A West Lothian man is realising his dream after launching his own ‘Scottish banter’ clothing brand.
Derek Mcewan, 48, who lives in Bathgate and works as a crane driver full-time, decided to launch his own brand, 176 clothing, with the support of his girlfriend Gill.
The native Glaswegian had in the past created t-shirts he’d wear at music festivals which would have provocative Scottish branding or slogans.
In its infancy, the brand has already been able to boast Scottish celebs such as Tam Cowan amongst their customers. Derek said a number of his designs were inspired from his time living in Glasgow.
“I have always been interested in designing my own clothes ever since I started going clubbing in the 90’s,” he said.
“I was motivated through making my own t-shirts as I continued to get older and was still getting a lot of compliments on them.
“But it was around two summers ago when the stars aligned to give me some free time and the inspiration to chase the dream. I was stood down on a job and had a week to myself in an Airbnb on Lewis.
“This was when I decided to research opening my own website.”
176 clothing was birthed with Derek keen to try to create a unique, and profane, Scottish banter clothing brand. He said his motivation was to design bold, provocative items which would act as ‘conversation starters.’
“I wanted to make something that is high quality but also stands out,” he said. “What I’ve enjoyed most is the satisfaction of seeing someone wearing one of my t-shirts/hoodies.
“I’ve had ok success so far and I’ve had a few celebrities who have worn them like Tam Cowan. I would love for this to become my full time job at some point.
“The most challenging obstacle for me so far has been the social media game because at the moment it’s all online. Generating posts and getting interaction with my posts as well as driving traffic to the website is a work in progress but I’m learning all the time.”
Derek has said he hopes 176 clothing can become his full-time job in the future and he is committed to coming up with new designs as he evolves the business. He added he has received great support from those closest to him in his venture.
“Those close to me have been nothing but supportive to me, we have a few other entrepreneurs in the family and we all like to support each other and generally if we go to gigs or festivals I’m the guy they come to for t-shirts,” he said. “My advice to anyone wanting to follow their dream is don’t wait, try it you’ll never know.
“It took me over 20 years to actually take the plunge and even with the limited success I’ve had so far I can still say that I run and own a clothing brand that I’m very proud of.”
You can visit the 176 clothing website here.
Don’t miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here.