret McGregor Oliver, another entrepreneurial Buddie, has created a luxury brand during lockdown.
And like Tear Drop gin, Love Towels also gives a full nod to Paisley’s pattern and the thread heritage.
Her fluffy bath linen and spa quality dressing gowns feature the famous tear drop pattern.
Margaret,56, also includes a booklet on the town’s textile industry in every package she ships out.
The boxes all feature the Paisley pattern on the outside and images of the old mills and street names on the inside.
Margaret has spent 36 years in the textile industry and said: “I am passionate about my hometown and hopefully Love Towels can help shine a light on Paisley.
“I think people like a story and this is what I hope I have achieved with the brand.”
Earlier this month we told the story of Paisley couple Louise and Donald Boyd who have launched their own drinks firm Tear Drop Gin.
Margaret returned to the town full-time two years ago after living in South Africa and England.
She has settled in the same area off Renfrew Road where she was from.
Margaret said: “I think being away has made me realise just how good a place Paisley is.
“I think people who have been away and then return see it through different eyes.
“Sometimes it feels as if I am a tourist and I am so keen on the refurbishment of the buildings and regeneration of the town.
“I actually think Paisley is buzzing with different activity at the moment and I love it.”
Her mum Charlotte used to be a supervisor at Woolworths in the High Street and her dad Thomas worked at Rootes in Linwood.
But they quit Scotland in 1975 as the car plant crisis hit and they spent nine years in Pretoria with Margaret, her sister Rosina and brother Jamie.
Margaret met her English husband Lawrence while in Africa and returned to live in the Midlands with him in her twenties. Her textile career has included the towel, sheet and blanket market as well as corporate clothing work where she
dressed British Airways cabin crew to KFC
staff.
Throwing herself back into Paisley life, she immersed herself as a volunteer by being part of the team which helped save the Thomas Coats Memorial church.
That and lockdown helped spark the idea for her new textile brand and it was born on June 8.
She said: “I have leveraged the town’s history with textiles, using the Paisley pattern on the outside of my gift box, the mills and textile street names inside my gift box and every customer gets a little brochure giving the back story.”
By her own admission, she “naively” thought she would walk back into a job in Scotland after leaving Derby, where she had continued to commute for a while.
Margaret said: “I was constantly trying to find a full-time job in the Paisley or Glasgow area but having no joy.
“I then decided voluntary work as a corporate fundraiser on the Thomas Coats church project would be a great thing to be involved in.
“That really inspired me and even during Covid-19 I decided to launch my company.”
She has been promoting her business at the InCube Shop, set up by Renfrewshire Council, in Gilmour Street.
Some sales have lead to return business, which she regards as a true test of the quality of her towels.
The Love Towels booklet features images of all the great Paisley thread factories including the Clarke Mile End domestic finishing mill, the Coats No8 Twisting Mill and the Clarke’s Old Anchor Mill.
And the marketing tells buyers: “The legacy of the textile industry is said to be woven into the character of Paisley people, in particular the women and its streets.
“Townsfolk then and today have a pride and willingness to help and support each other.”
Check out www.lovetowels.co.uk for more information on Margaret’s work.
