Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
June 16, 2009
THE director of the world's biggest clan gathering has called for an "tartan trademark" to prevent cut-price kilts being passed off as authentically Scottish.
Lord Jamie Sempill, director of The Gathering 2009 and vice-convener of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, said peddling budget kilts and knitwear was a "disservice" to international visitors.
Edinburgh-based Lord Sempill, a former hereditary peer who inherited the chiefdom of the 500-year-old Sempill clan in 1995, said: "The point is to make it very clear that when you pick up a tartan scarf or other tartan product, that there is a legal requirement for it to state its country of origin.
"Tartan is produced and woven around the world to a very high quality, but there is a difference between something that is produced in Scotland as opposed to something produced in Lahore.
"I have no problem with the quality of some of these items necessarily, but I think we're doing a great disservice to international visitors who want to take home something genuinely Scottish but end up going away with something produced in China or India."
Mr Sempill, an ex-Tory candidate, added that any trademark would not preclude budget kiltmakers such as The Gold Brothers, whose budget clothing stores dominate the Royal Mile, continuing to sell cheap internationally produced products as long as they made it clear they were made abroad.
However, Gold Brothers partner Galab Singh said all of their products already had the country of origin clearly marked on the label.
Mr Singh also claimed to have been approached to sell Gold Brothers clothing at The Gathering, something denied by Lord Sempill.
He said: "We told them we weren't interested. We've got too many commitments on the Royal Mile. We were approached by one of their agents who asked us if we'd be interested in setting up a stall but we declined."
Brian Wilton, director of the Scottish Tartans Authority, has already called on the European Parliament to extend its geographical protection scheme to include products other than food and drink, giving heavyweight legal protection to descriptions such as "Scottish tartan", "Scottish kilt" or "Highland kilt".
He said: "If we can get Lord Sempill on board then perhaps we can get the powers-that-be to sit up and take more notice before the last vestiges of Scotland's Highland dress heritage slip down the pan.
"The Scottish Tartans Authority has been grappling with this problem for quite some time and regrettably it isn't as simple as might be imagined.
"Almost every scheme we've looked at is open to abuse if companies are determined to mislabel imported products and hoodwink visiting shoppers."
Showing posts with label tartan tat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tartan tat. Show all posts
Monday, 19 October 2009
NEWS: Tiny Tat
Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
April 2, 2009
THEY have expanded their cut-price empire throughout the city but now the Gold Brothers are hoping to attract a whole new age group by branching out into "kinder kilts".
The Gold Brothers - owned by Surinder Singh and his sons Galab and Dildar - plan to launch a new range of "introductory" kilts for children as young as one-year-old.
Dildar Singh revealed that the idea came from their own Sikh heritage, where children are introduced to the turban at a young age to get them used to wearing the garment when they're older.
He said: "It's common sense really. If you introduce children to something when they're young they get used to the idea, then carry on wearing it throughout their life.
"We have a ceremony to introduce children to the turban when they're about five years old. By the time they reach their teens they're used to it and they will start wearing it all the time."
The news comes as it emerged that a legal battle over the use of a tartan has been settled out of court. Tartan owner Rosemary Samios had taken the action after finding her Isle of Skye design on sale in Gold Brothers shops without a licence.
The Singhs are now hoping to license her tartan for sale in their stores legally in time for the release of their new infant range.
Neither party would reveal how much the out-of-court settlement amounted to but Mrs Samios confirmed that mounting legal costs made a personal agreement "a better option". Dildar Singh said that the settlement was "reasonable".
21st Century Kilt designer Howie Nicholsby, who made his son's first made to measure kilt when he was just five weeks old, said: "Kilts for young children are very popular and have been a core part of our business for many years."
Edinburgh Evening News
April 2, 2009
THEY have expanded their cut-price empire throughout the city but now the Gold Brothers are hoping to attract a whole new age group by branching out into "kinder kilts".
The Gold Brothers - owned by Surinder Singh and his sons Galab and Dildar - plan to launch a new range of "introductory" kilts for children as young as one-year-old.
