Heritage, Artisanship, and Sustainability: Something Versus Nothing: Sourcing Fashionable Authenticity in Scotland

This chapter explores the homogenisation of mass-produced fashion that lacks distinctiveness in design, composition, and innovation. Yet, this is not reflective of fashion historically, which was famed for design, innovation, and material manipulation that created alluring aesthetics and silhouettes. Using Ritzers’s (Sociol Theory 21(3):193–209, 2003) Theory of Globalisation, this chapter examines how ‘something’ can be constructed that creates value from heritage and artisanship that also addresses sustainability. This is contrasted against mass-production of larger similar garments that are bereft of design and made with limited longevity due to reduced qualities of material and construction, which Ritzer would characterise as ‘nothing’. To enliven the ideas discussed in this chapter, examples are provided through a Scottish lens, where tartan material can be representative of empowerment or exploitation. The chapter concludes with examples of how marketing can harness something as representative of superior values.