Inside Scotland Shop: Craft, Heritage, And Community

We sit down with Anna White of Scotland Shop to explore how tartan turns heritage into something you can wear, design, and pass on. From the Doddy Tartan’s charity impact to great kilt demos, we map a global community anchored in wool, craft, and identity.

• shops in Crieff, Edinburgh, Duns and Albany
• thousands of registered tartans and variations
• identity through clans, districts and school uniforms
• designing new tartans with personal meaning
• Doddy Tartan as charity brand for MND
• store experience with sofas, clan of the month and demos
• kilt fabric weights, pricing and heirloom value
• accessories, jackets and styling options
• first kilt guidance and fittings
• global customers via video calls and events
• sustainability with Scottish-made wool
• women’s wear and multi-generational appeal
• local community links and tourism tips

Find us at scotlandshop.com or visit Edinburgh, Crieff, Duns and Albany

Transcript

Meet Anna From Scotland Shop

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Welcome to Shafern Stories Podcast. We're here in the studio today with Anna White from Scotland Shop. Anna, welcome to our studio. Thank you, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Anna, can you tell me a little bit about Scotland

Shops In Crieff, Edinburgh, And Albany

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Shop? Yeah, so Scotland Shop appeared on the High Street in Crief in April 2024, and we took over what was House of Tartan, and we've kept very much the business as is. So it's still a tartan shop full of lots of lovely tartans made in Scotland, and all of the original staff are there. So we've kept that knowledge and um community that already existed. So you've got local staff in your in your creef shop then? Yes. Yeah, and that was really important to us to keep that. But we also there's more to us than the creef shop. We've got our headquarters are based down in Dunes, and that's been there for 23 years. Wow. Um, and then we have a shop in Edinburgh and another one out in the States in New York. And whereabouts is your shop in Edinburgh? It's at the west end of Edinburgh, just at the west end of Princess Street.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Great.

How Many Tartans Exist

SPEAKER_01 1:10

So one thing that people might be surprised to learn about Tartan.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Uh I think surprised I think it's the amount of tartans. People come into the shop and they're just quite overwhelmed or amazed by how many tartans we have. Because there are literally thousands of tartans. It's not just one or two, is there? No, no, and all registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans. And there's new ones designed every day, and we design tartans as well. So um so yeah, I think the the number of tartans, but also the the each tartan you don't just have. So, for example, I'm a McGregor, so you have a McGregor ancient, modern, weathered, hunting, there's dress tartans, there's so there's so many variations even within one clan. So, and then you have your regional and district tartans, so there's lots and lots to explore, and every single one has a story and a

Identity Through Schools And Clans

SPEAKER_00 2:05

history behind it. So, does Strath Strathurn have its own tartan? It does. There's a Strathurn Tartan, and there's also a Creef Tartan. Oh, I didn't know that. So in our shops we have um we have tartan thrones. Yeah. So it's a beautiful old um old style uh wooden throne, which where you can have your picture taken. Um and down in Duns we have one in the Duns Pike band tartan. In Creef we've got the Creef Tartan, it's upholstered in that. The one in Edinburgh is upholstered in the Edinburgh district, tartan.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

I wore I actually wore tartan to school um in my high school days, and then both of my girls wore tartan to school in their primary school days because Cree Primary designed their own tartan to school. Um the schools in Creef, you've got our rec, they wear tartan. I know at Glenamond they wear tartan and Morrison's, they've got tartan as well. Not too sure about Creef High. I think they've designed one. Yes, I've spoken to some pupils there. I think they've got a Creef High pipe band, so I think that's maybe where the tartan came from from there.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

So I think those schools have it that's kind of what tartan's about, is about having an identity. Yeah. So those schools, you know, those pupils have their identity through their uniform and through their tartan. And I think that's a lot of the history and behind it, is all these different clans and families, they had their own tartan. That that was how they uh that was one of their ways of identifying themselves and being a a community and a group together. So I think that's why tartan is so important and why it's continued to be important over the years, because it it it really gives people, even if it's just wearing tartan, to say, I am Scottish, it's it's just a way of of sharing who we are and our identity.

