The Keepers of the Cloth
Our Trustees
The trustees of The Scottish Tartans Authority bring a wealth of experience to our registered charity and are committed to fulfilling our charitable objectives. This diverse group shares a common purpose in promoting, protecting and preserving our beloved and iconic national fabric.
John F McLeish
Trustee | Chair
A life-long supporter of Highland culture, piping and the Gaelic language, John is Chief Executive of The Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen and is a Museum Mentor for The Highlanders' Museum at Fort George near Inverness. His business career spans a wide range of industry sectors and he has held senior leadership roles in Banking, Professional Services, Passenger Transport and Oil & Gas Services.
John joined an ailing Scottish Tartans Authority in 2010 and has led its revival to become a partnership focused organisation since taking on the role of Chair in 2012. He is a member of the Advisory Group of The Scottish Register of Tartans (National Records of Scotland), a Trustee of The Duff Highlanders' Society and is one of the founding Board Members of The Braemar Highland Games Centre. As a Trustee of Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) between 2017 and 2024, John played a significant role within the Audit, Remuneration and Recruitment Committees during a period of unprecedented change as well as taking on the role of Interim CEO of MGS for the 12 months to February 2019. John is a member of The Royal Celtic Society, The Highland Society of London and The Royal Scottish Pipers' Society.
Peter Eslea MacDonald OBE TD
Trustee | Head of Research
Peter is an internationally recognised Tartan Historian. He has been studying and researching tartan for the past 40 years and is the leading authority on 18th and early 19th century patterns and techniques, particularly those of the weaving firm William Wilson & Son (1765 – 1926). He is a self-taught hand-weaver with some 30 years of experience and has demonstrated and lectured widely, including in; USA, Canada, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.
Peter acts as technical and historical advisor to The Scottish Register of Tartans and is principal advisor on tartans to the High Council of Clan Donald. He is the author of numerous research papers on historical tartans and tartan artefacts as well as being the author of The 1819 Key Pattern Book, One Hundred Original Tartans. He has designed numerous tartans over the years (including The Edinburgh Tattoo, British Airways and Chanel) and is a consultant for a variety of museums and organisations in the UK and overseas, as well as film, television, radio and print media. Peter was awarded OBE in The King’s Birthday honours List 2025 for services to the Tartan Industry.
Emma Wilkinson
Trustee
Through Emma's varied skillset there is one particular common thread - an unwavering commitment to preserving and promoting Scottish textiles, heritage and culture. From ensuring these stories endure through her brand and marketing work, to handmade kiltmaking, weaving and tartan design.
Emma was the first Scottish winner of the globally recognised Hand and Lock Prize for Embroidery and the first Scholar of handmade kiltmaking supported by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust - she now serves as the QEST Ambassador for Scotland.
Day-to-day, Emma works for the Macnaughton Group, formerly as a designer primarily for The House of Edgar and more recently as the Group's Marketing Manager.
Emma brings extensive brand development and marketing experience, as well as an unwavering commitment to preserving and promoting tartan in her role as a Trustee of The Scottish Tartans Authority.
Colin Brown
Trustee | Vice Chair
Colin has been involved in the Tartan Industry for 35 years.
He started in the family business of Ingles Buchan Textiles Ltd, initially working the Highland Games circuit in North America to gain experience in product range and meeting customers, some of whom Ingles Buchan still supplies today and are as much friends as customers.
Colin took over the reigns of Ingles Buchan as Managing Director in 2010, purchasing the weaving mill, Selkirk Weaving Company in 2013. Colin is also an active part of the Incorporation of Weavers of Glasgow, serving as Deacon from 2016-2017.
Colin joined the Scottish Tartans Authority February 2012 as a trustee, now contributing his time and expertise as Vice Chair.
Sally Tuckett
Trustee
Sally is the Senior Lecturer in dress and textile histories at the University of Glasgow. Her research
focuses on the clothing and textile cultures of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Scotland, working
closely with museum and archive collections.
She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh
in 2011 and has since published on national identity and dress in the eighteenth century, and Scottish
textile cultures including Ayrshire whitework, Turkey red dyed and printed cotton, linen and tartan.
Her work on tartan has contributed to exhibitions in Scotland and Japan and she has been a trustee of
the Scottish Tartans Authority since 2017.
Ruth Cox
Trustee
Ruth brings a strong background in heritage interpretation and preservation as well as a passion for Scottish history to her role as Trustee.
Since joining The Gordon Highlanders Museum in 2015 as a Museum Curator, she has gained extensive experience in exhibitions curation, collection interpretation, and collection conservation and management.
In her capacity as Curator, Ruth has delivered several popular temporary exhibitions which enhanced public understanding of regimental and Scottish history, and managed the collection through a successful accreditation renewal, demonstrating a strong commitment to professional museum standards of collection care.
Adam Fraser
Trustee
Adam has held a lifelong passion for Highland Dress and has worked within the industry in Canada. His professional background spans 18 years as an archaeologist and researcher, during which he developed extensive expertise in historical and archival research.
In recognition of this work,
Adam was highly commended by the British Records Association in the 2024 Janette Harley Prize for Archival Research. He now applies his research skills to the study of historic Highland dress, focusing on locating and documenting early examples, and actively contributes to the research objectives of The Scottish Tartans Authority (STA).
Malcolm Ferris-Lay MBE
Trustee
Malcolm developed an early interest in Highland Dress after witnessing a regimental pipe band perform the Argyll Broadswords. This led him to pursue Highland dancing and he became a successful competitor, dancer and teacher with achievements at major events including the Braemar Gathering and Aboyne Highland Games. As a Highland dancer, Malcolm travelled internationally promoting Scotland's heritage for organisations such as British Caledonian Airways, Dewar's Whisky and the Scottish Tourist Board.
Malcolm holds an extensive collection of sgian dubhs and has written and given talks on the subject. He is a Past President of the Caledonian Society of London (founded 1839) and a member of the Highland Society of London (founded 1778). Malcolm was awarded the MBE for his extensive charitable work across a wide range of organisations and sectors, including his involvement with The Scottish Tartans Authority.
Nick Statt
Trustee
Nick is the current Sales Director for The House of Edgar (part of Macnaughton Holdings Ltd), the largest supplier of tartan fabric in the world.
He has worked in the Highland Dress industry for over 30 years starting as a shoeshine boy at the age of 14 and working for some of the largest retailers in the industry along the way. He joined The House of Edgar in 2012 initially as the Sales Manager and now oversees the global sales for the brand.
An avid ‘amateur’ fan of tartan his whole life, he brings a wealth of experience in both the retail and wholesale arenas in his role as a trustee.
Learn more about our story - from our inception, through the projects we have been part of and our mission for the future.
We proudly have HM King Charles III as our patron. Learn more about this very special honour here.
Join The Scottish Tartans Authority as a member, and be part of preserving this iconic part of Scotland's culture for the future.