How ex-sailor has boom industry all sewn up

According to Sam Sarkar, 34, a former submariner and warfare officer, a stitch in time not only saves nine but potentially the lives of his customers, which include the Los Angeles Police Department, the US army and the Saudi Arabian royal family.

Mr Sarkar first began to trade in body armour, but became so concerned by the slip-shod stitching of some products on the market that he bought a sewing machine on eBay and attended evening sewing classes so he could design his own range.

His products are helping to save lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sarkar Defence Solutions, based at the Hillington Industrial Estate, sells a range of bullet- and stab-proof vests, bomb blankets, made from a high-strength fabric that protects against shrapnel, protective helmets and demining boots, worn by bomb disposal teams.

“I had to learn to sew so that I could make vests on which I could give a 100 per cent guarantee,” said Mr Sarkar, who was born in India and came to Scotland at the age of 16.

“A soldier or a police officer is issued with just one vest, and it doesn’t matter if the other 10,000 are perfect, if that one vest has a fault then, for him, it could prove fatal.”

While today Mr Sarkar’s customers include the likes of the Spanish navy, for whom he designed a flotation vest, and the Kansas City SWAT teams, who needed new ballistic shields, the first customers for the former sailor’s bespoke products were a pair of Swiss bankers nervous about their personal safety after the economic downturn.

He needed to insure his stitching was strong enough to support Kevlar breast plates capable of stopping a bullet from a 44. Magnum.

“The bankers were happy with the vests, and the business has grown since then,” he said.

Mr Sarkar had joined the Royal Navy in 2001 and took part in a six-month anti-drug operation in the Caribbean as well as trips to Russia and the Baltic sea. When he received a medical discharge in 2006 due to a mild heart condition, he first decided to set himself up as a defence contractor, before going into manufacturing.

The success of the first two bullet-proof vests, which were made at his home in Glasgow, then led to an order for a further 250, at which point Mr Sarkar signed the lease of a unit in Hillington and took on his first employees.

Today, the company employs 13 full-time staff and takes on extra staff when larger contracts require them.