The Royal Mile

[bchunter]

By Saturday we were motoring our way back southwestardly to catch a ferry back to Belfast.

[OC Richard]

Being an infrequent visitor to Edinburgh, visiting there twice in the 1980's but not again til 2004 and 2007, I was amazed at the difference the interval of time had wrought.

In the 1980's cheap Pakistani and Indian goods had not yet flooded the market and all the shops along the Royal Mile were Scots selling Scottish-made handcrafted goods. There were long-established pipemakers with shops there.

My jaw dropped when in 2004 when I saw shop after shop manned by bearded and turbanned Easterners selling nothing but cheap Eastern bagpipes, sporrans, kilts, etc. Tourists seemed to be unaware that the things they were buying were not Scottish.

In my opinion Scotland should pass laws, such as exist in many other countries, protecting their native industries. Kilts, sporrans, bagpipes, and what-not should not be allowed to be imported into Scotland for resale. (This would allow individual Scots to purchase overseas kilts and bagpipes for their personal use.)

Another thing that struck me about the Royal Mile is the discrepancy between the Castle end and the Holyrood end. Close to the castle were all sorts of nice shops (though touristy) while at the other end were many shuttered, abandoned-looking places.

Oh... another thing about the Holyrood end: the unspeakably hideous Parliament building:



Still a few legit Highland dress houses:

[wildrover]

It makes me think of a battleship.

May I assume that Scottish politicking is a lively business?

AA, that's a great idea. BTW, what's "tat"?

[Nick Fiddes]

Still a few legit Highland dress houses:

Couldn't agree more with your sentiments. But it's ironic you've included a picture of "John Morrison", since it's a venerable old name that's been... erm... how can I phrase this politely... bought up and cynically exploited by Messrs Singh, Singh, and Singh to punt their imported tat with a more upmarket label on it, presumably looking for yet another way to unfairly profit from other people's original work by siting themselves next door to Geoffrey. Don't be fooled by the presentation!

[Brian K]

In the other (closed) thread that McClef so graciously provided a link for, it was suggested that regulation (as that proposed by Howie Nicolsby) of what could or could not be called a Scottish kilt would cast a pall on non-Scottish kilt makers such as Matt Newsome, Barb Tewksbury, Kathy Lare, Lady Chrystel and many other fine craftsmen and women. That was a continued refrain there but since the thread was closed I couldn't respond.

I don't think it would matter a bit. If I understand correctly, wouldn't that sort of oversight or labeling restriction apply principally to those selling off the peg "tartan tat?" Where such rules are needed is wherever people (mainly tourists?) are buying good based on price rather than knowledge and who assume they're getting an authentic product. Someone who does the research and decides to buy a kilt made by Matt, Barb, Kathy or Chrystel is likely in a much better position to make a rational choice and are looking for quality of materials and workmanship rather than price or even origin. When you make that size an investment you're more likely to put some thought into it.

It's the poor guy or gal who says "Oooh..that 20 quid kilt would be a perfect souvenir of our trip to Edinburgh!" who needs protection.

Regards,

Brian

[wildrover]

...would cast a pall on non-Scottish kilt makers such as Matt Newsome, Barb Tewksbury, Kathy Lare, Lady Chrystel and many other fine craftsmen and women.

...

I don't think it would matter a bit. If I understand correctly, wouldn't that sort of oversight or labeling restriction apply principally to those selling off the peg "tartan tat?"

...

It's the poor guy or gal who says "Oooh..that 20 quid kilt would be a perfect souvenir of our trip to Edinburgh!" who needs protection.

Agreed 100% . I still would've bought my kilt from Robert MacDonald.

All they really need, probably, is a large indicator of country of origin, and "Scottish" and "kilt" only used together in certain circumstance. They could pass the law, and I'd still get a kilt Stateside...or in England (the horror! ) if I lived there...or whatever local or reasonably close source I could find.

