Harris Mist Tartan Takeover

April 12, 2023

From designing and weaving the tartan to launching our collection, sharing our new Harris Mist tartan has been a proud moment for the whole team at MacGregor and MacDuff. With every department involved in some way or another and having had such a great reaction to the design, we wanted to do something more special than ever to celebrate. Having been inspired by the Isle of Harris, we thought a trip to the island would be the perfect tribute to the tartan’s roots. We hosted a fitting service and organised a photoshoot with the iconic Harris scenery as the backdrop. From start...

Celebrating Scottish Ancestry

March 23, 2023

We were recently approached by a newspaper to answer a few questions about the wearing of kilts by non-Scots. In our answers, we discussed that as long as highlandwear is worn properly and not as a joke, cultural appropriation isn’t an issue. We have mentioned previously that we see non-Scots wearing kilts as a cultural celebration and encourage everyone to wear a kilt, no matter their nationality or ancestry. After the article was published, it got us thinking about how far kilts and highlandwear have travelled throughout the world and how a small country like Scotland has been able to...

Tartan & St. Patrick's Day

March 14, 2023

People all around the world will be heading out this Friday to celebrate one of the biggest party nights of the year, St. Patrick's day. While I’m sure that there are some people that use St. Patrick as an excuse to have a good time, he has been a significant part of Irish history and culture since the seventh century. St. Patrick's day is celebrated on the 17th day of March each year on the day of his supposed death. He lived during the fifth century and was actually born in Roman Britain. It’s thought that when he was 16,...

The Kings of Kilts on Harris

March 08, 2023

Our new Harris Mist tartan has launched across our purchase range of highlandwear products and the response has been spectacular. Once it finally launches in our hire range on the 1st of June, it might just top the list as our most popular tartan. We have to admit, this is pretty exciting but when you look at the tartan, it's easy to see why it has been so well received. It’s a modern, stylish tartan that is as versatile as they come. While our in-house tartan design team are the ones who actually created the design, credit is due to...

Will The Traditional Craft Of Kilt Making Go Extinct?

March 01, 2023

From clay pipe making to straw working, thanks to roughly 12 millennia of continuous inhabitation, Britain’s long history has produced a plethora of traditional crafts. However, due to modernisation, many of these crafts have fallen away and become extinct. Whether this is because there are now easier ways to make the items or because there is no longer a use for such items, it’s still a piece of culture that will forever be lost to the history books. UNESCO defines traditional craftsmanship as “the most tangible manifestation of intangible cultural heritage”, which is a poetic way of summing up the...

What is tartan?

February 22, 2023

Tartan in its simplest definition refers to a pattern in cloth that consists of interconnected lines and colours that run the length and breadth of the material. Tartan has been present in Scotland since the 3rd century and today, tartan holds great significance to Scotland's culture as well as its history. During the height of Scottish highland clan society, tartan held distinct meaning to each clan and by the 18th century, tartan clothing was seen to be indistinguishable from highland dress. So much so that after the Battle of Culloden, where the Jacobites lost their final battle against the British...

Are Kilts Warm?

February 08, 2023

During this time of the year, when the days start to get a little longer, our minds start to drift toward thinking about our summer plans. Unfortunately, these thoughts are usually interrupted when we walk outside and realise that the current temperature is only barely above freezing. While we still have a long way to go before its t-shirt weather in Scotland, it got us thinking about the warmth of a kilt. Whether you are wearing a kilt in the middle of winter or the height of summer, there isn’t a whole lot of difference in the level of warmth...

Our New Harris Mist Tartan

February 01, 2023

The earliest known example of tartan in Scotland is a small piece of fabric called the Falkirk Tartan. The piece of cloth was found in a pot alongside 2,000 silver coins and was named the Falkirk Tartan due to its discovery location at Bell’s Meadow, near Falkirk. The cloth is estimated to be roughly 1,700 years old which for reference was during the time of Roman occupation in Britain. The discovery of the Falkirk Tartan in 1993 underpins Scotland's relationship with tartan throughout history. Tartan isn’t just some novelty pattern that Scotland uses for tourism marketing purposes, it’s deeply seeded...

How To Wear a Kilt

January 24, 2023

When it comes to wearing a kilt, there’s really only one thing you can get completely wrong and that's by wearing the pleats at the front. If your kilt sits a little high or a little low, you’ll be forgiven, but if you wear a kilt with the pleats at the front, you’ll never hear the end of it. For seasoned kilt wearers, it may be a little difficult to see how someone can make this mistake but it can happen which is why we always encourage new wearers to check out our How To Wear A Kilt Video. Putting...

Why do the Scots celebrate Burns Night?

January 10, 2023

‘Some hae meat an canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat, and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit.’ Anyone who has attended a Burns Supper and even some of those who haven’t will recognise this famous prayer. It’s called the Selkirk Grace and is most commonly heard at Burns Suppers before the meal is enjoyed. Most people think this prayer was written by Robert Burns as he was documented delivering it at a dinner party, held by the Earl of Selkirk in 1794. However, the prayer would have been almost a...

Who Makes the Best Kilts in Scotland?

December 12, 2022

The first kilt worn by highlanders in the 1500s was known as the Feileadh Mor or belted plaid. As described in various other blogs, it was no more than a length of tartan that was folded and wrapped around the body. The beauty of this style of kilt was that once you had the length of material, it wasn’t too difficult to create the great kilt. The Feileadh Beag or little kilt was only invented in the 18th century and unlike the belted plaid, it took a high level of craftsmanship to create the signature look of a kilt.  Early...

Hire Any Tartan

November 17, 2022

Your hire tartan options don’t have to be limited. Whether you want a traditional Clan tartan to celebrate your heritage or simply want your best man to match you on your big day, our Choose Any Tartan Kilt Hire is an opportunity not to be missed. This service gives you the chance to choose from any of our 4,000 different tartans, a game-changer when it comes to highlandwear hiring. Keep reading to find out more about this unique service.