Don’t Touch Our Scottish Kilts April 22, 2009
Ask almost anyone to think of 5 things that definitely Scottish and they will almost always include the tartan kilt. There was even a time when the English Government banned the Scots from wearing either tartan or the kilt because of the strong pride Scots have about their national dress. Yet anyone in any country can manufacture something that looks like a Scottish Kilt and sell it labeled as a Scottish Kilt.
If however you produce a bottle of sparkling wine and call it Champagne no matter how good it tastes you will feel the full force of the law charging down on you confiscating your stock and serving you with writs to stop immediately. The same legislation protects the Parmesan area of Italy preventing you form producing any foodstuff and describing it as Parmesan unless you are in the immediate area of Parmesan.
Well soon that same copyright brand protection may be available to our Scottish kilt. If this move in the European Parliament succeeds only kilts that were hand sewn, made in Scotland and made from pure wool could be known as a Scottish kilt.
Over the last few years we have seen huge increases in the number of kilts coming into the country from the far east which are then being described as Scottish Kilts. The effect of these cheap imports is damaging our national reputation for quality as people are buying these “Scottish kilts” believing them to have been made in Scotland and then seeing them fall apart after only being worn two or three times.
A professional kilt maker in Scotland will use around 8 metres of a heavy pure wool when making a average size kilt. His length is necessary to give the Scottish Kilt the weight to hang properly when worn by a man. Customers wearing the low quality lightweight kilts are then put off wearing the kilt as they look at the way it hangs on them and believe that the kilt is not designed for their figure. Whereas if they had hired a kilt professionally made in Scotland they would soon realise the kilt can look good and just as important feel right for them.
Once this legislation is in force it is proposed that kilts which do not meet all three quality standards cannot be branded as “Scottish Kilts” but may still be sold simply as kilts.
Similar rules already exist for whisky for example which needs to be distilled and then stored in oak barrels for at least three years before it can be called Scotch Whisky. In the same way feta cheese can only be so called if it was made in Greece, and Edam cheese whose name can only be applied if it was made in The Netherlands.
By the way we are aware that in Scotland by tradition the plural of kilt is “kilt” not “kilts” but it was easier to use the form that most people would understand rather the correct format.
In future articles we will be featuring on how you can become a Laird or Lady in the exact same traditional way used by most of the clan chiefs over many centuries.