Trews

Trews (Truis or Triubhas) are men's clothing for the legs and lower abdomen, a traditional form of tartan trousers from Scottish apparel. Trews could be trimmed with leather, usually buckskin, especially on the inner leg to prevent wear from riding on horseback.

Tartan trews shared the fate of other items of Highland dress, including proscription under the Dress Act of 1746 that banned men and boys from wearing the truis ("Trowse") outside of military service. The Dress Act lasted until 1782 when it was repealed under the reign of King George III.

The tartan truis or trousers date back to 1538 as a medieval style of woven tartan cloth trousers as a garment preferably used during the Highland winter where the kilt would be impractical in such cold weather. The word is triubhas in Scottish Gaelic. Truis or trews are anglicised spellings meaning trousers.

Traditional trews were form-fitting garments, similar to the footed hose of the Renaissance, from which they probably evolved. (However, Tacitus says that in 69 BCE, the Roman general, Caecina, was considered, by his wearing of the foreign trews when meeting with toga-clad Romans, to show indication of a haughty spirit.) They could be cut as Knee-breeches or full length.

These trews were cut on the cross-grain (US bias), which allowed the fabric to stretch sufficiently to mould to the body, and placed the tartan "sett" on the diagonal.

Traditional trews are actually long hose. These hose came all the way up to the waist and were attached to a linen cloth (NB: These were not trousers). They were fastened at the lower leg, below the knee, by a (the precursor to the flashes of the Highland Dress) as can be seen in the painting by David Morier of the Battle of Culloden. It is said in Scottish traditional folklore that these triubhas were actually the common garment of the 16th to 18th Centuries in the Highlands. It is also a fascinating note that 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.

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