DC Dalgliesh

**jsrnephdoc** · 2nd May 25, 07:48 AM

Originally Posted by OC Richard

My first visit to Edinburgh was in 1986 and there were a number of legit Highland Dress shops at that time.

Each subsequent visit has seen the tatting-down of the Royal Mile. Last August the only legit shop was Geoffrey Tailor, a couple people on computer and phone doing online sales and phoned-in hires in a first-storey storage-closet sort of place, not like a normal retail establishment.

Perhaps I'm very lucky. Just about 2 months ago I received my "Lunar" (Barb Tewksbury's approved modification, with no brown stripe because "there's no brown on the moon") tartan kilt made with fabric woven by DC Dalgliesh. I'm sufficiently new at all this that I can't judge the fabric myself nor even attest to the nature or quality of the selvage (or even spell that word without help), but I really LIKE the garment.

But more on topic, when one lists tourist trap retailers on the Royal Mile, where would Gordon Nicoloson sit on that spectrum? I ask because my wife is infatuated with "The Nursing Tartan" (woven as a restricted tartan by Lochcarron, with completed products sole ONLY by Nicolson, and NONE of those permitted to be kilts. The notion is that every product sold by Nicolson from the fabric includes an (unspecified, I think) contribution to the Scottish National Health Service). When I first saw the fabric in summer 2023 at Lochcarron, I was able to communicate by email with the listed registrant of the tartan (a NHS nurse) who told me that kilts were "not yet" permitted. Indeed, NO garments other than sashes and scarves were, but a few months ago I found a pair of "ex hire" Trews on the Gordon Nicolson website, which seemed to flaunt those restrictions. Now, I'm waiting for a new weaving, after which Dr. Tewksbury will supposedly have access to fabric to make a kilt for my spouse, but Nicolson seems to have been rather uncommunicative about just when the fabric will be available. I'm told they maintain a "kilt making academy," but now I'm wondering whether perhaps they should be treated with the same suspicion as other tourist trap establishments. When we visited Edinburgh in 2023 I did not set foot in their store although we walked by it several times.

Comments?