Edinburgh Woolen Mill payrolling the "Dear Leader"

[Phil]

It seems that Edinburgh Woollen Mill are selling cashmere garments made in Mongolia by North Korean workers. Very much along the lines of our friends, the Gold Brothers, they carry labels saying "Designed in Scotland" and the wages of the people making them seemingly go direct to the North Korean government. How many nuclear missiles does that finance I wonder?
So you see there is a little more to the corruption of the "Designed in Scotland" label than merely commercial protectionanism. All the unsuspecting tourists who bought the cheapo kilts and cashmere sweaters could well have been subsidising North Korea's nuclear programme if this article is true - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ht/9612939.stm

[Chas]

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill doesn't seem to be be blameless in this business.

The Trading Standards Institute told Newsnight that "on the face of it" labelling a jumper as "Designed in Scotland" and not saying where and how it had been made "could be in breach of the regulations".

Please note: The James Pringle label used by Edinburgh Woollen Mill is not related or linked in any way with the Pringle of Scotland brand.

So how much of what they say can we believe?

Regards

Chas

[English Bloke]

Blimey! What a disappointing shame.

(Did that price tag really say 140 quid! )

[chrisupyonder]

Well Lochcarron of Scotland has been sold to the South Korean fashion firm, E-Land.
How long before they transfer manufacture to the far east?
But there again their economies are growing while ours are in decline so soon the UK and USA etc. will be cheap labour so it will all come back to us
Also most of your electronics is now made in China.
I think we just have to accept a worldwide market place and live with it but we should be told the truth about where stuff is made so WE can make the decision in what we buy.
I have also heard that most of the wool used in kilt material comes from Australia. UK wool is mostly used in carpets. So is your tank made in Scotland? or should it be labeled "Woven in Scotland from Australian wool"?

Chris.

[Tobus]

I have also heard that most of the wool used in kilt material comes from Australia. UK wool is mostly used in carpets. So is your tank made in Scotland? or should it be labeled "Woven in Scotland from Australian wool"?

VERY good point. I was shocked the first time I heard that little factoid. I had assumed that if my kilt was made in Scotland, of tartan material woven in Scotland, it would have come from Scottish wool. Boy was I wrong! It was made from merino wool of Australian origin. It occurs to me that the Scottish kiltmakers (even the reputable ones) are not telling people that openly. Either they just assume that you already know, or they don't want you to know.

And what's funny is that if it were the same quality wool, but sourced from, say, India, people would be up in arms over it.

[Chas]

And what's funny is that if it were the same quality wool, but sourced from, say, India, people would be up in arms over it.

How many would give up kilt wearing if it was sourced from "shock, horror" Pakistan?

Regards

Chas

[Phil]

I have also heard that most of the wool used in kilt material comes from Australia. UK wool is mostly used in carpets. So is your tank made in Scotland? or should it be labeled "Woven in Scotland from Australian wool"?

Nothing new there. The Australian wool trade goes back to the 19th century and probably earlier. The clipper ships brought bales of the stuff back and even filled the steel masts with bones, probably to make glue. Similarly cotton has been imported from places like Egypt, Jute from Bangladesh. It really is unimportant where the raw materials come from as the finished goods are or were produced here and to a particular standard. If people are not prepared to pay for quality than there are plenty of cheap "knock-off" versions made abroad. I mean who would pay thousands for a Rolex or other Swiss watch when you can buy a replica for under a hundred? Then there are others who, if they can't afford the real thing, prefer to do without.
The actual point, however, seems to be eluding everyone. Garments such as these bearing a "Designed in Scotland" label are obviously meant to deceive unsuspecting tourists as people naturally tend to take such things at face value. What is more sinister, however, is that these unsuspecting people seem to be inadvertently subsidising a totalitarian regime with nuclear ambitions, described by George Bush as part of an "axis of evil".

[figheadair]

I was shocked the first time I heard that little factoid. I had assumed that if my kilt was made in Scotland, of tartan material woven in Scotland, it would have come from Scottish wool. Boy was I wrong! It was made from merino wool of Australian origin.

Unless you have a very soft kilt then the cloth won't be woven from Merino wool as it's too soft and expensive, fine for pullovers suits etc but normally kilt cloth which, if a worsted cloth, will be from a crossbred yarn. Although I've always used such a yarn I've no idea which breeds were crossbred and that was less important than the handle. What I needed was a yarn that performs well and consistantly. The other little factoid to bear in mind is that for years the majority of the Scottish cut (Shearing) went to carpet and tweed production.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The cloth from Fraser & Kirkbright in Canada is, I believe, made from Merino wool, which is why myself and other kilt makers I know who have used the cloth complain about how hard it is to get it to hold a crisp pleat, and also why it tends to feel a bit lighter than a comparable weight cloth from one of the Scottish mills.

Yes, the raw wool used in your tartan cloth was sheared from sheep outside Scotland (largely Australia and New Zealand). And that very expensive Cashmere sweater you purchased on your last trip to Scotland, made by the very reputable Johnston's of Elgin, a family owned business dating back to the 18th century? Do you think that was made from Scottish sheep? The Cashmere region is just a bit south of Inverness.....

Seriously, though, if your kilt is made from cloth woven by Lochcarron, or House of Edgar, or D. C. Dalgliesh, then the cloth was woven in Scotland, from yarns which were spun and died in Scotland. Yes, the raw wool came from another country. I'm sure some of the machinery used in the spinning, dying, and weaving process was also imported from outside the UK. Does any of that mean that you cannot call the finished cloth a Scottish-made product? It was manufactured in Scotland, after all.

I don't think any of the Scottish woolen mills are out to mislead people by not hanging large swing tags on their kilts and other garments saying, "Be Aware! Although the cloth was woven in Scotland, the raw wool for this garment came from Australian sheep!"

They are not trying to hide the fact. Most anyone involved in the trade is fully aware of where the raw wool is sourced from. It's just not something a company would ever think of shouting from the rooftops, any more than they would advertise where the dyes were made, or who manufactures their spools. None of that is secret information, it's just part of the nuts and bolts of the business that the average consumer doesn't bother worrying about.

They advertise the cloth as woven in Scotland, and it is.

This is a far cry from the misleading product labels that say "Designed in Scotland" which appear on the imported tat found on Prinice's Street and at many Highland Games vendors. Those garments are made entirely in Pakistan, but you won't find that on any label, anywhere.

And I think there is another level to this worth considering, and that is the heritage aspect. You may have no problem at all with clothing, in general, made in China, or India, or Mexico, or anywhere else. But tartan is an emblem of heritage. By and large, people wear tartan to honor their Scottish heritage. Having the tartan produced in Scotland adds additional meaning to the garment that cannot be reproduced in another country.