Dir. of Scottish Tartan Authority Criticizes Edinburgh Shops

[Monkey@Arms]

Tuesday, 6th February 2007
Scotland

Tue 6 Feb 2007

Royal Mile looks like bazaar - tartan chief

RUSSELL JACKSON

ONE of Scotland's most historic streets has been described as looking "like an Eastern bazaar" by the Scottish Tartan Authority, provoking a furious response from traders.

Shopkeepers on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh hit back at the comments by the authority's director, who claimed the famous thoroughfare was full of tartan tat.

Stores were accused of misleading tourists by selling acrylic kilts for £19.99. But traders insist they are filling a gap in the market, and deny their shops spoil the look of the World Heritage Site.

In the Tartan Herald newsletter Brian Wilton, director of the Scottish Tartan Authority, criticised retailers for passing off acrylic "skirts" as genuine kilts. He wrote: "You would imagine that of all the streets in Edinburgh - indeed, in Scotland - the Royal Mile would epitomise the quality ethos attached to almost everything Scottish.

"However, visitors will know that interspersed with these great Scottish icons are many stretches of pavement that look more like an Eastern bazaar than much-loved architectural and historical gems.

"Probably the most bloodcurdling example is the 'kilts' for as little as £19.99.

"Gullible tourists must rejoice when they see what a bargain they're getting. What we really object to is that these 'kilts' are being passed off as the genuine article. They're not made of wool, and some are not even made in Scotland."

But Shirley Johnson, of the Edinburgh Cashmere Store, insisted: "It's a complete exaggeration to say it resembles a bazaar. Obviously they've not done their homework."

Kafc Kash, who runs the Scotland Shop, also dismissed the criticism. He said: "It's completely unreasonable to say we are misleading people.

"We don't have anything for £19.99. We sell a very wide range of kilts, and the price will depend on the material.""

And Mitch Smith, manager of the Wee Gift Shop, insisted his £20 kilts filled a gap in the market and did not detract from the authentic article.

He said 75 per cent of them were sold to Scots, rather than international tourists. "It's a bit extreme to call it a bazaar," he said. "This is an alternative to a wool kilt, not a replacement."

But Graeme Muir, who runs the Tartan Gift Shop, one of the oldest kilt shops in the world, said cut-price acrylic kilts were hitting his business.

"Normally we'd sell 30 or 40 kilts in November or December, but this year we've sold three. That's because of the cheap fakes."

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=194602007

Best regards,

Jake

[SnakeEyes]

Interesting. I'm not sure I understand why he's so upset though.

[IEScotsman]

Interesting. I'm not sure I understand why he's so upset though.

If I had to guess, I would think he is upset because as the Director of the Scottish Tartan AUTHORITY, he takes a great deal of pride in the representation of the culture, history, heritage, and meaning that is a kilt. When he sees male "skirts" sold as kilts, he probably becomes very disappointed.

I can't wait to see this for myself when I get to Scotland.

[Tattoo Bradley]

Wow. Fightin' words eh?

[Retro Red]

Graeme of Arizona Kilts showed me this article last week except his print-out had a couple pics of the price tags. On these price tags they were not only using the old sales ploy of showing the "original" price & then the "marked down to" price to make you think you were getting some great bargain, but very deceptively the tag said, "Fashioned in Scotland". Notice, not "Made in Scotland", but "Fashioned in Scotland" - in other words, they're trying to deceive people into believing this is a kilt made in Scotland when in reality it most likely was made by some poorly paid woman or child in Pakistan. (Can you say sweat-shop?)

What a shame that these cheap knock-offs are hurting the Scottish kilt industry, as the last 2 paragraphs show, but that this would be taking place on Scotland's most prestigious boulevard, the Royal Mile, is tragic & a travesty!
.

[Presuming Ed]

... but that this would be taking place on Scotland's most prestigious boulevard, the Royal Mile, is tragic & a travesty!

Don't really think that the Royal Mile is "Scotland's most prestigious boulevard" by a long chalk; it's always had a significant number of shops selling tourist tat. The New Town is much nicer - George St has a much, much higher collection of upmarket shops.

[davedove]

What Matt Says is right. It's not so much the selling of the cheap kilts. After all, it is a free market and everything has it's place. It's the misrepresentation that's the problem.

they're trying to deceive people into believing this is a kilt made in Scotland when in reality it most likely was made by some poorly paid woman or child in Pakistan. (Can you say sweat-shop?)

It doesn't even have to be sweat shop conditions. It could be a perfectly reasonable shop that pays the equivalent of 50 cents an hour, which while it seems slave wages to us, would actually be a phenomenal wage in Pakistan, where the minimum wage is about 25 cents an hour. We have to be careful about using the sweat shop label. While I'm sure they exist, for the most part it's just different standards of living that cause the cheaper labor.

[McClef]

I should also point out that such establishments as these are not just limited to the Royal Mile, they can also be found in the Princes/George St area.

[Frank McGrath]

Have you been around Capitol Hill in D.C, Now there is Bizarre Bazaar. Any where tourist money is spent, people will sell anything and everything. It really is sad. But, we can just chalk it up to human nature.

[Warlock]

Well you know what they say about opinions...