Designing New Tartans And Registration

SPEAKER_01 3:43

So you design tartan, you designed a tartan that you're wearing around your next demographic.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Yes, the the Doddy Tartan, which was designed for the My Name is Doddy Foundation, which raises funds for MD. Fantastic. So yeah, we we design tartans all the time, whether it's for a charity or a a company or an individual getting married. You know, a couple get married, sometimes you they design their own tartans, but so yeah, it's a really fun process. Um, and everything we design then is registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans, so it's you know it's unique to that, um, that those people. Um but this one, yeah, is very much my favourite. I love a bit of colour, so and Doddy was a very colourful man, so um he had to have a very bright tartan. Um yeah, and this was we did this for him um when he was diagnosed with MND, and so it's been a great fundraiser. And well, it's become the the kind of um icon of the charity, I suppose. It's become the brand really for that charity. So it's really cool to see it when you go to Murrayfield. I know it's true. So to know that we created that and that we supply lots of beautiful things and plenty of colours for them at the Doddy Tartan this weekend, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yes. At the rugby because that's the starting. Yeah. So let's go back to the high street. Your shop is open. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

What when

The Doddy Tartan And Charity Impact

SPEAKER_00 5:02

is your shop open? So the shop in Creefs open Monday to Saturday, 9 till 5. And then come Easter will also open on a Sunday. Um, and then and we do appointments, or you can just pop in and say hello. And it's very much, I would say, an experience coming into the shop. It's not just like your normal shopping. Um, because you can we've got a lovely comfy sofa, so you look at everything we've got. You can sit on the sofa, choose your tartan, hear all the stories behind it, look at the different variations. Um, we always have each month we have a clan of the month that we celebrate. Oh, okay. And we tell the stories of that clan and all their history and the castles they're linked to and the regions. So there's always that that a display for that in the shop as well. Um, and so we can help people if they don't know which tartan they would they could wear, then we can explore that with them. Um if you just want a tartan to match the the colour for the wedding theme, then then we go down that route. So it's really up to the individual.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

But it's a real kind of it's like a visitor experience.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Yeah, it's like a visitor attraction. It is, it's not a lot of people. And that that's why it's so important to have the team there, Nikki and um Morag and um Iona, who have such a depth of knowledge about the products and how they're made, and there's just so many stories to tell, so that's what they're there to share with everyone who does.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

So you just said how they're made. How is a kilt made?

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Well, it's a it's a long process, but um you start off with the fabric, and that's what's so important is the quality of the fabric. And a

Visiting The Shop: An Experience

SPEAKER_00 6:37

kilt is a is a kind of interesting purchase in that you can have a lightweight four-yard kilt, which um is starts from about £360 right up to your full heavyweight 16-ounce um eight-yard kilt, which is more like £500 and I think it's £580. So you've got a kind of real range of prices there, but that's another thing to consider when you come in. Where are you gonna wear it? How long do you want you if you get a 16-yard kilt, 16-ounce kilt, it's gonna last forever. That's a that fabric is pretty much indestructible. Um, and that then becomes a bit of an heirloom, you can hand it down from family to family. So that's why it's a I think as a piece, it's a really unique item because you'll probably keep it forever. People get it when they're 21 and then wear it forever if they can still get into it. And then get hand it down to generations, yeah. But that's what's so nice about it. And you don't just buy a kilt, you then have all the accessories to go with it. Every accessory has a story and a bit of history, and why do you have a ski and do and what you know, what does that mean? And um so so it's a really interesting thing to buy.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

So you sell the full package as kilts, or you can buy individual items in the shop so people can come in off the street and buy a sporin or a ski and do.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Absolutely, and often people buy the kilt to start with, that's the base of your outfit,

Kilt Fabric, Weights, And Heirlooms

SPEAKER_00 8:01

and then you can add all the different bits, or your your family can buy you all the different bits um to go with it, because there's so many accessibilities. It's good to know you can do that in a little time.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

You can pop in and buy a nice gift for somebody.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

And even you change up your kilt jacket. So traditionally, you maybe wore an Argyle or a Prince Charlie black jacket, but now there's loads of lovely tweed jackets, and we can, you know, we custom make as well, so you can choose whatever you like. And it it just means you can really change up your kilt if you want to. What is your favourite tartan, Anna?

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Do you have a favourite tartan?

