The Royal Mile

[bchunter]

We just got back late last night from a week in Belfast and Edinburgh. We were in Edinburgh for almost 4 days total, and in that time I saw two dudes in kilts. One was a military personal at the Castle in uniform, and one was another American trudging up High Street towards the Castle. That's it. I felt like a tourist attraction. A camera glitch has lost all photos, too. All in all I was disappointed in the cheap stuff being hawked by many of the vendors along the Royal Mile. I even went into several of the reputable shops, and none kilted in sight. I was surprised.

[Lily]

You,re not the only one.
was there 2 weeks ago and saw it too.
Went to the mill, found out about the homecoming tartan, wanted a (ladies) kilt but they hadn,t it in store.
There was a great change since I was there with the Gathering, a lot of shops are closed and there,s a lot of crapp in other stores to buy.
But my sis and I had a great weekend again.

[cessna152towser]

I'm amazed you didn't see a lot more kiltwearers in Edinburgh, there were thousands of guys out and about in kilts in Edinburgh on Saturday.

[McClef]

Maybe they were a little further west of the Royal Mile though Alex - at a place called Murrayfield?

[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.