Scottish kiltmaking: Knowledge, practice, and potential for Protected Geographic Indication

The Ties That Bind: Britain’s Use of Scottish Highland Dress

“…4). Although a subject of debate, the kilt is thought to have originated sometime between the 14th and 16th century (Laird, 2016;Martin, 1988) and was termed the Feileadh Mór ("Ancient Highland Dress," n.d.; Loranger, 2016), which translates into great kilt, the more common term used to refer to the garment today ( Figure 1). The term Feileadh translates from Gaelic into English as kilt ("Kilt," n.d.) and Mór as large or great ("Large," n.d.).…”

“…The British government has a long history of implementing sumptuary laws to impose control on subjects, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215, which restricted categories and sizes of textiles; another rule enacted by Edward III banned the import of textiles in 1333 with the aim of protecting the English textile trade (Robson, 2013). The Laws Enforcing the Statutes of Apparel, which were enacted by Elizabeth I in 1580, are another such example, as these laws regulated colors and materials that could be worn by individuals of certain classes (Loranger & Sanders, 2016). There is evidence that the British government enacted sumptuary laws such as those pertaining to kilt and tartan with the aim of quelling the Scots rebellion against British rule in the mid-18th century (Robson, 2013) and to use the Scottish tartan as an identifier of enslaved people in the British colonies in America (Sanders, 2011).…”

“…However, Scottish regiments that fought for the British, such as Highlanders in India, were exempt from the Act (Faiers, 2008). Even though the British perceived Highlanders as "less than" (Loranger & Sanders, 2016), there was a keen realization that tartan and kilt were intimidating to the inhabitants of lands that the British were invading (Faiers, 2008). This exemption of the Highlanders would prove to be pivotal in the development of the British slave trade where tartan and kilt would also play a role (Faiers, 2008;Loranger & Sanders, 2016).…”

“…The British government's application of sumptuary laws was not relegated merely to the Scottish borders, as the South Carolina Negro Act of 1735 was put into place on the opposite side of the Atlantic a decade earlier (Loranger & Sanders, 2016). This law enumerated that slave clothing could be fabricated from "Negro cloth, duffels, coarse kerseys, osnabrigs, blue linen, check linen, or coarse garlix, or calicoes, checked cottons or Scottish plaids" (Robson, 2013, p. 499).…”

“…Kilts and tartans stand as icons of Scottish culture and heritage (Bolton, 2010;Martin, 1988). However, the cultural significance of both the kilted garment and tartan-patterned fabrics has not been constrained to Scottish geographical and ethnic boundaries (Chapman, 1995;Loranger & Sanders, 2016). Britain's pivotal role in Scottish history has contributed to the evolution of the meaning of kilt and tartan through war, conquest, governance, and commerce (Devine, 1999;Martin, 1988).…”