Used kilts

[Knoxy10]

I’m looking to get a more traditional/ceremonial kilt, but for the right price. Does anyone know any companies that will sell kilts they used to rent for weddings and stuff? Any help would be great!

Thanks,
Knoxy10

[The Wizard of BC]

Knoxy,

May I please offer a word of caution.

Please do a little research before you commit to a purchase. Just because a kilt has been in a hire fleet does not always insure that it is a first quality kilt. In fact, if you thimk about it, some times the kilts can be of a lesser quality. It would just be a matter of economics. Some companies could put lesser quality kilts in their rental fleets knowing that they will be trashed and then will sold off/rotated every couple of years. The rental fees pay for the kilt and the sale is pure profit.

This does not mean that an ex-rental kilt is of lower quality. Just that you need to be able to tell the difference to make an informed decision.

Visit a kilt shop where you can see kilts being made. Learn what a first quality kilt is and how to tell it from another.

A little research now can save you possible frustration, dissapointment, and perhaps some money in the long run.

There are some very good deals to be had out there for those who know what they are looking at.

[WalesLax]

Combining Knoxy's request with Steve's advice, I'm wondering if people have a list (even if it's just a list of 1) that they could share of places they have bought ex-hire kilts that they've had good experiences with.

I can give a few:

1) Let's get it out of the way: eBay
eBay can be great or it can be terrible. I think Steve's advice is doubly important on eBay, where you MUST know what you are looking for, try to research the seller, and recognize that a deal too good to be true often is. My advice is to always see or ask for a picture of the tagging - who is the mill and who is the kiltmaker. Not that they can't be moved or faked, but you can weed out a lot of what you don't want with this information

2) Any of our advertisers on the site are quality companies and people who sometimes have ex-hire or sale items. Check their sites.

3) I've had some luck messaging with kilt stores/renters. Most are pretty open about what they are selling, and if they aren't - I'd go back to Steve's caution that it probably isn't a great kilt, but one they know is going to get beaten up a bit. Two I've had success with that aren't on our site (that I know of) are J Higgins and Geoffrey Tailor.

4) Area Pipe Bands - Generally you can be confident they are using a higher quality kilt, though you still need to ask the questions. Some bands provide kilts for their members, and sometimes sell the older ones to fund new ones, and some bands make their members buy the kilt themselves, so you can sometimes get advice of "go contact so-and-so; they stopped piping and may want to sell their kilt." Just like with ex-hire, you need to be careful that it hasn't been abused and that it hasn't had massive alterations made to it. The one time I was successful with this method, I had to significantly move the straps and send it for a thorough dry cleaning (I know, I know, but it needed it as I think the person may have had a dog sleeping on it scrunched up in the back of a car). That said, the price made the fixing worth it.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

Anyone else have some ex-hire places they liked or would steer Knoxy away from?

Rob

[bodhran4me]

I will second Steve's advice. I recently emailed a seller of ex-hire kilts and asked if they were 'proper' with stabilizer, lining, cloth weight, UK woolen mill etc. I received the following reply:

These kilts are mostly machine made for the rental market in the UK. They are 13oz medium weight all in 8yards of 100% wool.

They have a part inner lining at the top of the kilts.


I then replied, in part:
still not entirely clear on whether the cloth is from a UK mill or just 'made for the UK market' and whether there is any interior reinforcement. I have had bad experience with inferior cloth from third world countries previously..

The reply:
We buy these in a large batch each month from Uk hire companies and assured these are made in UK.

The kilts are lined inside at the top for the first 6-9inches To me, this says they do not have stabilizers and are made in UK but with foreign cloth. I found a more detailed picture on their ebay site which included a leather patch belt loop with lion embossed on it which I believe is used by a major manufacturer from Pakistan.

[WalesLax]

Was that Kilts4Less?

Others on here have mentioned that sometimes you get good Kilts from them and others you get shoddy workmanship.

I will second Steve's advice. I recently emailed a seller of ex-hire kilts and asked if they were 'proper' with stabilizer, lining, cloth weight, UK woolen mill etc. I received the following reply:

These kilts are mostly machine made for the rental market in the UK. They are 13oz medium weight all in 8yards of 100% wool.

They have a part inner lining at the top of the kilts.


I then replied, in part:
still not entirely clear on whether the cloth is from a UK mill or just 'made for the UK market' and whether there is any interior reinforcement. I have had bad experience with inferior cloth from third world countries previously..

The reply:
We buy these in a large batch each month from Uk hire companies and assured these are made in UK.

The kilts are lined inside at the top for the first 6-9inches To me, this says they do not have stabilizers and are made in UK but with foreign cloth. I found a more detailed picture on their ebay site which included a leather patch belt loop with lion embossed on it which I believe is used by a major manufacturer from Pakistan.

[Profane James]

I'll throw out etsy.com.
I found my wonderful Gordon Family, pleated to the sett (!!!) from an etsy shop!

[Knoxy10]

Knoxy,

May I please offer a word of caution.

Please do a little research before you commit to a purchase. Just because a kilt has been in a hire fleet does not always insure that it is a first quality kilt. In fact, if you thimk about it, some times the kilts can be of a lesser quality. It would just be a matter of economics. Some companies could put lesser quality kilts in their rental fleets knowing that they will be trashed and then will sold off/rotated every couple of years. The rental fees pay for the kilt and the sale is pure profit.

This does not mean that an ex-rental kilt is of lower quality. Just that you need to be able to tell the difference to make an informed decision.

Visit a kilt shop where you can see kilts being made. Learn what a first quality kilt is and how to tell it from another.

