Scots Fight Fake Kilts

Tired of foreign knockoffs, Scottish kilt-makers ask EU for protection
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 29, 2008 9:56 AM CST
Scots Fight Fake Kilts
Sean Connery is such a patriotic Scotsman that even his Mercedes-Benz is Tartan. The actor, getting into the custom Tartan Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG, is the Honorary Chairman of Dressed to Kilt, an annual fashion show in New York City celebrating Scottish fashion and culture. Alyn Smith can likely count...   (Associated Press)

What do plaid skirts have in common with champagne and feta cheese? If Scottish lawmakers have their way, the kilt could be the latest European product to receive a "protected designation of origin" status. Cheap kilt knockoffs could still be sold, but only the real thing—pure wool, hand-sewn in the highlands—could be branded a Scottish kilt, explains the Independent.

The cheap knockoffs, selling for around $40, "are degrading our national dress," says Scotland's Member of European Parliament. Proper kilts will set you back at least $300; the fakes are "essentially tartan skirts imported from India and China," and to a true Scotsman they are "an embarrassment to our culture and our country."  (More Scotland stories.)

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