Dildar Singh revealed that the idea came from their own Sikh heritage, where children are introduced to the turban at a young age to get them used to wearing the garment when they're older.
He said: "It's common sense really. If you introduce children to something when they're young they get used to the idea, then carry on wearing it throughout their life.
"We have a ceremony to introduce children to the turban when they're about five years old. By the time they reach their teens they're used to it and they will start wearing it all the time."
The news comes as it emerged that a legal battle over the use of a tartan has been settled out of court. Tartan owner Rosemary Samios had taken the action after finding her Isle of Skye design on sale in Gold Brothers shops without a licence.
The Singhs are now hoping to license her tartan for sale in their stores legally in time for the release of their new infant range.
Neither party would reveal how much the out-of-court settlement amounted to but Mrs Samios confirmed that mounting legal costs made a personal agreement "a better option". Dildar Singh said that the settlement was "reasonable".
21st Century Kilt designer Howie Nicholsby, who made his son's first made to measure kilt when he was just five weeks old, said: "Kilts for young children are very popular and have been a core part of our business for many years."
NEWS: Tit for Tartan Tat
By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
December 4, 2008
KILTMAKER Geoffrey Nicholsby today reacted angrily after a rival Royal Mile trader was fined GBP 350 for punching him in a row over customers.
Malap Singh, 41, whose family run the Gold Brothers chain, which has several stores on the Mile, has been found guilty of attacking the 62-year-old businessman in August last year.
Mr Nicholsby and the Singh family have been involved in a long-running dispute over the Gold Brothers' "tartan tat" discount merchandise.
The attack left the older man with injuries to his face.
Singh was fined yesterday following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Alistair Noble ordered Singh to pay back the fine at the rate of GBP 15 a fortnight, after rejecting his claim he could only afford to pay GBP 5 per week.
The disputes started after Gold Brothers bought the Castle Hill Weaving Factory for GBP 6m in May 2007 and inherited Mr Nicholsby and his kilt firm as tenants in the shared building.
The shops share a communal foyer and Mr Nicholsby said Singh was shepherding customers into his own shop, while blocking the entrance to the tailor shop to get a monopoly on the lucrative tourist trade.
Giving evidence about the attack, Mr Nicholsby said:
"I went up to him and told him this was not on, that he was playing dirty. That he was a real chancer."
Singh then punched Mr Nicholsby in the face. Staff intervened and held Singh back, but released him after he appeared to calm down.
Once loose, however, he again attacked the elderly man and punched him - leaving him with a burst lip, swollen face and a blood-stained shirt.
The manageress of the kilt shop called police, and Singh claimed he had been the person assaulted and was merely defending himself. Officers found no basis for his claims, however, and no charges were ever brought against Mr Nicholsby.
At his trial, Sheriff Alistair Noble told Singh: "With regard to your evidence, I disbelieve substantial parts of it."
Following the verdict, Mr Nicholsby said he felt the fine should have been far higher.
"It's a travesty that he's only been asked to pay GBP 350," he said.
"Making him pay it back GBP 15 a week is a bit of a joke as well. He was supposed to be the big businessman, but look at him now."
Mr Nicholsby said relations with Malap's brothers, Surinder, Galab and Dildar, had been a lot more genial recently, following earlier disputes that culminated in Mr Nicholsby successfully contesting five court injunctions against the Golds to prevent them infringing on his tenant rights.
Mr Nicholsby said he now understood Malap Singh had been removed from frontline duties in the business. He said: "That's another reason we're getting on a lot better - they've got rid of Malap. Things are running reasonably smoothly now."
Edinburgh Evening News
December 4, 2008
KILTMAKER Geoffrey Nicholsby today reacted angrily after a rival Royal Mile trader was fined GBP 350 for punching him in a row over customers.
Malap Singh, 41, whose family run the Gold Brothers chain, which has several stores on the Mile, has been found guilty of attacking the 62-year-old businessman in August last year.
Mr Nicholsby and the Singh family have been involved in a long-running dispute over the Gold Brothers' "tartan tat" discount merchandise.
The attack left the older man with injuries to his face.
