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A collection of International Tartans

~ by David McGill

A collection of International Tartans

Category Archives: Tartan Tees

The Three Days that Saved the World (part two)

18 Monday May 2020

Posted by internationaltartans in All about tartans, Tartan Tees

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john muir, john muir tartan

John Muir was born in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland in 1838 and emigrated with his family to the United States of America in 1848. Throughout his life he developed an ever-growing fondness for wild places and wild creatures. Largely self-taught this son of East Lothian became a poet, philosopher, preacher, inventor and mountaineer, as well as an expert in the fields of botany and geology.

His journeys into the vast wilderness of 19th.Century America brought him to discover the oneness and order of the natural world in which ‘every rock, plant and animal is a golden thread in the infinite fabric of life, and from which no fibre can be pulled without spoiling the whole.’

‘When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with all the other stars, all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty. This show is eternal.’

This extraordinary man, regarded today as the ‘Father of Conservation’, was truly ahead of his time. His passionate concern for the future of our planet, allied to a unique clarity of thought and expression, enabled him to influence the world’s most powerful men through his writing. It seems extraordinary by today’s standards but he persuaded the then President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt, to join him on a three-day excursion into the wilderness of Yosemite. It’s believed to be the only time in US history that a President has been without his Secret Service bodyguard. Together they explored the, mountains, forests and rivers of the Sierra Nevada; they hugged trees in a lightning storm and slept under the stars. Roosevelt left Yosemite a convert to the idea of conservation.

‘Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of the safety and continuance of the nation.’

America must have seemed like a bounty of infinite resource to the early settlers, but 19th C industrialisation and exploitation were already beginning to take their toll on the natural environment. It was to be several years before the National Parks Service Bill was signed and passed into law “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations”, but one can only imagine with horror how America, and perhaps the rest of the planet, might look today had the exploitation of its resources continued unabated throughout the 20th C. John Muir’s legacy in the form of America’s sixty-two National Parks is there for all to see and enjoy, and his thoughts and writings have encouraged conservation worldwide thanks to those three days in the wilderness.

The US Congress passed legislation on June 8, 1872 that approved government production of postal cards, and the first government-produced postcard was issued on May 1, 1873.

Although not on this format, the following words were written by President Roosevelt to John Muir a few weeks after he returned to Washington.

john

The John Muir tartan was created in 1998 by David McGill for the 150th anniversary of John Muir’s arrival in the United States and was launched at a reception in the San Francisco Bay area City of Pleasanton in 2002 when Muir’s grand-son accepted an inscribed tartan clock and picture frame on behalf of the Muir family. It is registered on the Scottish Tartan Register No.2682

 

MEXICANA – the Spirit of Mexico tartan

03 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by internationaltartans in Tartan Tees

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mexican tartan, mexico, mexico tartan, Saint Andrew's Society of Mexico

Typical of our fore-fathers penchant for travel and adventure is the tale of Thomas Blake.

During the Colonial era, the Spanish restricted the entrance of other Europeans into Mexico. However, some non-Spanish Europeans were present. In 1556, the English adventurer Robert Thomson encountered the Scotsman Tomás Blaque (Thomas Blake), who had been living in Mexico City for more than twenty years! Blaque is the first known Briton to have settled in what would become Mexico.

Although Senor Blake didn’t immediately start a one-man Caledonian Society, the Saint Andrew’s Society of Mexico was established in 1893 and thrives to this day.

mexico tarta

A number of these aficionados have asked for a tartan designed specifically for the people of Mexico and those of Mexican descent, hence Mexicana, the tartan of Mexico.

mexico tartan.png

The colours of the tartan are taken from the flag of Mexico and the tartan is officially registered on the Scottish Register of Tartans No. 11820.

 

Fair Trade: the birth of the Tartan Tees

09 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by internationaltartans in All about tartans, Tartan Tees

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cotton, ethical trading, Fair Trade, Fair Trade Nation, Fair Trade Tartan, Fair Trade tartan tee shirt, fair trading, scotland, tartan, tee shirts, World Fair Trade Day

We were delighted to be involved in Edinburgh’s first Fair Trade Fiesta in May 2014 – the celebration of World Fair Trade Day and of Scotland’s status as only the second country in the world to be awarded Fair Trade Nation status.  It was only logical to design the Fair Trade tartan!

Fairtrade tartan

But the design of the tartan was just the beginning…… what about using the tartan design to raise some funds for Scotland’s Fair Trade legacy? We had many ideas (some of which might yet see the light of day) but the one we liked best was the idea of a Fair Trade tartan tee shirt, using the design in two ways: as a tartan globe, since the Fair Trade movement is worldwide and the ever popular ‘I heart‘ legend and sourcing fairly traded, ethically produced tee shirts, printed in the heart of Edinburgh.  And here they are!

i heart fairtrade mock up Fairtrade Mock Uo

They are available in both adult and children’s sizes and we are, as usual operating the ‘ten per cent solution’ to our sales: ten per cent of our proceeds will be donated to a Fair Trade fund to continue the legacy of the first fantastic Fair Trade Fiesta!

Here is the heart tee shirt modelled by a teenager of our acquaintance………..DSC_7862

You can order this and many other Tartan Tees here http://www.internationaltartans.co.uk/#%21fair-trade/cg47

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