Tartan-lined shopper, made from super-rare vintage "mock leno" woven jute cloth.

This unique shopping bag has been handmade locally, using vintage and reclaimed natural materials. It is a one-off piece, designed and produced to highlight how beautiful jute can be, and to celebrate the level of skill of the women in the jute industry.

The outer body is formed from a very rare "mock leno" woven jute, which is no longer being produced. This fabric was possibly created as a sample in the 1970s or 80s in an attempt to make jute fabric more fashionable in order to boost falling sales. It would require a 4-shaft loom to create, instead of the standard 2-shaft loom. The quality of this fabric is a real testament to the entire jute industry, but especially the skills of the tenters and the predominantly female weavers.

Inside, the bag is lined with a patchwork of locally sourced 100% wool tartan offcuts. These woollen pieces have been sewn together to represent all the different families who were drawn to Dundee to work in the “Juteopolis” mills when employment elsewhere was scarce. The tartan itself was sourced from the Strathmore Woollen Company, which originally started out in a former Forfar jute mill, and who are still trading today.