subject: Scottish Woolens And Traditions [print this page] The Cashmere wool of Scotland comes from the Cashmere goat that is bred for the wool in many hilly countries including Scotland. The word Cashmere comes from the word Kashmir, which was always the place from where the world got its best wool.
Many articles of use are made from the Cashmere wool including sweaters and jumpers, throws and shawls and the high end Cashmere Blanket. Since the real cashmere wool is the soft down that is found under the coarse hair of the Cashmere goat, it is quite expensive in its pure form. The high cost of the Cashmere blanket is because only a little wool can be collected from one goat and scores of goats have to be shorn or combed to make a single Cashmere blanket .
The tartan wool fabrics of Scotland are also famous and have been produced for ages. The tartan patterns are plaid like checked patterns that are woven in wool of different weights. The fabric is made into traditional Scottish attire; tartan kilts, tartan skirts, tartan scarves etc. While tartan kilts are worn traditionally by men, tartan skirts are for women. In olden times, tartan skirts for women were knee length and were not similar to the mens kilts that were plain in front and pleated at the back. Tartan skirts would be made in any prevalent fashion and since at the time, women wore their skirts long, tartan skirts would also touch the ankles. Now however, tartan skirts are short as per the current fashion and many of them resemble the mens kilts in styling and appearance.
Tartan fabric is made of the local wool and can make light to very heavy fabrics depending on the size of the wool yarn. The tartan patterns or the checked designs of the tartan cloth are of many different combination of colors, sequence of colors and the size of the checks. Some tartan weaving mills started making specific design for certain large and renowned clans or highland families. This tartan became the clan tartan for that particular clan. Members of the clan wore kilts and tartan skirts and other accessories made out of the clan tartan. In fact, the clan could be identified from the clan tartan or the pattern of tartan the members of the family had donned. Clans would never wear the clan tartan that did not belong to them.
This heritage of different tartan patterns has been recorded and a tartan library exists with samples and details of each clan tartan are kept. Thus history of clan tartan is being preserved for posterity. Scotland also has a rich history of development of other skills of producing wool and woolen garments and accessories. These skills are preserved as they are now commercially viable and have reached the whole globe.
