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. Such is the close connection between the kilt and the Scottish people that Scots were banned by the foreign English government from wearing the kilt after a rebellion. 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.
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. It is the same with Parmesan that can only be made in a small area of Italy.
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.
Low priced and poor quality kilts have in recent years been exported from mainly India and China which are being advertised as Scottish Kilts even if they have seen the light of day in Scotland. The low quality is damaging our national trade and reputation as they can easily fall apart after being worn only few times. They are also very light-weight so do not have the famous swing for which the Scottish Kilt is famous.
A traditional Scottish Kilt will use around eight yards of pure wool giving it weight and style. 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.
It is proposed that kilts which do not meet all three quality criteria to earn the new standard can still be imported and sold as Kilts but cannot claim to be called “Scottish Kilts”.
The same rules currently apply to Scotch Whisky which needs to be distilled in Scotland and then kept in oak barrels stored in Scotland for a minimum of three years. 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.
Yes I put up my hands and admit that the correct plural form of kilt is kilt not kilts but we wrote for people who were perhaps unaware of this Scottish tradition and felt this would be less confusing.
Are you interested in learning how you can follow the exact same method used by Scottish Clan chiefs who were to become a Laird or Lady in future articles.
