The Tartan

I have an update of sorts, albeit a bit overdue to a follow-up on a March 7, 2024 post regarding our visit to Elliot Mill in Selkirk in the Borders.  

The Whitley Tartan--Elliot Mill

After perhaps three or four months of an on-again off-again email exchange, we placed a custom order with Robin Elliot about the turn of last year. In July this year, we finally received back yardage of...the Whitley Family tartan.  

Of course it's fine wool.  And, if I may be permitted to say, it is beautiful.  (I might say stunning, but descriptively that might be a bit too far.)  The weaving, and especially the finish, on the piece is simply spectacular.  Rich.  Robin Elliott has outdone himself.

I would encourage readers to go back to the article which covered our extensive review of Elliot Mill.  https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2024/03/spinning-tales.html  It contains information about the difficulty and many challenges of owning such a business.

As for the amount of time involved, this was a custom order.  It should be expected.  After all, it's not like ordering from inventory.  First, the design has to be set on an old Victorian Age analog mill, involving many separate shunts.  The older the machinery gets, the more it can break down--which happened early this year.  So, tartan work was delayed.  

Then there's the specifications of the Scottish Registry of Tartans which names the tread counts, and colors on registered tartans.  Quite complicated. And if all that's not enough, there's the problem of international money exchange.  They use pounds.  We don't.  

Not really set up for a large number of international retail orders, Elliot Mill needed a wire transfer (in pounds) to their bank--and that is complicated.  Trust me.  Even after balancing the payment, more or less, there were still things to mutually take care--like additional shipping costs.  In any case, we received the tartan.

The Whitley Tartan--properly tagged

For readers inclined to be more adventurist, or those wanting to  inquire about tartans in general, I leave the website for Elliot Mill.  https://www.elliot-weave.co.uk/ Just be aware.  Now that President Trump has laid his trade tariffs on everyone, and has revoked de minimis threshold values for taxation, there might be another layer of complexity (or hassle) to the order--assuming it can be done at all.

I hope so.  For Robin Elliot's sake, and countless other worthy small businesses overseas.  They have a product, in this case the tartan, that cannot be gotten in any other market.  It would be a sad day should that ultimately be what breaks the machine irreparably.

That's the way the Clan Whitley sees it anyway.