Kilt Shop Employee Not Allowed to Wear Kilt to Work

[McClef]

It's not just GT Greg.

There were no kilts being worn when I visited St Kilda (Nicholsons) in the Canongate and nor have I seen them in Anderson Kilts in Dumfries. Nor at Celtic Craft Centre though I never saw any male staff there to begin with.

I have seen them worn at Highland House of Fraser in Inverness, a shop that was once run by Hector Russell. At least it look like HR are back now in Inverness though as well.

Of course it is down to the owner how they play it but I might feel less sympathy than I would otherwise do when they complain that things are going wrong and have not tried to show their pride in their products by having staff model them.

[GG]

In Denmark, at least, it is normal that sales people working in clothes stores, including those selling expensive brands, can buy the clothes they sell at very favorable prices. Do I need to add that they are also most welcome to wear these clothes to work?

For obvious reasons the managers of say Prada or Hugo Boss stores are not afraid that real persons showing off their products shall make customers come inside, take a look and hurry to next H&M. They should rather fear that their sales people wearing H&M clothes might make some customers think twice.

I think the difference between a kilt on a plastic model and a living person is enormous. A moving kilt provides the impression that a kilt is to be worn, not something, also after the purchase, to be better left on a hanger.

In some cases this might indeed be the incentive to a tourist – or a Scotsman – to buy his first kilt. And even if he eventually should buy this kilt from a tad shop, he is now a potential customer to better kilts.

Even worse, if the high quality kilt maker dares not show off his products on his sales people and the tad shops do utilize this effective parameter, who do you believe, shall become the winner of the game?

I know I’m exaggerating, but should I follow the strategy of these fine but timid kilt makers, believing their kilts should better not be seen on their staff because it inevitably should be only to the benefit of their cheap competitors (customers being unable to tell the difference between an expensive hand sewn tank and an acrylic, to be better at once disposed thing) I should go a step further:

I should rebuild my shop. No windows, just a fine door leading to a lounge equipped with exquisite furniture and lightings. After having invited customers to sit down I should interview them about their wishes, including how often and when they intended to wear the kilt.
Those having answered on a daily basis I should inform how inappropriate it would be and ask them to leave immediately.
Those having said only at special events I should have to fill out a questionnaire, informing about their demographics like nationality, connection to Scotland, age, education, occupation and not least income.

Having analyzed it, I should either ask them to leave or open the door to the secret sales department, where they could, at last, see how a kilt looked like – on a hanger.

[Phil]

It is intriguing how exercised some have become concerning the wearing of kilts by the staff of one or two kilt shops.
As I did try to explain earlier, the majority, in fact all of the shops on the Royal Mile primarily exist to service the tourists who flock to the area. As such, it is indeed puzzling as to why they do not enter into the general razzmatazz expected by tourists. After all who would consider visiting a Disney park if it was not festooned with images of Mickey Mouse et al? Our friend GG I am sure will be only too familiar with similar phenomena at the well-known Legoland attraction in his country.
I do know from personal experience that it is not the practice in Scotland for people to wear kilts to their everyday business activities but surely somewhere such as Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile can prove the exception to this general custom and accommodate the debasement of a national emblem for the sake of tourism and the pursuit of profit generally.
None of this would make the slightest difference to the majority of Edinburgh residents, most of whom choose to shop elsewhere anyway, so where would the harm be? I know myself how I experience a frisson of something or other (could it be pride I wonder?) as I pass these shops, festooned as they are with dummies dressed in back-to-front kilts and other abominations and accompanied by some caterwauling I believe is supposed to represent Scottish music.
Despite all of this, however, I shall continue to frequent those establishments where the staff actually know what they are doing and selling and where the quality is first class. Where I will not be importuned into buying some ill-fitting garment which is quite unsuitable and where I can return at a later date for any alterations my expanding waistline may require. What the staff may be wearing is, however, a matter of complete indifference when it comes to deciding their competence.

[McClef]

But not all visitors to the Royal Mile are as discriminating as yourself, Phil, and many of the rest of us.

Like you, we would value knowledge and service as being far higher considerations but we alone are not enough to provide the quality shops with a thriving business base.

I am still disappointed not to see kilts being worn in good establishments although this in itself is not enough to put me off giving them my business. But I am one of the converted, the cognoscenti etc.

Your average tourist thinks in an entirely different way. The tat shops know that and simple silent dignified protests by the quality shops might be appreciated by the good citizens of Edinburgh but have much less effect upon those against whom they are aimed.

[GG]

I am still disappointed not to see kilts being worn in good establishments...

