A new tartan – created to mark the City status awarded to Dunfermline – is now available from The Wee Kilt Shop in Cupar and proving to be a “real hit” with Fifers, close to home and further afield.

The new tartan was commissioned by The Kilt Company – The Wee Kilt Shop’s sister company. Located on Crossgate, The Wee Kilt Shop is a well known ‘Highland Wear’ store that offers customers a place to “find unique and timeless fashion pieces“. Founded in 2017, they sell “quality merchandise to customers throughout the world“.

Rebekah Brine da Silva runs The Wee Kilt Shop and explains: “Whatever you are looking for, we have something for everyone to buy and love.” And it was Rebekah’s father, Charles Brine, who had the vision to create the unique tartan. The company worked with Fife Council who ran a competition for school children in Dunfermline to design the new tartan. Budding fashion designer, Savannah Mortimer – a pupil at Dunfermline’s Queen Anne High School – won the competition and the new tartan was unveiled at The Provost’s Civic reception earlier this year.

Inspiration …

The tartan features six colours – each one inspired by key elements relevant to Savannah’s local area …

• Blue – The earliest mention of Dunfermline was the wedding of Malcolm Canmore: the Campbell clan has blue in its tartan – and there’s also blue for the peacocks in the Glen
• Red – Royal tartan
• Grey – King Robert the Bruce Memorial tartan and the Auld Grey Toun
• Black – coal and also colours of the football team, The Pars
• Gold – gold torc from the Bronze Age, found in Dunfermline
• White – Andrew Carnegie’s hair and beard

Making a mark …

The new tartan is already making a name for itself. Humanist celebrant, Brian Baxter, was among the first to commission “new trews and a tie“. Brian is pictured (below) at the wedding of Lauren Philp and Andrew Macdonald. To celebrate the marriage, he donned his new trews, tie, waistcoat and jacket – all from the Wee Kilt Shop and The Kilt Company.

Today, Brian lives in Scone but his roots are firmly in Fife. He was brought up just half an hour from Cupar in in Ballingry and went to the High School in Dumfermline. Brian says: “I love the new tartan – and wearing it strengthens my roots with the Kingdom!”

Rebekah says that they are receiving a lot of enquiries from people wanting the material – not just for kilts and trousers but also for dresses and home furnishings. She says: “New tartans are few and far between. It has been a wonderful project for us to launch and to see the interest building is very rewarding for all who have been involved.”

The Wee Kilt Shop is taking orders for those wanting the new tartan, but they also want to ensure quality control over how it is used, so won’t be selling it unless they are assured of the provenance of resulting products. The tartan is added to the long list of tartans, outfits, shoes, jackets, suits and a whole range of accessories – all available from the Cupar store.

 

Need more?

Pop in to see The Wee Kilt Shop at 49 Crossgate. You can call them on 01334 652606, email them via this link, visit their website here – and follow them on Facebook.

You can read more and contact celebrant, Brian Baxter, via this link.