Gordon Nicolson, Edinburgh

What to buy here: Sporran.

A small company on a big mission – to re-energise and promote Scotland’s endangered national craft – Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers is a family-run business specialising in traditional handmade kilts and is a home to the Edinburgh Kilt Academy since 2016. It is therefore no wonder that they have an exclusive range of tartans, reputedly one of the best in Edinburgh, including: University of Edinburgh, John Muir Way, Flodden, Celtic F.C, Scotland National Team, and more. All tartans are exclusively designed, registered and woven by Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers, offering a great deal of personalisation.

Other than regular and clan tartan kilts, their shop in The Royal Mile retails a variety of Scottish Highlandwear accessories such as made-to-measure prince charlie jackets, argyll jackets, tweed jackets and waistcoats (available in Green Tweed, Blue Tweed and Brown Tweed), ghillie brogues, kilt hose, kilt pins, trews and, of course, sporrans.

This traditional item of the Scottish Highland dress constitutes a great gift for family and friends back home. It often takes the place of pockets on the pocketless Scottish kilt and serves as a convenient place to store keys, money and other personal items.

The pouch is usually made of leather or fur and comes in a wide array of designs. The ornamentation of the sporran is induced by the formality of dress worn with it. There are several types of sporrans, such as dress sporrans, day sporrans, animal mask sporrans and horsehair sporrans. The prices vary from $15 up to $650, or more.