Gaelic Themes · Glasgow
The story of Gaelic Themes
A family business founded in Glasgow in 1999, bringing together kiltmaking, tailoring, leatherwork, jewellery and clan crest accessories.
Our Glasgow workshops
The many crafts of Highland dress
In Glasgow, our kiltmakers, tailors and specialist makers bring those skills together across kilts, jackets, waistcoats, ladieswear, leatherwork, jewellery and clan crest accessories.
For our tailoring and kiltmaking, we select fabric from the finest mills in Scotland and across the UK. Gaelic Themes is part of the family-owned St Kilda Holdings group.
Our history
A family business since 1999
Scott Chalmers founded Gaelic Themes in Glasgow in 1999. Today, his son Bob leads St Kilda Holdings, continuing a family commitment to Highland dress, heraldry and the traditions of Scottish piping.
Our beginnings in Glasgow
Scott Chalmers founded Gaelic Themes in Glasgow in 1999, beginning with Highland hosiery. In its early years, the business expanded with the acquisition of Rhum Lyon, a Scottish metal-casting business specialising in clan crests. This laid the foundations for our clan-crest collection and a lasting connection with the art of Scottish heraldry.
Vernon Bros joins the group
Vernon Bros joined the group in 2002, bringing specialist expertise from Leeds, one of Britain’s historic tailoring centres, to our growing Highlandwear business. Its skills became part of the tailoring tradition we continue in Glasgow today.
Highland dress and the piping tradition
The acquisition of R. G. Hardie & Co. in 2005 brought the Peter Henderson name and Glasgow’s bagpipe-making heritage into the group, linking our Highlandwear business with the craft of Scottish piping.
A new home on Grovepark Street
The move to 45 Grovepark Street marked a new chapter for Gaelic Themes. It remains our head office today.
A Glasgow home for our tailoring
The Vernon Bros tailoring operation moved from Leeds to 55 Broad Street in Glasgow. These premises remain home to our tailoring and kiltmaking workshops today.
The next generation
Under Bob Chalmers’ leadership, the group continues to develop its workshops and collections, with Scottish craftsmanship at the centre of the business.
Caption in the hand of her daughter, Jenny Chalmers.
Christina MacDonald MacQueen
From St Kilda to Glasgow
“I call it Hirta, which means to me just ‘home’.”
Christina MacDonald MacQueen, 1930
Our connection to St Kilda begins with Christina MacDonald MacQueen, the grandmother of our founder, Scott Chalmers. Born on Hirta in 1884, Christina left the island for Glasgow in 1909.
In her articles, Christina wrote about Gaelic life on Hirta, including spinning, weaving, family and the work of an island community.
Scott began the project to gather and preserve his grandmother’s writings. Her seventeen surviving articles were published together in 2025 as St Kilda: My Island Home, edited by Miles Kerr-Peterson and Michelle H. Craig. Discover Christina’s story.
Our clan crest collection
Clan crest metalwork
Our clan crest collection is based on the work of Romilly Squire, a heraldic artist and former herald painter at the Court of the Lord Lyon, Scotland’s heraldic authority.
His drawings for the Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopaedia are adapted for metalwork, then cast and finished in our Glasgow workshops.
The collection includes kilt pins, cap badges and other accessories, with the crest and motto kept clear at the scale of each piece.
Gaelic Themes
Highlandwear, clan crest metalwork and Scottish gifts, with tailoring and manufacturing at the heart of the business.
R. G. Hardie & Co.
Bagpipes made in Glasgow, continuing the city’s rich piping tradition within our family business.
Peter Henderson
A historic name in piping, whose instruments form an enduring part of the group’s Scottish heritage.
Explore Gaelic Themes
Discover our craft
Visit our workshops, stock our range or discuss a custom manufacturing project.