The Royal Mile

[morrison]

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:

I couldn't help myself! As soon as I saw the pix I rushed to GOOGLE Maps street level of the Royal Mile and presto-chango here I found a similar view of the image in the post. How cool is THAT? This.

[OC Richard]

That is just one reason why the above scheme would not work. Another is that it would needlessly punish good, quality expert kilt makers.

From the first, I stated that what I'm for is the banning of the importation of bagpipes, sporrans, and kilts of non-UK make into the UK for resale. This does not affect personal use.

How many Britt Ferguson sporrans and Barbara Tewksbury kilts are imported into Scotland for resale? I don't know, but off the top of my head I would guess very few.

In all the shops on The Royal Mile and in Glasgow I didn't see a single US-made or Canadian-made bagpipe, sporran, or kilt, but many thousands of Indian and Pakistani ones. I think the benefit to the native Scots craftspeople of a ban would far outweigh the loss of a few sales to US and Canadian craftspeople (who after all are not the people I'm trying to support, good people though they be).

[Brian K]

From the first, I stated that what I'm for is the banning of the importation of bagpipes, sporrans, and kilts of non-UK make into the UK for resale. This does not affect personal use.

How many Britt Ferguson sporrans and Barbara Tewksbury kilts are imported into Scotland for resale? I don't know, but off the top of my head I would guess very few.

Thank you for this, Richard. I tried making this point earlier, but I think you have stated it a bit more clearly. Barb Tewksbury, Kathy Lare, Matt Newsome, Lady Chrystel, et al. make one off, bespoke garments instead of off the peg garments for the retail trade. Those who buy their kilts know exactly what they are getting because they have sought them ought for exactly what they are famous for.

I don't know if I would go so far as an outright ban on importation of items for resale, but I think strong truth in labeling laws that leave no room for fudging the details with phrases like "designed in Scotland" would go a long way towards helping with the "tartan tat" problem.

Unfortunately there will always be a market for cheap trash because some people don't really care about the details. Those people will never buy the good stuff because they don't want to pay the price. Banning "tat" will just mean that that stuff is not bought, not that more of the high quality material is purchased, I'm afraid.

I think what is really needed, along with truth in labeling, is a public education campaign. Any ideas, anyone?

Regards,

Brian

[robthehiker]

Unfortunately there will always be a market for cheap trash because some people don't really care about the details. Those people will never buy the good stuff because they don't want to pay the price. Banning "tat" will just mean that that stuff is not bought, not that more of the high quality material is purchased, I'm afraid.

I'm not sure if it's "unfortunate" but this is bang on. There is a huge market for cheap souvenirs like insta-kilts, "see you Jimmy" hats and £20 kilts. If a law was enacted that prevented the import of such goods, I'm sure that entrepreneurs (local or otherwise) would rush to fill the void.

I wonder too if the goods from this store would be allowed under such a proposed law. Made in Scotland AND only £20? They must be good!

[Tobus]

There is a huge market for cheap souvenirs like insta-kilts, "see you Jimmy" hats and £20 kilts. If a law was enacted that prevented the import of such goods, I'm sure that entrepreneurs (local or otherwise) would rush to fill the void.

They might, but their wares would be triple the price. And the tourists would not buy nearly as many as they do now. This would mean less tourist spending on such items, leading to less taxes coming in from them. Good luck getting politicians to agree on any measure that reduces their tax revenue. I'll bet that the politicians actually like these "tartan tat" vendors because of the tax revenue.

[TheNaughtyScot]

Yes, indeed. The Royal Mile is simply for state ceremony and tourism, much like the National Mall in Washinton, DC. All sorts of vendors trying to make a buck off of visitors, but I think that is the way most attractions are. I will say that when my classmates and I visited on a break from our studies, I had to keep them away from the cheap stuff. The real quality goods seem to come from the smaller Scottish towns or Canada, not the cliche spots where you'd expect.

As for the new parliment building, I thought it provided a very unbridled and powerful statement of independence in contrast to the Georgian architecture of the English rule.

-Ian

[morrison]

In all the shops on The Royal Mile and in Glasgow I didn't see a single US-made or Canadian-made bagpipe, sporran, or kilt, but many thousands of Indian and Pakistani ones. I think the benefit to the native Scots craftspeople of a ban would far outweigh the loss of a few sales to US and Canadian craftspeople (who after all are not the people I'm trying to support, good people though they be).

A local economy can be made strong by using locally grown, manufactured, imported raw, unfinished goods and supplies, then selling and exporting finished and further refined product. Buy local, sell abroad. Works for any economy. Even works for services such as financial instruments. A national economy can be strengthened or weakened by its procurement and disposals of goods, and services, Product and labor, Water in dry places and the amount of gold in a claim.
Those shop owners are taking advantage of a capital driven free enterprise economy. Never mind that they risk being taxed out of business. They resort to drastic measures to increase profitability while keeping a wary thumb close to the scale.

[English Bloke]

... As for the new parliment building, I thought it provided a very unbridled and powerful statement of independence in contrast to the Georgian architecture of the English rule...

-Ian

Aaah Ian, how right you are. Those pesky English. Throwing up their awful architecture all over the place since James the sixth and first moved his court from Edinburgh to London in 1603. Who do they think they are?...

[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...

[RockyR]

The line between "promoting" and "exploiting" is a fine one.