A little research now can save you possible frustration, dissapointment, and perhaps some money in the long run.

There are some very good deals to be had out there for those who know what they are looking at.

I will look very closely for sure, and I contacted kilt companies so hopefully I’ll hear back soon. No matter what I always ask questions like that because I don’t want to get duped. I appreciate the advice and will use every word for it when I call companies thanks for the help!

[Knoxy10]

Combining Knoxy's request with Steve's advice, I'm wondering if people have a list (even if it's just a list of 1) that they could share of places they have bought ex-hire kilts that they've had good experiences with.

I can give a few:

1) Let's get it out of the way: eBay
eBay can be great or it can be terrible. I think Steve's advice is doubly important on eBay, where you MUST know what you are looking for, try to research the seller, and recognize that a deal too good to be true often is. My advice is to always see or ask for a picture of the tagging - who is the mill and who is the kiltmaker. Not that they can't be moved or faked, but you can weed out a lot of what you don't want with this information

2) Any of our advertisers on the site are quality companies and people who sometimes have ex-hire or sale items. Check their sites.

3) I've had some luck messaging with kilt stores/renters. Most are pretty open about what they are selling, and if they aren't - I'd go back to Steve's caution that it probably isn't a great kilt, but one they know is going to get beaten up a bit. Two I've had success with that aren't on our site (that I know of) are J Higgins and Geoffrey Tailor.

4) Area Pipe Bands - Generally you can be confident they are using a higher quality kilt, though you still need to ask the questions. Some bands provide kilts for their members, and sometimes sell the older ones to fund new ones, and some bands make their members buy the kilt themselves, so you can sometimes get advice of "go contact so-and-so; they stopped piping and may want to sell their kilt." Just like with ex-hire, you need to be careful that it hasn't been abused and that it hasn't had massive alterations made to it. The one time I was successful with this method, I had to significantly move the straps and send it for a thorough dry cleaning (I know, I know, but it needed it as I think the person may have had a dog sleeping on it scrunched up in the back of a car). That said, the price made the fixing worth it.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

Anyone else have some ex-hire places they liked or would steer Knoxy away from?

Rob

Thank you Rob for the help I took a screen shot and will call the companies. I actually joined a bagpipe band and will talk to them about whether or not they will sell me a used one. I want to make sure i will fit in it with no issues. If anyone else does have other companies. Please send me a personal message on here so I can keep record. Sometimes too many replies, it’ll mess me up and I want to give referrals to them from people on here. I know sometimes people can get discounts because of their loyalty to the company(ies). Thanks again!

[Knoxy10]

Combining Knoxy's request with Steve's advice, I'm wondering if people have a list (even if it's just a list of 1) that they could share of places they have bought ex-hire kilts that they've had good experiences with.

I can give a few:

1) Let's get it out of the way: eBay
eBay can be great or it can be terrible. I think Steve's advice is doubly important on eBay, where you MUST know what you are looking for, try to research the seller, and recognize that a deal too good to be true often is. My advice is to always see or ask for a picture of the tagging - who is the mill and who is the kiltmaker. Not that they can't be moved or faked, but you can weed out a lot of what you don't want with this information

2) Any of our advertisers on the site are quality companies and people who sometimes have ex-hire or sale items. Check their sites.

3) I've had some luck messaging with kilt stores/renters. Most are pretty open about what they are selling, and if they aren't - I'd go back to Steve's caution that it probably isn't a great kilt, but one they know is going to get beaten up a bit. Two I've had success with that aren't on our site (that I know of) are J Higgins and Geoffrey Tailor.

4) Area Pipe Bands - Generally you can be confident they are using a higher quality kilt, though you still need to ask the questions. Some bands provide kilts for their members, and sometimes sell the older ones to fund new ones, and some bands make their members buy the kilt themselves, so you can sometimes get advice of "go contact so-and-so; they stopped piping and may want to sell their kilt." Just like with ex-hire, you need to be careful that it hasn't been abused and that it hasn't had massive alterations made to it. The one time I was successful with this method, I had to significantly move the straps and send it for a thorough dry cleaning (I know, I know, but it needed it as I think the person may have had a dog sleeping on it scrunched up in the back of a car). That said, the price made the fixing worth it.

Anyway, just my $0.02.

Anyone else have some ex-hire places they liked or would steer Knoxy away from?

Rob

And anything with eBay. I always ask for pics of tags, and photos of the actual product so I can compare it to that from a website or make sure the quality is good because I know some countries of origin make stuff for cheap.

[Knoxy10]

[QUOTE=bodhran4me;1347436]I will second Steve's advice. I recently emailed a seller of ex-hire kilts and asked if they were 'proper' with stabilizer, lining, cloth weight, UK woolen mill etc. I received the following reply:

These kilts are mostly machine made for the rental market in the UK. They are 13oz medium weight all in 8yards of 100% wool.

They have a part inner lining at the top of the kilts.


I then replied, in part:
still not entirely clear on whether the cloth is from a UK mill or just 'made for the UK market' and whether there is any interior reinforcement. I have had bad experience with inferior cloth from third world countries previously..

The reply:
We buy these in a large batch each month from Uk hire companies and assured these are made in UK.

The kilts are lined inside at the top for the first 6-9inches To me, this says they do not have stabilizers and are made in UK but with foreign cloth. I found a more detailed picture on their ebay site which included a leather patch belt loop with lion embossed on it which I believe is used by a major manufacturer from Pakistan.[/QUOTE

For me I want it as traditional as possible so I will definitely check quality before buying! thanks for the advice!