So am I, or rather I think it is a pity that these fine kilt makers do not do more to increase sales, for example by letting their kilts be seen.

[Mipi]

This thread becomes more and more interesting (and confusing). Suddenly, we are talking of two things; staff in the shop kilt wearing and kilt wearing in general.

Regarding staff wearing kilt in shop it's hard for me to say what would be the best. I can only say that shop owner/management has the right to decide on this question. That doesn't mean I agree with their decision. If the potential kilt buyer sees the good quality kilt on the person, this is definitely good. But it won't save the business.

If you can wear the kilt ONLY on special occasions (and even only in Scotland) why would you bother to even buy it? Or at least why would you buy more then one? If I look at the kilt as a part of Scottish national custom (which it is) than it's doomed to disappearance. You can hardly see Slovenian national custom and definitely can't buy it in the shop (might be wrong here). All are made by seamstress in very small quantities, so you can imagine price.

But I understand the Scottish concerns about kilt wearing more and more. Could be I would be offended if I would notice somebody is wearing my national custom in a very wrong way or mocking of it. (as the Tartan Army sometimes does with the kilt or ...).

My 2 cents with awareness I haven't made any real contribution to the thread.

Regards!

[Phil]

You can hardly see Slovenian national custom and definitely can't buy it in the shop (might be wrong here). All are made by seamstress in very small quantities, so you can imagine price.

I do think you have hit a very pertinent nail on the head there, Mipi, in that my early recollection of kilts is much the same. There were many home workers who would run you up a kilt and then there were bespoke tailors for jackets etc. and who would probably also send out their kilt orders to one of these home workers. And I have to say that a kilt was not an impulse purchase as a result but a substantial investment to be treated and worn accordingly. Perhaps this is the reason that many nowadays, accustomed to cheap imported and mass-produced clothing, find it difficult to understand the attitude of those whose experience is from earlier times. I am sure that we all would treat any expensive craftsman-made possession such as a Swiss watch or a Rolls-Royce car with more care and reverence than some cheap, throwaway item.

But I understand the Scottish concerns about kilt wearing more and more. Could be I would be offended if I would notice somebody is wearing my national custom in a very wrong way or mocking of it. (as the Tartan Army sometimes does with the kilt or ...).

A bit of a deviation from the subject of this post but to say that the Tartan Army mocks the kilt is treading on very dangerous ground. The individuals that I know in the Tartan Army were strangers to kilts and kilt-wearing before they joined and would never have worn one otherwise. While their choice of ensembles may sometimes push the envelope of good taste, there can be no doubt as to their sincerity and love of things Scottish. We can only hope that maturity and experience will lead to a better understanding of the traditions of highland dress.

[GG]

If you can wear the kilt ONLY on special occasions (and even only in Scotland) why would you bother to even buy it?

Exactly what I think, Mipi.

[Peter Crowe]

I do think you have hit a very pertinent nail on the head there, Mipi, in that my early recollection of kilts is much the same. There were many home workers who would run you up a kilt and then there were bespoke tailors for jackets etc. and who would probably also send out their kilt orders to one of these home workers. And I have to say that a kilt was not an impulse purchase as a result but a substantial investment to be treated and worn accordingly. Perhaps this is the reason that many nowadays, accustomed to cheap imported and mass-produced clothing, find it difficult to understand the attitude of those whose experience is from earlier times. I am sure that we all would treat any expensive craftsman-made possession such as a Swiss watch or a Rolls-Royce car with more care and reverence than some cheap, throwaway item.



A bit of a deviation from the subject of this post but to say that the Tartan Army mocks the kilt is treading on very dangerous ground. The individuals that I know in the Tartan Army were strangers to kilts and kilt-wearing before they joined and would never have worn one otherwise. While their choice of ensembles may sometimes push the envelope of good taste, there can be no doubt as to their sincerity and love of things Scottish. We can only hope that maturity and experience will lead to a better understanding of the traditions of highland dress.

I absolutely agree with you Phil. You would no more wear a bespoke suit every day, so why would you do the same with a bespoke traditional eight yard knife pleated kilt. Although I have three (one made for me, and two I inherited that were made for my father, one of which is of a quality and weight you would be hard pressed to find at an affordable price today) I only wear any of them as frequently as occasions allow, given they are of immense value to me, and would represent a major outlay of my limited budget to replace. As to your last paragraph, you conveyed what I have long thought very diplomatically.

[rondo]

I somehow think that my handsome features and magnificent physique are only secondary reasons why.

I love that McClef...ROTFL
Rondo