Time to check out the sporran legion
SANDRA DICK (sdick@edinburghnews.com)
IT is, of course, the definitive iconic item that the world associates with every true Scotsman.
Made from yard upon yard of the finest wool, the muted weave traditionally inspired by nature's palate all skilfully hand sewn to a centuries-old fashion.
Like the skirl of the bagpipes, buttery shortbread or Auld Lang Syne tearfully sung on a frosty New Year's Day washed down with a peaty nip, the kilt is seen the globe over as having "Made in Scotland" stamped right through it.
Unless, perhaps, it's a £20 version made in some far-flung sweatshop in an indeterminable chequered manmade weave.
Mounting despair over the quality of tartanwear on sale at a string of Royal Mile tourist shops combined with news of proposals for a new national tartan register - aimed at cataloguing tartan designs from around the world in one place - has sparked a fresh debate over just what makes Scotland's national dress.
And, just as Parma ham must come from Parma, bubbly is mere fizz unless it was made in the French region of Champagne and whisky is protected by an internationally recognised trademark, so, some argue, the time has come for legislation to ensure only Highland dress made in Scotland to exacting standards should dare to bear the official title "kilt".
The call for rules to protect Scotland's national dress and ensure only quality fabric can carry the description "tartan" is being led by Graham Russell, chairman of the Edinburgh branch of the Federation of Small Businesses.
"The kilt is part of the national identity, it is something that the people of Scotland should be proud of. But a great deal of what is sold under the name of being tartan is plaid, or worse, checks," he argues. "And the items which are being called 'kilts' are nothing better than mini skirts.
"Look at malt whisky, Parma ham and other items that are branded through where they are produced. They have a clear requirement that they meet a certain standard. You can't make whisky in England and sell it as the real thing - it has to be made in Scotland, that is highly protected and rightly so.
"Yet we have an item of national dress that has been vulgarised by it being manufactured anywhere in the world down to a poor quality. These items are being sold to honest, trusting tourists who think they are taking home something that is part of Scotland's national dress.
"I have actually seen 'kilts' on sale with sporrans printed on the front - it might be a joke but it is vulgarising Scotland's national dress."
High Street kiltmaker Geoffrey Nicholsby - whose Castlehill shop is surrounded by outlets specialising in cut-price "leisure" kilts - agrees that there is the need for some kind of quality branding to ensure anything marketed as a kilt meets stringent standards.
"Our competitors are selling gent's full kilts at £130. I know that can't be a handmade, eight-yard kilt in quality wool for that price because it simply can't be done. So what is being sold is either a light, poor quality cloth or there isn't enough fabric to make a proper kilt," he says.
"At least if there is some kind of regulation whereby the word 'tartan' refers to a material that has been woven in Scotland, then it would at least help stop the cheap imports of cloths made in India, Pakistan and China."
His business, Geoffrey Tailor, produces kilts made from - depending on the customer's size - eight yards of full weight worsted fabric and his traditional kilts are hand sewn.
But despite urging a national standard to protect the integrity of the true kilt, he has no quibble with "fashion" kilts in alternative fabrics ranging from leather to denim - in fact, his son Howie, pioneered them.
"Yes, we make modern kilts," he admits. "But we do not pass them off as being handmade if they have been machine made."
"And I'm not against 'junk' tourist shops because they exist in every city. However, they can't be allowed to pass off their junk as the real thing."
Calls for a broader look at the Scottish kilt industry come as the Scottish Parliament prepares to consider a Private Members Bill for a national tartan register, proposed by Tory MSP Jamie McGrigor and backed by many traditional kiltmakers and mills.
The register, he says could include tartans from regiments, clans and even from America and Canadian clubs which have their own style of tartan. "We want to show we are doing something at last to show we are proud of our tartan and get rid of any past image of tartan as being part of the shortbread, tartan and haggis," he adds.
The moves to reclaim tartan follows a Scottish Enterprise study which revealed the Scottish tartan industry to be worth at least £350 million a year. An estimated 10,000 jobs in Scotland are also in some way dependent on the industry. And while the Scottish Tartans Authority and the Scottish Tartans World Register exist to hold records of around 7000 different kinds of tartans, with 150 new designs being created every year, one national register would help eliminate confusion among weavers and kiltmakers.
But while the idea of a tartan register has been widely welcomed, not everyone agrees that there is a desperate need to regulate what is done with the final product.
Alison Adamson-Ross has made kilts by hand for Julia Roberts, Madonna's baby son Rocco and actors Michael Caine and Roger Moore at McPherson Scotland in Grosvener Street, a business launched by her forefathers and which has been established for over six decades. While she is no fan of tartan trash, she believes to legislate would be a bureaucratic nightmare.
"It is very hard for a kiltmaker to compete with the machine- produced kilts, but it is very difficult to say what is right and what is wrong," she says.
"A machine-manufactured kilt is still a kilt even though it's not as good as a hand sewn one. And, although I'm no fan of them, kilts made from, say black cloth instead of tartan, are still kilts.
"And if customers choose to wear a cheap version that is really little more than a lady's skirt, dressed up in all the trinkets, belts and buckles . . . well at least we can have a laugh at them."
This article:
http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1431842007
Last updated: 07-Sep-07 12:06 BST
Originally Posted by ardchoille
Bookmarks