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Oh well, I think this Doddy one is is one of my is one of my real favourites. Um I do love that like the creef tartan has some beautiful kind of autumnal um more like oranges in it, which and I love a bit of orange. So yeah, that I do know every day I change my mind. There's just so many. But I think maybe the weathered tartans I love. It's a McLean of Dart weathered and it's almost pinky. Oh, yeah. And that's it, it's just looks like you've left it outside all winter and it the colours have faded. It's yeah, there's some beautiful tones in the weathered tartans.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

For somebody buying their first cut, what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_00 9:11

I think it's to take plenty of time to choose and to think about what you want and think of it as that kind of lifetime purchase. Um, so come in and give, you know, spend lots of time with us, and you're not maybe going to necessarily decide on your first visit because there's lots to think about, and I think people are often quite surprised by how much there's to think about. Um, but yeah, just come in and learn all the different things. So, what I was saying before about different yardage and weights of cloth, and so you can then if you're in the shopping, you can feel all those different weights and and see what you know what they look like and feel like, and it makes a big difference.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

You also do online sales as well with we do shop in America.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

That's well, we have so many customers all over the world.

Accessories, Jackets, And Styling

SPEAKER_00 9:58

Um so yeah, so we have lots and lots of um we do video calls as well with some of these customers so that we can talk them through the different options. So, yeah, that's really fun actually. They're often in their house having a glass of wine nice and relaxed. Um, so yeah, so we can go through and we frequently get the whole family coming in to oh, what's that? And can I see that and go through how to measure and all the different fabrics and tartans and things?

SPEAKER_01 10:24

New York, your your shop is in the city.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, well it's in the so the city's Albany, so the capital of New York State. So yeah, north of New York. So do you get over to visit often? Yeah, sometimes, yes. Yes, not as often as I would like.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

And the links between the tartan shop in America and the tartan shop in Creef. Have there been any established links? Have you had any visitors over to the Cref shop?

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, absolutely. And that's what's so interesting because we didn't necessarily we had lots of customers in the States, which is what prompted us to open that shop there, and we do a lot of events out there. We do New York City Tartan Week, we do lots of Highland Games, and the area where we're in has its own Highland Games, and there's lots in the the district around. Um, but also you discover that yeah, people have been in that Albany shop

First Kilt Advice And Fitting

SPEAKER_00 11:12

and then they come and they visit Cref, so that's a really good way to bring visitors to Creef, and then it's quite funny. Sometimes you'll have a customer in the Crief shop who says, Oh yeah, yeah, I'm from Albany, and you're like, Well, do you do realise we have a shop there? And they maybe didn't realise because it's you know America's huge, people just don't realise. So so it kind of goes both ways.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah, I know one of my really good friends from Australia, Barbara O'Neill, she visited your shop on a couple of occasions to get bespoke pieces. Um she actually speaks about Scotland Shop in her lectures. She'll tell people where she got her outfit because it's woolen, yeah. And that's a big thing for her. She likes to wear nice natural fibres.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Well, and that's a big thing now. You don't want fast fashion, you want slow fashion, you want sustainable product, you know, and everything we do is made from wool. It's all made here in Scotland. So it it's that's like a big thing just now, sustainable. So it's really important, and that it's a beautiful fibre, you know, it's natural, it it breathes, it's comfortable to wear. It's and I think often there's that thought of oh wool, oh it's going to be scratchy and horrible. Whereas actually um you touch it and you go, Oh, it's actually really nice.

Global Customers And Video Consults

SPEAKER_00 12:20

So again, that's why it's lovely having people in the shop.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

I will need to come up. But you also do um activities up in the shop. Did I not see something about Yeah?

