Antarctic Tartan

[JDL]

Does anyone know how to get their hands on the Antarctic tartan? I've seen pictures of it on some posts here and on other websites, and I would love to make a dance kilt out of it someday-but I know it's copyrighted (trademarked?) by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. I don't mind getting it custom woven, I just don't even know where to start getting permission from the UKAHT after scouring their website for contact details. Does anyone else have any hints?

[Steve Ashton]

Try contacting the UK Antarctica Heritage Trust directly.

I found them to be very accommodating when I placed orders for kilt fabric.

If they do not have any fabric on hand they can put you in touch with who may or recommend a weaver.

Tel:+44 (0)1223 355049
Email: info@ukaht.org
Address: High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK

[Riverkilt]

Had one, sold it after I lost weight. A beautiful tartan. Mine was kind of bootlegged. My kiltmaker was able to buy some cloth through the mill - I "think" it was Dalgliesh.

If my memory is correct, the UK folks were a tad disturbed at the transaction. But they were, back then, entirely unresponsive.

I got lucky. Can't hurt to have your kiltmaker ask.

[JDL]

Try contacting the UK Antarctica Heritage Trust directly.

I found them to be very accommodating when I placed orders for kilt fabric.

If they do not have any fabric on hand they can put you in touch with who may or recommend a weaver.

Tel:+44 (0)1223 355049
Email: info@ukaht.org
Address: High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK

I scoured the website for a while and never found the email-that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much!!

[Crazy Dave]

Wow! That is a nice tartan!

Dave

[jthk]

While I don't have the Antarctic tartan, I do have a kilt made in the Arctic tartan!

[Barb T]

The tartan was designed originally by Ros Jones, from Mull. Here's the original listing by the Scottish Tartans Authority:

Designed by Rosalind Jones of Celtic Originals. A tartan to help raise money for the British Antarctic Survey, a government organisation for scientific study, and the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, a charity which conserves the Antarctic base of Scott, Shackleton etc. It was launched on 5th May 2000 at the Chedral Flower mart in Washington DC. "White represents the ice-covered continent, ice flows, and the edge of the Antarctic Ocean. Grey represents outcropping rocks, seals and birds. Orange represents lichen, Emperor and King penguin (head) plumage. Yellow also represents penguin plumage and the summer midnight sun. Black and white together depict penguins and whales. Pale blue represents crevasses in the ice and shallow blue icy waters on the ice shelves, whilst dark midnight blue represents the deep Antarctic Ocean and the darkness of the Antarctic winter. The design is based upon the Antarctic?s geography. The light square of white at the edge of the sett represents the light of the Antarctic summer on the ice-covered continent. This is quartered by threads of pale blue. These represent the zero / 360, 90, 180, and 270 lines of longitude. The point where they cross represents the South Pole. Two bands of grey surrounding the white heart depicts nunataks, mountain ranges, and exposed coastal rocks. Around the coast Antarctica?s life forms are found so the colours that follow in the sett, orange, yellow, black and white, represent the wealth of animal life on land and in the seas. Orange also represents the lichens that encrust the rocks. Surrounding the land, pale blue and white depict the ice shelves whilst the outside is edged by bands of midnight blue for the ocean deeps and dark winters. Each sett is separated by a thin band of white that represents the edge of Antarctica. Where these cross, the Southern Cross is depicted. This viewed diagonally also represents the Scottish saltire, tribute that 2001 is the centenary of Scott?s first expedition to the Antarctic in 1901. This tartan was authorised by B.A.S. - British Antarctic Survey to raise funds for the U.K. Antarctic Heritage Trust. The tartan is sold in several parts of the world - including Port Lockroy in Antarctica."

[Barb T]

Our daughter and her best friend danced for years in the Antarctic and the Arctic respectively. Both pleated to the stripe:



And our daughter's Antarctic kilt from the back; my son-in-law's kilt is Highland Granite (that's the kilt that Steve bought from me years ago when I made a new kilt for Ken for their wedding):