Current Programme · RTS
Return to Source
Dundee Mills’ programme to acknowledge the source of its name, return its original representative to Dundee and determine, with the city, who or what should succeed him as the new Dundee Baby.
Corporate description
The name crossed the Atlantic. The appointment has now been returned for local consideration.
Reason for return
The source was a city, not a label.
Dundee’s international textile reputation was created by mills, engineers, merchants and, above all, generations of workers. The American company’s historical account associates its name with that reputation.
Return to Source does not claim Dundee’s history or presume to speak for the city. It records the connection, acknowledges the people and place from which the name drew meaning, and asks whether a responsible modern relationship can be established.
The first practical question is one of succession: Dundee Mills’ original infant representative is now 62. The company has instructed him to return to Dundee and supervise the search for the next Dundee Baby.
Filed instruction
The original model has been assigned a final baby-related duty.
Under the revised Notice of Maturity, San Tropat has been appointed Temporary Supervisor of Baby Model Succession. His principal assignment is to return to Dundee, listen to the city and help identify the person, family, group, image, object or other properly Dundee form that should succeed him.
The appointment is not his to make alone. Eligibility, duties, safeguards and the selection method will be developed with Dundee before any public candidacy is created.
Public file
Office: Temporary Supervisor of Baby Model Succession
Primary duty: Find the new Dundee Baby
Appointing authority: Dundee Mills
Work programme
Four connected files. One Dundee recommendation.
The programme combines historical acknowledgement with a public succession process, useful local participation and a documented decision. Activity may proceed only as permissions, partners and resources are established.
RTS-01
Establish the record
Consolidate films, packaging, photographs, product records, public filings and employee accounts relating to Dundee Mills, San Tropat and the company’s use of the Dundee name.
Output: a sourced chronology in which evidence, recollection and correction remain distinguishable.
RTS-02
Write the succession brief
Ask Dundee what the appointment should mean, who or what may be eligible, which public duties are appropriate and how privacy, safeguarding, accessibility and consent should operate.
Output: a Dundee-informed search and appointment brief.
RTS-03
Conduct the search
Invite private expressions of interest and nominations, then develop approved public activity with Dundee residents, families, artists, organisations and places.
Output: a properly consented field of possible successors and appointment formats.
RTS-04
Evaluate and report
Record the evidence, objections, paid local work, participating organisations, public response and practical requirements before recommending whether and how the appointment should proceed.
Output: proceed, revise or close, with reasons stated.
Dundee participation
The city is a participant, not a setting.
Dundee supplies the relevant knowledge, people, organisations, places and authority. Where resources permit, the programme will commission local research, design, photography, performance, production, access support, venue work and other practical contributions rather than treating participation as unpaid scenery.
Paid hours, local expenditure and participating Dundee organisations will be recorded. No employment level, commission or event is promised until its scope, funding and terms have been confirmed.
Listen
Local evidence
Memories, corrections, objections and advice shape the brief.
Commission
Useful local work
Defined creative, technical and operational contributions are paid where commissioned.
Activate
Existing Dundee places
Public activity should direct attention and footfall to local organisations and businesses.
Account
Published impact
Participation, paid hours, local spend and unresolved concerns remain visible.
Programme sequence
Work proceeds in the filed order.
Phase 01
Acknowledge
Establish the record and place the connection before Dundee.
Phase 02
Define
Write the eligibility, duties, safeguards and selection brief with Dundee.
Phase 03
Search
Receive private proposals and conduct approved public activity.
Phase 04
Recommend
Appoint, revise or close the search, with evidence and impact reported.
Separate preliminary file
Adult garment study
San Tropat’s transfer from the Baby Products Division also permits Dundee Mills to examine a preliminary adult-garment hypothesis. This study is not the purpose of the succession search and public interest in the programme will not be treated as product evidence.
Any concept must independently establish user need, dignity, intended use, technical performance, wash life, safety, regulation, manufacturing feasibility, environmental implications and commercial relevance. Qualified users and specialists would be required before development could proceed.
Study status
Product hypothesis: preliminary
Technical programme: not commissioned
Manufacturing arrangement: none
Product certification: none
Commercial launch date: none
Programme status
The assignment has begun. The appointment has not.
Historical review, brief-writing and private submissions may proceed. Public candidates, commissioned work, events, partners and final appointments exist only when separately confirmed.
Historical files under review: active
Public inquiry: open
Succession brief: receiving contributions
Public candidates declared: 0
Successor appointed: 0
Dundee programme facilities committed: 0
Independent public file
Dundee Baby maintains the public side of the programme.
The arm’s-length inquiry invites Dundee to help write the search brief, nominate or express interest, contribute evidence, raise objections and propose paid or partner support.
Initial submissions are reviewed privately. A nomination does not create a public candidacy, and material is not published merely because it has been submitted.
Updated August 2026
