800-year-old Scottish Highland sporran making 'critically endangered' due to foreign import spike

Edinburgh-based business William E. Scott and Son create traditional, hand-crafted sporrans and belts - and have been since their opening in 1937. Malcolm Scott, whose father and grandfather both studied the craft, has kept the business running in the Causewayside area of Edinburgh for decades.

But he said the art of Scottish Highland wear was "more endangered than ever before".

The sporrans, which are traditionally worn as part of Highland formal dress, are crafted using a range of materials, including leather, fur, metal and horsehair, and can take several hours to make just one.

Now, the trade, which has existed since the 12th century, is in danger of dying out, with fewer than 20 professionals estimated to be left in the business.

"The business was started by my grandfather and his father in 1937 - but how he got into sporran making, I have no idea," Mr Scott said. "They started making sporrans in 1937 and built up the business slowly.

''The war started, and my father went away during the war. When he came back, they essentially had to start all over again. We make sporrans in a traditional manner, but there are very few ways you can make a sporran. You have to start with a back and a front.

"The time to make one depends on the kind of tassels that are on it. The tassels alone can take a couple of hours. It generally takes a good few hours to make a sporran."

However, the trade appears to be dying out in Scotland, with officials declaring the craft "critically endangered".

Mr Scott said he believed this trend was due to imports of cheaply made Highland wear from overseas, which are mass-produced and sold for prices that Scottish professionals cannot match.

However, he said he believed that supporting Scottish trades and buying domestically made Highland wear is worth it - both for the quality and to support the trades.

"The whole trade has changed completely in the last few years," he said. "We're not the only traditional Scottish trade that's in this position - the numbers of kiltmakers, jacket makers and more have declined.

"It's an important part of Scottish heritage, but now there's probably more stuff made overseas now than there are in Scotland.

"Pakistan makes a lot of sporrans, and a lot of people in Scotland bring them in in container loads, at prices we can't even consider. That's probably why we're more endangered than ever before, because of the volume of stuff that comes into the country.

"It's just human nature to want to save on price, but we can't compete, because the prices they charge are a fraction of what it costs me just for raw materials.

"But the sporrans we make will last longer than you will. It's important to support Scottish industry and it's an important part of Scottish heritage."