Joseph's Journey

Joseph Nguyen left his home country of Vietnam at age 16. He travelled to Scotland alone, seeking safety, on a 6 month journey across the world. Now happy and settled in Scotland, Joseph is proud to call the country home.

Having fallen in love with Scotland, it’s people and it’s culture, Joseph dreamt of having his own kilt. In late 2021, we received a request from someone who wanted to help Joseph get kilted-out and we are delighted to have been able to help.

Joseph came in to be measured for his special, made-to-order kilt at our Duke St. store with his friend Stefan from the Scottish Guardianship Service. The Scottish Guardianship Service supports unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, working with anyone under the age of 18 who has arrived in Scotland, without a caregiver, to seek asylum or as a result of trafficking. They continue to support many young people beyond their 18th birthday and Stefan’s job helps young people to make friends, have fun and get involved in their new communities.

Joseph chose our new ‘Spirit of Glasgow’ tartan for his kilt - an excellent choice! The tartan combines tones of light lilac, heather purple, soft navy blue with accents of brown which celebrates the city in which Slanj was founded and evokes feelings of a warm evening welcome.

When the time came for Joseph to collect his new kilt he couldn’t have been happier with it. Joseph said ‘It’s a really nice kilt and I absolutely love it. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it. You guys made my dream come true and I feel like I am a real Scotsman now.’  Joseph was kitted out with a sporran, kilt pin and kilt socks to complete his outfit.

There was still another chapter to Joseph’s story. When a Yorkshire lass name Emma Louise Wilson visited Scotland, she decided to stay and that’s when she met Joseph.

A year later they were married. Of course, Joseph was wearing a Spirit of Glasgow tartan kilt outfit ; a tartan he has grown to love. Joseph said ‘It is an honour to have Spirit of Glasgow as my family Tartan. I am grateful to Slanj and the team who have been very generous to me. I am proud to be a first person to get married in the Spirit of Glasgow tartan.’

So, Emma Louise Wilson is now Emma Louise Nguyen, but there is now one more addition to the Nguyen clan. They now have baby boy named Tobias Anh, who was born on 6th January. Emma and Joseph are very happy parents indeed.

‘I will definitely get a matching kilt for the wee one in the future. Spirit of Glasgow tartan will be my family tartan for sure’ promises Joseph.