Trews
[1] Written records of tartan trews date back to 1538, as a style of woven tartan-cloth trousers,[2] a garment preferably used during the Highland winter when the kilt would be impractical in such cold weather.
They were fastened at the lower leg, below the knee, by a garter (the precursor to the flashes of the Highland Dress) as can be seen in the painting by David Morier of the Battle of Culloden.
[7] When travelling, in order to avoid getting the trews wet when crossing streams, the Highlander would wear shorter hose, ones that would only reach up to the knee, and wrap his "bed-garments" around his waist, a form of the Great Kilt.
[7] Modern trews are more like trousers with the fabric cut on the straight grain but without a side seam, and are often high-waisted, usually to be worn with a short jacket, as an alternative to the kilt.
They wore the complex belted plaid and latterly, to encourage recruits unfamiliar with such garb, they adopted the simpler small kilt.
Highland regiments stationed in hot or unhealthy surroundings often took to wearing simple white cotton trousers or tartan trews.
In 1822, following King George IV's successful first visit to Scotland, he ordered the resumption of Highland dress and traditions for one de-kilted regiment.
The tartan chosen was a new form of red or royal Stewart called "Prince Charles Edward Stuart", reflecting the new romantic fashion for all things Jacobite.
[10] The full-length tartan trousers popular with many golfers are also based on trews, but are cut fuller for more freedom of movement and warmer climates.
