Montreal's main kilt seller calls it quits despite booming business
Les Perreaux, Canadian Press
Published: Friday, December 29, 2006
MONTREAL (CP) - In the land of the ceinture flechee - the colourful sash of 19th-century French-Canadians that lives on in folklore, festivals and on Bonhomme Carnaval - Bryant Johnson's Scottish kilt shop sells a culture that seems foreign at first glance.
"A lot of my contemporaries in Toronto say, 'How does a guy sell kilts in Montreal?' " said Johnson, the proprietor and son in Chas Johnson and Son.
But the shop's success over the past 60 years, sitting in the shadow of Montreal's venerable Bay department store, reveals a slice of Quebec's long history and the mix of people who founded French Canada.
"The truth is that there's a lot of French-Canadians who have Scottish heritage going back to the Hudson's Bay Company," Johnson said in a recent interview.
In the 2001 census, some 180,000 Quebecers claimed some Scottish roots.
"They don't speak English, but they'll be walking by the door and they'll see scarves with their name on it," Johnson said.
"They'll come in, make inquiries, and go home to La Tuque or whatever. But they always come back."
They won't be coming back for long.
Soaring downtown property values and the irresistible allure of retirement will bring an end to another historic Montreal institution that reaches back to the city's colourful roots.
Johnson, 66, is shutting down his kilt shop and haberdashery and selling the choice downtown location off Phillips Square next spring.
With dress-down Fridays extending throughout the week now, Johnson's main business selling suits has steadily worn away. But the kilt business has never been better.
In Montreal and across Canada, Scots are reconnecting with their roots, taking up highland dancing and laying out thousands for Scottish dress items.
It starts with the woollen kilt, but other popular items include the tam-o'-shanter bonnet worn at a jaunty angle atop the noggin and the manly carry-all purse known as the sporran.
Valeta Roach, the owner of Scottish Imports in Edmonton, says she's doing a booming business renting kilts for special occasions.
"I wonder if baby boomers are getting on, and wanting to explore their roots a bit more," Roach said.
"A lot are now a bit older and have a bit more disposable income, we're getting into our heritage in a big way."
Pop culture has also played a role in popularizing all things Scottish, with comedians and characters playing on the brogue and distinctive dress to varying degrees of effectiveness.
"I get lots of fellows in looking through my consignment rack of men's kilts around Halloween, Robbie Burns Day and St. Patrick's," said Roach.
"They look at the price and then go look at the consignment of ladies' walking kilts which are half the fabric and half the price."
But it's not just a frivolous passing interest for many. Several people a day swallow the steep price tag for their own tartan at Johnson's shop, where kilts start at $1,000 and can soar from there.
He orders the tartan specific to the regions and clans of Scotland. He has a crew of kilt makers who sew them to exacting standards.
Tailoring a proper kilt is more complicated than it might seem. Many kilt makers require four measurements to make them, including the distance from the waistline to the widest part of the hips.
Manufacturing follows complicated formulas of thread counts and colour combinations to match traditional tartans associated with families, regions and military units.
Even ironing is not simple, with different pleating options which follow exact instructions.
"It's all done by hand, there is no mass production," said tailor Jimmy Betancourt, sitting at a sewing machine in the basement of Johnson's shop, impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit.
Betancourt has sewn suits and kilts for Johnson since 1976. Like the dozen other experts in kilts and men's clothing at Johnson's shop, he's not sure what comes next.
Like the others, he might start his own shop. They might all band together to open another shop similar to Johnson's operation.
"But first, we're all going to take a big break," said Betancourt.
© The Canadian Press 2006
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