Kiltmaker wants UNESCO protection for hand-sewn kilts

A kilt designer has made an appeal for UNESCO protection for hand-sewn kilts, claiming that Scottish customers “should not have to be charged VAT on their own national dress”.

Howie Nicholsby is the proprietor of 21st Century Kilts on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, and has been involved in the industry since he was 18.

The 47-year-old has also been a part of New York’s famous Tartan Week since the early noughties, and has outfitted nearly every grand marshal, including Sam Heughan at this year’s iteration.

However, whilst a proud producer of handmade kilts, Howie believes that the art is under threat and has warned that the industry risks becoming diluted by lower quality options.

He explained: “What we’re trying to do is protect proper, hand-sewn kilt making – stuff that is hand-stitched, not machine-made inside out.

“We’re trying to get UNESCO protection for the art of hand-sewn kilt making. I’m at a point now, having grown up in the industry, where I truly believe we’re the last honest kilt company in the business.

“Every other kilt shop will offer machine-stitched kilts – cheaper options, but they’re not good options, and it’s like a false economy.

“There are companies out there that promote that they can make a kilt in 40 hours – that is ridiculous. Our waiting time is 12 weeks but our kilt maker can make a kilt in 10 to 12 hours, which is affordable.

“Someone promoting that they can make a kilt in 40 hours is not a proper kilt maker, they’re a hobbyist. They cannot make a sustainable living if minimum wage is around £12. 

“Twelve times 40 hours is £480 of workmanship. Our kilts are £900, the fabrics are £300, the straps and buckles are £50 – they can’t be making money.

“It’s like a hobby, which ruins the industry because A. the person isn’t getting a proper kilt and B. it affects the people who are doing it properly.”

Howie has said that Scottish customers should not have to pay the same amount of VAT on a kilt as they do on “a cheeseburger at McDonald’s”.

He said: “We need the media to back us in a future idea with the Scottish Government that a company like us would not have to charge a Scottish customer 20% tax on their own national dress, made in Scotland, employing Scottish people.

“The fabrics are made in Scotland, why should you pay 20% on your national dress? Every single tourist now gets tax-free.

“You pay the same tax on a cheeseburger at McDonald’s – VAT – as you do on a beautiful kilt outfit handmade.

“My point is that Scotland needs to have a variable VAT rate, and a small business like us who make and produce beautiful Scottish products shouldn’t have to charge our customers that flat 20% VAT.

“I am not a politician, but it’s just an idea to protect Scottish jobs and Scottish production. We’re a small country – it’s not xenophobia, it’s not protectionism. It’s maintaining what we do well.

“Otherwise, things like the military and the Scottish regiment, their outfits are now made abroad in the likes of Pakistan and China, and the stuff is bought in.

“That’s a false economy as well, because the military should look good and the uniform should last. So if the government bodies don’t support small businesses like us in Scottish industry, it’s all going to disappear.”

Howie accompanied Sam Heughan and dozens of others at this year’s New York Tartan Day Parade, where Heughan sported a kilt of brown Harris tweed, fully hand-stitched with a Galloway tartan fringe.

There, Howie also made an impassioned plea to UNESCO, saying directly to The Edinburgh Reporter on camera: “UNESCO, we really need your help. 

“We’d like protection of hand-sewn kilt making in Scotland so that the art form of proper hand-sewn kilt making doesn’t die out for the next generations.

“Please UNESCO, help Scotland.”