Singh was fined yesterday following a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Alistair Noble ordered Singh to pay back the fine at the rate of GBP 15 a fortnight, after rejecting his claim he could only afford to pay GBP 5 per week.
The disputes started after Gold Brothers bought the Castle Hill Weaving Factory for GBP 6m in May 2007 and inherited Mr Nicholsby and his kilt firm as tenants in the shared building.
The shops share a communal foyer and Mr Nicholsby said Singh was shepherding customers into his own shop, while blocking the entrance to the tailor shop to get a monopoly on the lucrative tourist trade.
Giving evidence about the attack, Mr Nicholsby said:
"I went up to him and told him this was not on, that he was playing dirty. That he was a real chancer."
Singh then punched Mr Nicholsby in the face. Staff intervened and held Singh back, but released him after he appeared to calm down.
Once loose, however, he again attacked the elderly man and punched him - leaving him with a burst lip, swollen face and a blood-stained shirt.
The manageress of the kilt shop called police, and Singh claimed he had been the person assaulted and was merely defending himself. Officers found no basis for his claims, however, and no charges were ever brought against Mr Nicholsby.
At his trial, Sheriff Alistair Noble told Singh: "With regard to your evidence, I disbelieve substantial parts of it."
Following the verdict, Mr Nicholsby said he felt the fine should have been far higher.
"It's a travesty that he's only been asked to pay GBP 350," he said.
"Making him pay it back GBP 15 a week is a bit of a joke as well. He was supposed to be the big businessman, but look at him now."
Mr Nicholsby said relations with Malap's brothers, Surinder, Galab and Dildar, had been a lot more genial recently, following earlier disputes that culminated in Mr Nicholsby successfully contesting five court injunctions against the Golds to prevent them infringing on his tenant rights.
Mr Nicholsby said he now understood Malap Singh had been removed from frontline duties in the business. He said: "That's another reason we're getting on a lot better - they've got rid of Malap. Things are running reasonably smoothly now."
Sunday, 18 October 2009
NEWS: The tartan tat tussle rolls on...
By Mark McLaughlin
Edinburgh Evening News
August 12, 2008
THEY are constantly under fire for selling their cut-price kilts.
Now the man behind Princess Diana's official memorial tartan has accused Edinburgh's "kings of tartan tat" of illegally copying his design.
Scottish Tartans Authority chairman Alistair Buchan said he has seen his design for sale in stores owned by the Gold Brothers - otherwise known as Surinder, Galab and Dildar Singh - with Princess Diana's name attached.
Mr Buchan's company Lochcarron of Scotland was, until last month, the only firm registered to distribute the tartan on behalf of The Estate of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The agreement with Lochcarron was terminated for separate reasons last month, but Mr Buchan said the copies have been on sale for years.
Ten per cent of the manufacturer's selling price was historically donated to the Diana Memorial Fund, but it is not known if any of the money from the "unregistered copies" has been going to the fund.
Mr Buchan said: "When I first saw the copies being sold they actually had the Princess of Wales' name attached to it, so I went into one of their stores and explained that they were selling these items erroneously.
"The salesman apologised and said they would be removed from sale, but they just carried on selling it without the Diana name. Lochcarron wrote them a letter again asking them to withdraw it from sale. But again they ignored it.
"I saw it on sale on the Royal Mile as early as a month ago. Whenever I've tried to contact them they've just shrugged their shoulders and declined to talk."
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Tartan is based on the Royal Stewart design, updated to reflect the character, image and life of the Princess.
The tartan is largely pale blue, with a dark red stripe "to symbolise the Princess's work for charity". Each shade in the tartan is one which the Princess favoured.
However, The Princess of Wales Memorial Trust ceased marketing her image for charitable purposes three years ago.
A second tartan owner, Rosemary Samios, has already secured an interim interdict against the Gold Brothers banning them from selling, importing or exporting her own Isle of Skye tartan.
Mr Buchan has also reported Gold Brothers to trading standards in Edinburgh for allegedly misrepresenting their goods as Scottish produce, when much of it has been imported from overseas.
