Lee & Sons covers more bases with acquisition of Highland Gear

Lee & Sons Bagpipes of Surrey, British Columbia, has made a strategic business move by acquiring Highland Gear of Ontario, innovators and manufacturers of bagcovers and other accessories for pipers and drummers.

The deal sees Lee & Sons acquire Highland Gear’s machinery, inventory, and intellectual property, complementing the company’s popular line of bagpipes and pipe bags.

Highland Gear was started by piper Greg Scott in the early 1990s. He recognized that bagcovers were a serious gap in the market when he realized that pipers were using rubber patches and scouring pads to try to secure their often ill-fitting covers.

In one famous instance, a Grade 1 band pipe-major even cut out the entire left side of his kilt jacket to keep the bag pressed more securely against his ribs.

In addition to bagcovers, Highland Gear has launched product extensions like custom waterproof covers for pipe band drums, custom embroidered flashes, and products for storing complete uniforms.

Similarly, Lee & Sons recognized the demand for pipe bags, and, for almost two decades, world-renowned piper Jack Lee and his elder son Andrew – also a highly accomplished piper – have offered custom-sized products of various materials and attributes to suit a myriad of pipers’ personal preferences.

In between their visit to Ontario to immerse themselves in Greg Scott’s manufacturing techniques and machinery, we met by video with Jack Lee, Andrew Lee and Greg Scott to discuss the acquisition, the evolution of the bagcover, an under-appreciated but vital part of every piper’s setup, and what the future might hold.

Here’s the text of our conversation, with minor edits for written clarity.

pipes|drums: It’s October 6th, 2025, and we’ve got exciting news from the piping and drumming world with Highland Gear being acquired by Lee & Sons Bagpipes.

And we’re really pleased to have, of course, Greg Scott, who’s the founder and owner – until now – of Highland Gear, coming from Ontario, Jack Lee from Surrey, British Columbia, and Andrew Lee, also from Surrey, British Columbia.

Congratulations on the deal. It’s an important consolidation for the piping and drumming world. Let’s talk about it a little bit.

Greg, congratulations to you on creating a product line for the piping and drumming world of bagcovers and other accessories for pipers and drummers. Why was it the right time to bring in Lee & Sons?

Greg Scott: Thank you. I’d been thinking about an exit strategy for a while. For those who don’t know, I’ve got Parkinson’s, and over the last six to eight months, I’ve noticed a bit of a slowdown, not able to keep up as much as I’d like. And then just the call came out of the blue from Jack asking if I was interested in selling. I thought about it, talked about it with my wife, and it seemed like a good time to maybe get out and hit retirement.

pipes|drums: We’re sorry to hear about your health problems and wish you nothing but the best.

Greg Scott: Thanks.

pipes|drums: Jack and Andrew, congratulations to you, too. You’re incorporating Highland Gear. Will that part of your business still operate under the Highland Gear name?

Jack Lee: Thank you. Most definitely. We view the Highland Gear product line and Greg Scott as the absolute best. It’s a fabulous product.

“Greg Scott is a pioneer.” – Jack Lee

I don’t know if people know this, but Greg is a pioneer. He was the first one to come up with the idea of commercially putting a zipper in a pipe bag. He was the first one to come up with closing the back of a bag with Velcro. When I was a kid, the bagcovers just flopped around in the breeze back there. And definitely the first one to come up with using DICEM.

So at Lee and Sons we think we make a high-quality pipe bag and we’re very busy making pipe bags. And we thought the Highland Gear bagcover is just the absolute best. And it would be a great fit for us to expand our business and go brilliantly with our pipe bags and bagpipes. And the Highland Gear brand is so good. We want to keep the name Highland Gear going strong and really carry on Greg’s excellent work.

pipes|drums: It seems like a ubiquitous pipe bagcover, like every top-level and then some band in the world is using Highland Gear products. Andrew, are you going to be directly involved in making the bags yourself?

Andrew Lee: My primary job is turning bagpipes, so that will continue to be my primary focus, but I’m involved in all different stages of the manufacturing, whether it be the pipe bags, bagcovers, or all the other products that Highland Gear offers. I look forward to being involved in all of it, but again, my primary focus is turning bagpipes.

pipes|drums: Bagcovers, even though they’re ubiquitous and important, are often overlooked as being sort of a crucial piece of the instrument. A bad bagcover can create havoc for pipers. Greg has done such a great job of maintaining bag stability through the bagcover. Is it even possible to improve on the pipe bagcover?

Jack Lee: Definitely. Andrew, why don’t you talk about that?

“We’re always taking customer feedback on all our products. So, if things come up in the future, we are definitely open to improvements, whether that be in the actual product itself or the manufacturing process.” – Andrew Lee

Andrew Lee: We feel that over the last 30 years, Greg has, like you say, pretty much perfected the bagcover. Our main objective is to continue his high standards and make sure that the customers who have become accustomed to such a great product continue to receive that. But at the same time, we’re always taking customer feedback on all our products. So, if things come up in the future, we are definitely open to improvements, whether that be in the actual product itself or the manufacturing process.

pipes|drums: And if you think about it right now, Lee & Sons are making almost everything involved with the instrument: drones, chanters, reeds, bags, and now bagcovers. The only things left are maybe cords and pipe cases. Any plans for wrapping up the entire instrument under one roof?

Jack Lee: Ha! Well, we do sell cords as well. But we no longer manufacture reeds. We sell a lot of different brands of reeds, but we’re enjoying what we’re doing and we’re looking for more and more ways to make good products, to be kind of a one-stop shop for pipers, get an instrument fully decked out, looking good, sounding great. So goodness knows what we’ll get up to next.

pipes|drums: You’ve always got things up your sleeve. Jack, now that you’ve stepped down from competing with the band, you must have all this spare time. What’s next for Lee & Sons?

Andrew Lee: We have a pipe chanter in the prototype stages. It’s not currently out to market, but we’re really happy with it. Jack’s been playing it for the last two years in solos, and we’re looking forward to bringing that to market fairly soon – there is no definitive date, but it will go along the lines of trying to be a one-stop shop, hopefully eventually making the entire instrument pipers will need to produce a great sound and have a product that will last a long time.

pipes|drums: And Greg, will we still be seeing you around the games, at least in the Ontario area? You’re retired too, so hopefully you have more time.

Greg Scott: Oh, yeah, I still plan to play and give it another go next summer and be helping out stewarding at pretty much all the Ontario games. I’ll be out and about.

Andrew Lee: And Greg will be playing a shiny new set of Lee & Sons bagpipes at that point.

Jack Lee: Happy for us, Greg is going to be a consultant, help us with the transition. He has so much knowledge in that impressive mind of his. We want to tap into it. Greg is going to be out here with us from time to time.

pipes|drums: Well, Greg, we’ve seen firsthand the products that you’ve brought to market, always innovating, always thinking, and Jack and Andrew, the same goes to you. We’ll look forward to the next step for Lee & Sons and all the spanking new bagcovers coming out and new developments from the company. Congratulations once again, all the best to you. We will stay tuned.

All: Thank you.