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Well, we do so we do our Great Kilt demonstrations. Yes. Good fun. Yeah, always good fun. Um yeah, so you can come in, you can request a Great Kilt demonstration, or you can book to come and see one. Um so we give you the chance to wear a kilt like they were worn in the in the old days, and so we take seven, eight yards of cloth and we um pleat it, just hand pleat it, and then you use the belt to put it on and to get all wrapped up, and we show you how you can wear it as a hood or down or as a plaid. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

People are Shrathern community can all get involved in that. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

It's really good fun, it's it's a really fun thing.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

So, Anna, what does it feel like to be part of the Creef in the Shrian community?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

I really like it because I come from Scottish Borders, another small rural community. Um, so very similar. It's completely different to Edinburgh. Edinburgh shop, it's got the footfall, it's got the tourists, that's it's kind

U.S. Links, Events, And Tourism

SPEAKER_00 13:25

of a completely different entity. Whereas I love creef because it is really like where I'm from in Duns. Um, and I love the sense of community that comes along with that. And the great thing about you know, we've got staff who've worked in that shop for years, so they've got all the community connections, so it's not like coming in brand new. We wanted to retain that existing business and make it even better. And we really want to bring people to Creef, so we want to bring visitors to Creef. A lot of people come to us by appointment, so they come to us as a destination, they'll say, Right, we're travelling north, let's go and visit your shop. So they'll actually come off the because it is central.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Creef I know you've got to come off at the 8-9, but it is central, and then when you do get here, we've got a really good high street.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, well, and it's you know, you've got your brown signs, your your Perthshire tourist route, so you just need to follow those, and you come to Creef. And that's where for us it's so important to work with other local businesses so that then people know if they come to Crieve for the day, then there's other things to do, there's other places to visit, there's you know, you've got the distillery, you've got places to stay, you can get there's so many things you can do. Nice coffee shops, nice nice shops, you've got nice walks in the area. We we kind of feel almost like we're a tourist advice centre too, because people come in and then they're like, oh, what else? Oh, well, and Nikki is amazing with her local knowledge of oh, and you can walk there and you can go for lunch there, and and it's just that being more so much more than being a shop, it's a signposter to other businesses as well. And and hopefully those other businesses are doing that for us. So Anna, it's not just kilts you do.

Wool, Sustainability, And Quality

SPEAKER_00 15:05

No, it's not, no, so much more than kilts, and I think that's where we're a little bit different as a tartan company to a lot of the others out there because we do so much non-traditional as well, and we do so much. I don't know if it's because we're a female-owned business, but we do lots of women's wear, so we do beautiful dresses and skirts and stoles and sashes and lots of those lovely accessories. So it's not just about the kilt for us, and I think as well, it's that multi-generational thing where young people um have become very interested in their heritage and they want a sense of belonging, they want a sense of identity, so they're more interested probably than they used to be in having that little piece of of their family heritage to to wear or to to own, and and I think that for us has been a really kind of interesting shift in the market, and we see a lot of young people coming in who are genuinely interested in the story behind their tartan and their family, and or they've gone and they've done their research, and research now on the internet's so easy. So they've done a whole load of research and they

Great Kilt Demonstrations

SPEAKER_00 16:13

come in, they're like, Oh, I've found all this stuff out, and can you help me fill in the gaps? And yeah, that's what's so interesting about the job every day. Someone different comes in with a different story.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Um so going back, you you just mentioned the Doddy Foundation there again. You made his suits, didn't you?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Yes, so that's how it all began. Um I have a personal connection with Doddy, he was a childhood friend and went to the pony club with me. So then he played drug with my husband, so there was a really good um link there, and then he obviously always wore his famous tartan suits. So we made all of those suits for him, and as soon as he had the diagnosis, the MND diagnosis, he said, Right, Anna, we need to make a tartan, and I want a really bright one. The colours are just brilliant. Well, so we sat down, there's a story behind them the yellow and blacks for Melrose Rugby Club where he played, and the blue for the Psalter, there's a bit of black and white in there for um Newcastle

Community Roots In Crieff

SPEAKER_00 17:12

when he played there. So he did want some red in for the lions, but Emily, the tartan designer, drew the line.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

No, you're gonna But that's the thing about tartan, it is a personal piece.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Yes, that's absolutely and it has a story, and there's a reason for the colours, and that's that's when you design a tartan, that's what's so fun. You can take like we did the Royal Lyceum one for Ed in Edinburgh, and that's all about the colour of the seats and the ceiling, the design of the ceiling in there. Um, so things like that that you can weave into the tartan and it makes everything so personal. So, how can we find you, Anna? Well, you can find us online, scotlandshop.com, or you can find us in on one of our shop locations, uh so Edinburgh Creef, Dunes, and Albany.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me.

unknown 18:03

Thank you.