A trading standards spokesman confirmed that the complaint has been received and would be investigating the matter. Gold Brothers partner Dildar Singh declined to comment when contacted by the Evening News
Edinburgh Evening News
August 12, 2008
THEY are constantly under fire for selling their cut-price kilts.
Now the man behind Princess Diana's official memorial tartan has accused Edinburgh's "kings of tartan tat" of illegally copying his design.
Scottish Tartans Authority chairman Alistair Buchan said he has seen his design for sale in stores owned by the Gold Brothers - otherwise known as Surinder, Galab and Dildar Singh - with Princess Diana's name attached.
Mr Buchan's company Lochcarron of Scotland was, until last month, the only firm registered to distribute the tartan on behalf of The Estate of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The agreement with Lochcarron was terminated for separate reasons last month, but Mr Buchan said the copies have been on sale for years.
Ten per cent of the manufacturer's selling price was historically donated to the Diana Memorial Fund, but it is not known if any of the money from the "unregistered copies" has been going to the fund.
Mr Buchan said: "When I first saw the copies being sold they actually had the Princess of Wales' name attached to it, so I went into one of their stores and explained that they were selling these items erroneously.
"The salesman apologised and said they would be removed from sale, but they just carried on selling it without the Diana name. Lochcarron wrote them a letter again asking them to withdraw it from sale. But again they ignored it.
"I saw it on sale on the Royal Mile as early as a month ago. Whenever I've tried to contact them they've just shrugged their shoulders and declined to talk."
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Tartan is based on the Royal Stewart design, updated to reflect the character, image and life of the Princess.
The tartan is largely pale blue, with a dark red stripe "to symbolise the Princess's work for charity". Each shade in the tartan is one which the Princess favoured.
However, The Princess of Wales Memorial Trust ceased marketing her image for charitable purposes three years ago.
A second tartan owner, Rosemary Samios, has already secured an interim interdict against the Gold Brothers banning them from selling, importing or exporting her own Isle of Skye tartan.
Mr Buchan has also reported Gold Brothers to trading standards in Edinburgh for allegedly misrepresenting their goods as Scottish produce, when much of it has been imported from overseas.
A trading standards spokesman confirmed that the complaint has been received and would be investigating the matter. Gold Brothers partner Dildar Singh declined to comment when contacted by the Evening News
FEATURE: Joan Rivers
By Mark McLaughlin
Evening News
May 23, 2008
SHE'S the acid-tongued queen of comedic one-liners who has become notorious for revelling in bad taste gags.
Now it seems Joan Rivers' love of the cheap and nasty could be a boon for the Capital's purveyors of tartan tat.
The veteran performer, who will mark her 75th birthday by making her acting debut at this year's Fringe, says she can't wait to return to "magical" Edinburgh so she can stock up on tacky souvenirs.
Speaking to the News, she said: "You better bring out all your cheap, tacky Scottish stuff when I come over, because me and my friends just love that stuff and we're gonna buy it all in spades.
"I just love Edinburgh, there's something magical about the place and I can't wait to see it again."
The notorious comedienne will take to the stage for her self-penned autobiographical play, Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, for a run of 19 performances at the Underbelly's Cow Barn, on Teviot Place.
The show, which opens on August 7, will then transfer to London's West End where it will be the opening production at the newly refurbished and re-named Leicester Square Theatre before moving to Broadway in 2009.
Rivers said she couldn't wait to return to the Capital after first performing in the city seven years ago.
She said: "I visited the place for the first time when I was in a very bad place in my life. I'd just split up with someone and I was feeling very low and a friend said to me 'why don't you go to the Edinburgh Festival to cheer yourself up'.
"I said, 'Nobody's ever asked me' and the very next day I got the phone call inviting me over.
"It was almost like it was meant to be. I came over, had a wonderful time and when I got home my career really took off in a big way."
During her 2001 Fringe debut at the Festival Theatre, the New Yorker famously insisted that the dress and upper circles of the Nicolson Street venue be sealed off because of an aversion to playing to audiences "above" her.
She last appeared in the Capital three years ago when her First Annual Farewell Tour stopped off for a night at the Usher Hall.
