Just a whiney complaint...

[Dan R Porter]

Is it just me or does kilts, jackets, shoes, anything related to kilting is expensive to the point of disbelief? I doubt many highlanders in the 16-17 hundreds had to refinance the farm to have some darn clothes to wear.

[george7]

Their kilts weren't tailored.

[SteveB]

In the 16th century, most Highlanders did not have shoes. The main garment was the leine, with the tartan wrapped around the outside and held up by the belt, and some form of sporran.
For today's way of thinking:
The leine is almost as much fabric as a Toga billowing around the body.
The kilt would have been like a king size plaid blanket pleated (not sewn in) in the rear and aproned over in the front, held up by a belt, the excess hanging over the belt, and on a shorter person, probably dragging on the ground.
The sporran was a pouch made of anything that was convenient, tied to the belt, or around the waist.
Shoes were very rare, and then more a moccasin of animal hide that was barely held on by a piece of leather around the ankle.

Not of the type of kilting we think of today, and certainly not collected in Hamish style.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I hear you loud and clear echoing the complaints I first heard forty-odd years ago. The truth of the matter is that highland attire has always been expensive-- and the better the quality, the more it costs. It is also an excellent investment because, if well cared for, it will last for decades. With this in mind I always suggest that a person should buy the very best available-- 16oz traditional kilt; silver mounted sporran; a proper sgian dubh with silver mounts; tartan or diced hose; buckle and strap shoes; made to measure (or bespoke) doublet and waistcoat. You don't have to buy it all at once, but if you budget wisely, in 3-5 years everything on this short list could be in your closet. Believe me, what may seem like an extravagance today will seem like the bargain of the century in ten years time.

[David Dubh]

All things are relative.As poited out earlier the original kilt was a plaid blanket fastened at the waist with a belt, it would be about 4 yards with the top arranged to protect the wearer with a lein underneath. The material for the kilt would have been woven and dyed locally this is were the concept of clan tartans came from. Dyes would have been from local plants and berries thus the colours and patterns would be different from area to area. The kilt would have been removed for fighting and the lein tied under, the crotch to keep it out of the way. If you check with the scottish tartan museum the small kilt that we know today would only have been 4 yards,even in early victorian times then some bright spark figured out that they could make more money selling an 8 yard kilt.
All that aside If you were to go to a tailor and have a suite hand made I'm sure that the cost would be closer to a highland outfit. Most mens clothing today is ready made, made "off shore" and in volume to make it more cost effective. My latest jacket purchased at Hector Russell was not hand made in the UK and cost half the price of a brittish made one.

[Bugbear]

Ehh, there are more expencive obsessions... I used to collect microphones; they can get pricey. I also used to collect rare coins, and they can get very expencive.

On the other hand, there is a price/quality range in the kilt and accessory realm. Throw in the DIY angle, and it's manageable over time.

[sathor]

I also used to collect rare coins, and they can get very expencive.

I have my collection. Almost debate selling them off for kilt money. The forums for the coin people got to me. The people talking about the cases of the gold coins they were sending in for grading, how they were buying up coins by maxing their CC's, where each coin cost more than my rent. For a year.

The most I think I hear a kilt costing is about 600, even a full outfit is less than my yearly rent. Even with his many kilts, Hamish (I hope I spelled that right) is still seemingly down to earth, and is more of a 'pioneer' than the guy showing off just how rich he is. It's a whole different bunch here.

[Pleater]

In times long past, if you had your sheep grazing around the house, or your household swapped eggs (for instance) with a sheep keeping household, you could expect your good ladies and maids to set to and spin, dye and produce the yarn, and the local weaver would make the cloth, so in a year or two you'd have a kilt length, and a similar process would get you a jacket or plaid.

It might have cost quite a lot in time and effort, and in resources, but it would not be all at once, and once got, it would have become something to list in any accounting of the household and to put in your will to be sure it went to the right person.

Just because modern clothing is mass produced by close to slave labour we do tend to see anachronistic garments as expensive, when really they are about the same as they always were and everything else has got cheaper.

I once priced an embroidered linen smock of the 'Olde English' type, something most labouring men would have had maybe three of, when I was asked to make one, and it came out at three to four hundred pounds, and that was charging nowhere near the minimum hourly rate for employment, and that was 30 years ago.

I did suggest that the would be purchaser could come around and clean house, redecorate it, work in the garden and cook my meals as I worked - but somehow that did not appeal.

It is possible to wear kilts and enjoy the freedom without doing the full fig of 'highland attire' - but if you want to dress like a laird, you need the same level of financing.

Anne the Pleater

[Donnie]

Why expect to be paid well, if you are not willing to pay someone else well?

[Spartan]

I would suggest that we make sure that those who inherit our goods (or, responsible for disposing of them) , know the value!