If you approached one hundred people and asked each of them to name something Scottish the odds are that almost everyone of them would name the tartan Kilt. After a rebellion against the English Government then ruling our country the English Parliament outlawed Scots from wearing national costume including tartan and the kilt. Yet today any person living in anywhere in the world can set up a factory and make something that looks like a Scottish Kilt and describe it on the label as a Scottish kilt.

Yet you try that with a bottle of sparkling wine and call it champagne and unless it was made using the traditional method anywhere outside a relatively small area of France and you will have the whole European legal system come down on you like a ton of bricks. It is the same with Parmesan that can only be made in a small area of Italy.

It now looks increasingly likely that this brand protection will be offered to our Scottish Kilt. An application has been made to the European parliament to have the Scottish Kilt granted this same designated area protection. This would mean only kilts that have been sewn by hand in Scotland and made from pure wool could be described as Scottish Kilts.

This has arisen because of the influx of cheap imports of kilts from the far east which are now being advertised 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. By comparison a lightweight imported kilt will often use a thinner material and only around five or six yards of tartan type of cloth so it cannot be worn with style and looks wrong when worn. Consequently purchasers of these imports are put off buying any quality kilt as they believe the kilt does not suit them.

Kilts irrespective of origin do not meet all three of the standards may still be sold as kilts but will denied the right to be called “Scottish Kilts”.

By comparison only whisky that has been both distilled and kept in sealed barrels in Scotland for a minimum of three years may 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.

If you want to experience more of the Scottish traditions you could learn about how you become part of the Scottish royalty (or at least become a Laird or Lady in future articles.

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