[robthehiker]

It's the poor guy or gal who says "Oooh..that 20 quid kilt would be a perfect souvenir of our trip to Edinburgh!" who needs protection.

Regards,

Brian

Who's going to protect them from buying cheap cars, cheap wine, cheap food, etc.?

People who are spending 20 quid on a kilt would NOT buy a 250 quid hand-sewn 8 year kilt "if only someone were to educate and protect them".

[Heather MacCain]

Couldn't agree more with your sentiments. But it's ironic you've included a picture of "John Morrison", since it's a venerable old name that's been... erm... how can I phrase this politely... bought up and cynically exploited by Messrs Singh, Singh, and Singh to punt their imported tat with a more upmarket label on it, presumably looking for yet another way to unfairly profit from other people's original work by siting themselves next door to Geoffrey. Don't be fooled by the presentation!

Dear Nick,
thank you for your perspective. As you know I work for "Messrs Singh, Singh, and Singh" so I'd like to make something clear here:
We DO sell cheap imported kilts for tourists and we do not feel it's wrong in any sense. We also do NOT label these items as "Made in Scotland".

We also DO sell made in Scotland kilts and accessories though - especially in John Morrison shop! And this is something many people seem to forget. We have a number of online and offline shops and we have really done a lot to PROMOTE SCOTTISH HERITAGE and Scottish culture all over the world and also to make it more accessible to people. It's really sad that this has not been appreciated at all.

We do appreciate your opinion, however we also believe that it might not be really objective as Scotweb is one of our competitors...

[OC Richard]

We DO sell cheap imported kilts for tourists and we do not feel it's wrong in any sense. We also do NOT label these items as "Made in Scotland".

Ah, but the rub is, are these clearly labelled MADE IN INDIA and MADE IN PAKISTAN? I can't recall seeing any such labels, and at the very least Scotland should require such.

Ignorant tourists don't notice the absence of a MADE IN SCOTLAND label and assume that they're buying Scottish-made goods.

I know, because as a piper I get phone calls on a regular basis from people who bought sets of bagpipes on their travels to Scotland or Ireland who want to come over and begin lessons. In 9 cases out of 10 their pipes turn out to be Pakistani rubbish. They are quite amazed when I tell them that their Scottish pipes are not Scottish in the least, and are quite useless for musical purposes.

[CDNSushi]

Ignorant tourists don't notice the absence of a MADE IN SCOTLAND label and assume that they're buying Scottish-made goods.

I'm not trying to be confrontational here (just in case my post is seen that way) but why are you so concerned about tourists' ignorance? Stop trying to save the ignorant from their own ignorance (because not only do they not realize that they need saving, but you'll give yourself a headache in trying to do so).

As long as YOU know the difference, that's all that counts. As long as your friends, relatives and the people who venture to XMTS to educate themselves about kilts know the difference, then that's what's important. There will always be a market for tat so I'm not going to condemn the Gold Bros. for being good capitalists. If you don't want to buy from them -- fine. Don't. But don't assume that Scotland needs to be saved from them either, necessarily.

As far as the Morrison kilt shop goes, I haven't ordered from them so I can't attest to their quality, but something tells me that it might be the same case as certain craft beers. I have a friend who's a bit of a beer snob. He refuses to drink Budweiser, Miller, Coors, or anything produced for the mass market, because he hates the idea that these beers are made by global mega-corporations. Thing is, as part of my business courses, I did an in-depth analysis of the operations of AB-InBev, and found that MANY of the "craft" beers that my friend enjoys are actually wholly-owned subsidiaries of the company he refuses to support and give his business to.

Now, I COULD tell my friend what I found, but why pi$$ him off? It would serve nothing except to sour his taste for something he currently enjoys. Fact remains, AB-InBev is perfectly capable of producing some mighty fine beers, in spite of it being owned by a global mega-corp. The same way, I'm confident that it IS (at least theoretically) possible for the Gold Bros. to own and operate a kilt shop that does not sell tourist tat.