A Scots postman is punching above his weight after starting up his own designer sportswear business in his bedroom - and now his creations are being worn by the world’s champion boxers. Robbie Campbell , 23, who was born in Alexandria but now lives in Edinburgh began his own sports company ActiveLine wear in late 2022. The year before he’d started reselling Nike and UnderArmour sportswear online and felt there was a gap in the market for a more affordable designer sports and outerwear brand. Robbie, who is himself a keen footballer, explained: “I didn’t agree with the pricing of some of the items I was selling like jackets that cost £120 and felt that I could sell my own quality brand for less. “I got a logo made and went for a brand and then I began looking for manufacturers. I work with a designer so we are always coming up with new ideas and everything we do is reflective so they are visible if you are running in the dark.”
He added: “I was selling a lot of items through Instagram but learned how to do a website myself and how to make the most of social media.” I’ve now seen it grow from something small to getting more traction and I’ve been approached by online retailers who now want to stock my clothing. I’m also supplying to a shop in Glasgow’s Re-Up clothing in the St Enoch Centre. Robbie’s new collection will mean he has more than thirty items on his website and he’s also going to be offering women’s summer collections. At the moment his shorts and T-shirts are his biggest seller alongside his jackets. He said: “We’ve got bright colours and a mint range just now that everyone seems to be loving as well as black and grey that anyone can wear. We try and get the balance between bright colours and neutral colours so it will appeal to different people and I do think the price point is a major selling point. Nike and UnderArmour are selling windbreaker jackets for three or four times the price and it’s too much for a lot of young people.” Robbie was keen his brand would be taken seriously by sportspeople so reached out to some boxers to see if they’d be interested in being ambassadors for his clothing. His designs are now proving to be a knockout with two of them fighting on the biggest stage of them all in coming weeks. Robbie said: “I chanced my luck and it paid off. We've now got Raymond Ford who is based in New Jersey and is going for the WBA featherweight world title shot on March 2 in New York. If he wins he will be the world title holder for the featherweight championship He seems to love the clothes and posts him wearing them all the time.”
EBU Champion Gavin Gwynne who will defend his lightweight title against Mark Chamberlain in March 8 in Saudi as the undercard of Anthony Joshua's fight with Francis Ngannou is also regularly seen in Robbie’s brand. Middleweight Liam Williams also wears ActiveLine and Welterweight champ Chris Kongo is also an ambassador. The brand has gained traction and Robbie is selling across the Uk and Republic of Ireland with other customers in Australia, Amsterdam, Netherlands and beyond. He said: “More retailers are approaching us daily and we have doubled our order numbers every month.” Robbie would love to target footballers and other sports people but acknowledges it might be harder to muscle in on that market. He added: “We are focusing on real sportspeople and my hope is that I will soon be able to concentrate on this full time.” As he prepares to jet out to the States and Saudi Arabia next month, Robbie said “It’s very early days yet but I’m very excited. If I could attain a fraction of the success of Sir Tom Hunter as a Scot in the sportswear market I’d be over the moon.”
MICHELLE Keegan and Mark Wright spent the weekend partying at a Scots estate and country club to celebrate her grandfather Michael’s 90th birthday. Michelle and her family including Scots born dad Mike, and her brother Andrew booked their three day long celebration at Ingliston Estate and Country Club in Bishopton, near Glasgow Airport. Mark, who had also been booked to DJ at the venues Galentine’s lunch party in their grand marquee on Saturday, had initially asked Michelle to join him as an extension of their own Valentines Day celebrations. But, according to insiders, when Mark showed her the swish venue, the couple thought it would be perfect for her grandfathers own party and ended up booking Ingliston’s boutique hotel, function room and some lodges exclusively for their use. Michelle and Mark are believed to have hosted fifty of their own guests at the venue, which also saw Mark party with over five hundred revellers.