She said: "The Festival's just great because you can be walking down the street and see mime artists - which I absolutely despise by the way - performing next to Shakespeare plays and it all seems to fit together.
"I love all these quirky shows they put on, they're right up my street. I once saw Hamlet in Polish and a lesbian production of Shakespeare called Queen Leer."
The Fringe show will be a part-confession, part-performance comedy based on Rivers' rolleroaster life.
In total, Rivers will play 75 UK performances, one for each year of her birthdays.
To further mark the occasion, 48 Diamond Tickets will be sold for each of the Edinburgh performances, with the bearer receiving a Joan Rivers goodie bag and a chance to meet the star after the show. Diamond Tickets go on sale today, and are available by calling 0844-847 2475 0844-847 2475 .
JOAN RIVERS ONE-LINERS
"I knew I was unwanted when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and radio."
"I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes — and six months later you have to start all over again."
"I was born in 1962. True. And the room next to me was 1963."
"Trust your husband, adore your husband, and get as much as you can in your own name."
"The average airplane is 16 years old, and so is the average airplane meal."
"Talk about getting old. I was getting dressed and a peeping tom looked in the window, took a look and pulled down the shade."
Evening News
May 23, 2008
SHE'S the acid-tongued queen of comedic one-liners who has become notorious for revelling in bad taste gags.
Now it seems Joan Rivers' love of the cheap and nasty could be a boon for the Capital's purveyors of tartan tat.
The veteran performer, who will mark her 75th birthday by making her acting debut at this year's Fringe, says she can't wait to return to "magical" Edinburgh so she can stock up on tacky souvenirs.
Speaking to the News, she said: "You better bring out all your cheap, tacky Scottish stuff when I come over, because me and my friends just love that stuff and we're gonna buy it all in spades.
"I just love Edinburgh, there's something magical about the place and I can't wait to see it again."
The notorious comedienne will take to the stage for her self-penned autobiographical play, Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, for a run of 19 performances at the Underbelly's Cow Barn, on Teviot Place.
The show, which opens on August 7, will then transfer to London's West End where it will be the opening production at the newly refurbished and re-named Leicester Square Theatre before moving to Broadway in 2009.
Rivers said she couldn't wait to return to the Capital after first performing in the city seven years ago.
She said: "I visited the place for the first time when I was in a very bad place in my life. I'd just split up with someone and I was feeling very low and a friend said to me 'why don't you go to the Edinburgh Festival to cheer yourself up'.
"I said, 'Nobody's ever asked me' and the very next day I got the phone call inviting me over.
"It was almost like it was meant to be. I came over, had a wonderful time and when I got home my career really took off in a big way."
During her 2001 Fringe debut at the Festival Theatre, the New Yorker famously insisted that the dress and upper circles of the Nicolson Street venue be sealed off because of an aversion to playing to audiences "above" her.
She last appeared in the Capital three years ago when her First Annual Farewell Tour stopped off for a night at the Usher Hall.
She said: "The Festival's just great because you can be walking down the street and see mime artists - which I absolutely despise by the way - performing next to Shakespeare plays and it all seems to fit together.
"I love all these quirky shows they put on, they're right up my street. I once saw Hamlet in Polish and a lesbian production of Shakespeare called Queen Leer."
The Fringe show will be a part-confession, part-performance comedy based on Rivers' rolleroaster life.
In total, Rivers will play 75 UK performances, one for each year of her birthdays.
To further mark the occasion, 48 Diamond Tickets will be sold for each of the Edinburgh performances, with the bearer receiving a Joan Rivers goodie bag and a chance to meet the star after the show. Diamond Tickets go on sale today, and are available by calling 0844-847 2475 0844-847 2475 .
JOAN RIVERS ONE-LINERS
"I knew I was unwanted when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and radio."
"I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes — and six months later you have to start all over again."
"I was born in 1962. True. And the room next to me was 1963."
"Trust your husband, adore your husband, and get as much as you can in your own name."
"The average airplane is 16 years old, and so is the average airplane meal."
"Talk about getting old. I was getting dressed and a peeping tom looked in the window, took a look and pulled down the shade."
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