Meet Ailsa, your Scottish tartan and kilt shopping assistant

Ailsa is Scotland Heritage’s AI shopping assistant. She helps visitors search our Tartan Finder records, explore kilts and Highlandwear in our catalogue, understand measurement and product options, check published delivery and returns guidance, and look up order progress. Guests can try Ailsa immediately within the free guest message allowance, and signed-in customers get a daily message allowance plus saved conversation history. See our Privacy Policy for information on how store data is handled.

Yes. Ailsa searches our Tartan Finder by clan, surname, tartan name or colourway and shows recorded variants such as Ancient, Modern and Weathered together with links to the tartan page and available products. Please note that a tartan listing in our register identifies a woven design and does not verify genealogy or establish clan ancestry.

Yes. You can select the plus (+) button in Ailsa’s composer to attach a photograph (JPEG, PNG, or WebP up to 8 MB) of a kilt, fabric swatch, or Highlandwear outfit. Ailsa inspects visible colours, pattern layout, pleating style, or hardware to suggest matching designs from our 10,005 Tartan Finder records. Please note that photo matching offers visual suggestions to guide your search and cannot definitively certify official tartan identity or verify fabric fibre composition—always inspect official swatches before ordering made-to-measure.

Yes. Ailsa explains how to take the waist, hip or seat, fell and kilt length measurements using our published Kilt Measurement Guide and Size & Measurement Guides, and can clarify custom options on a product page. Because fit depends on accurate body measurements taken with a helper, Ailsa provides guidance rather than a guaranteed fit—always double-check your measurements before placing a made-to-measure order.

Yes. You can ask about production lead times, dispatch, international customs and returns from our published Delivery Information and Returns & Refunds Policy, or ask about a specific product’s configured delivery estimate when viewing that product. All production and transit timings are estimates rather than guaranteed delivery dates; if you have a fixed wedding or event date, Ailsa can connect you with our team to check what is achievable.

Yes. If you are signed in to your account, Ailsa can check the status and recorded tracking details of your orders. If you checked out as a guest, you can look up an order by providing the matching order number, checkout email address and billing surname. Ailsa cannot modify, cancel or refund orders automatically, and will direct you to customer support if you need an order change.

On supported HTTPS browsers with microphone capability, you can click the microphone button in Ailsa’s composer, grant microphone permission, and dictate a message of up to 60 seconds (subject to speech-to-text rate limits). Stopping the recording places the transcript into the message box so you can review and edit it before sending. Ailsa does not support live voice calls, continuous background transcription or spoken audio replies.

You can select Prefer a person? Talk to our team inside the Ailsa panel to leave your name, email and message—Ailsa will attach your conversation so you do not need to repeat yourself, and our team will reply by email. You can also reach us anytime through our Contact Us page.

Yes. Our team is continuously expanding Ailsa’s capabilities. We are actively refining her tartan matching, photo recognition, outfit recommendations, customization guidance, and store knowledge so you receive even more helpful, accurate assistance with every visit.