The three day long celebration began on Friday when Michelle and Mark were spotted by fellow diners enjoying a meal at the resort’s Palominos restaurant. As she and Mark tucked into their food order from a menu which includes dishes like haggis croquettes, and prawn tempura, they were joined by other Scots born family members who soon took over a large section of the restaurant. The following day Michelle was spotted enjoying time with the horses on-site at the 100 acre country club twenty minutes from Glasgow centre.
She also posted a picture of herself beside her grandfather as they tucked into a pint of Guinness following her breakfast of some square sausage, and told her followers online: “Let the weekend celebrations begin. Happy 90th birthday grandad.” Michelle also made a brief appearance onstage with Mark, her dad, grandad and other family members as revellers chanted her name at the venue during his set, but the star became overwhelmed as she was swamped for pictures from adoring fans.
Later the couple and their relatives and friends headed to the art deco Salerno Suite, which boasts furniture from the Savoy hotel, to carry on with their celebrations. They are believed to have carried on until the wee small hours and left the venue today. An Ingliston spokesperson said: “We were delighted to host Mark Wright, Michelle Keegan and their family for what turned out to be a momentous occasion. It’s not everyday you get to celebrate your grandfathers 90th birthday and we are delighted such a high profile and much loved couple decided to spend his birthday with us. It made our Galentine’s event even more special.” The couple plan a return to the venue which says it has other ‘big name’ announcements coming soon.
NATHAN Evans might be celebrating being at number three on the iTunes chart but he says life has become even more hectic since he became a dad. The Scots charttopper, whose hit sea shanty Wellerman has now been played around the world and even got him on the US Kelly Clarkson show has been wowing fans with his new song Heather On The Hill and he’s juggling performances in between family life. Following an appearance on This Morning Nathan, whose wife Holly gave birth to Hunter in July, told theshowbizlion.com : “It’s been hectic hectic and if it wasn't hectic before it's definitely more hectic when you have a baby, but it’s been incredible.” Following a complicated C section Hunter had to be put on a CPAP machine (which provides air pressure to stop the airways collapsing) and oxygen and was in ICU for two weeks. Nathan said he’s now making brilliant progress. He explained: “He is so good and is amazing, sleeping well, eating well and checking off all the checklist and milestones he needs to hit.” He added: “I think he’s got a musical mind already. Every time I crack out the guitar he's instantly interested, he's trying to touch it, he’s trying to strum the strings, and if I’m just sitting playing songs or whatever, he just sits and watches and listens. “And he’s dead calm so I don't know if I'm just being optimistic but I think he's got a bit of musical ability in him. I might be optimistic right enough.”
Former Aidrie postman Nathan first went viral in 2021 after he posted a sixty second clip of himself in TikTok singing a sea shanty whaling song. Within days the clip had gone viral with Queen guitarist Brian May, composer Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Gary Barlow, Ronan Keating and US chat show king Jimmy Fallon all posting their own versions of his track. Since then he’s been signed and has released an album with a second in the works, as well as performed to legions of fans across Europe. He said: “I've been in Germany quite a lot from playing influencer charity football matches to playing big massive influencer shows to 15,000 people. At New Year's Eve I was the one to bring in the bells for a New Year's Eve at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin which had between 65 to 80,000 people there, which is ridiculous. Luckily the lights were brilliant and I could only see maybe five rows so that was good. It wasn't until I came back and saw it on the screen and I was like, wow that’s a lot of people. That's probably the biggest show I've ever done and it was absolutely crazy. But it's incredible.” Nathan’s latest song Heather on The Hill with its Scottish folk undertones has gained him even more fans. Nathan said: “It's been absolutely mental. So on Wednesday, I had some filming during the day. I first straight from there down to London when I stayed over on Wednesday night, went straight to film on This Morning and then fresh, flew straight home.
I got home, had a shower for 20 minutes and went straight back out for two shows and now I’m doing more filming . It's been a mad couple of weeks but it's been incredible. The new song is upbeat, it's happy, it's like it gets everybody off the feet and dancing and it has that kind of vibe. I wrote it with the boys from Saint Phnx and we just had an idea for a Scottish traditional song. It just makes you feel good so that's kind of why it resonates so much for everybody.”
