Pakistan unrest=fewer affordable kilts?

[DTrain]

With Musharraf declaring a state of emergency in Pakistan (seems to be to prevent losing his power), this will likely affect Pakistani made kilt goods and tartan. I know that some of the vendors on this site who offer excellent value kilts and accessories use tartan or materials made in Pakistan.

Just putting two and two together, the Pakistani unrest will seriously disrupt the supply of affordable kilts out there. Don't get me wrong, I'm still saving up to get a Scottish wool, custom made tank but it appears that there will be a shortage of knockaround, sport-type, pub crawl kilts (which I wear more anyway).

Maybe I need to look into AlanH's XKilt directions because I expect the price of the affordable kilts to go up and the supply to go down. Economics comes to the kilted world.

[Riverkilt]

Never mind the kilts - what about the Stillwater leather nighstalker sporrans....in brown!

And, I'm pretty sure SportKilts are made in California...

Ron

[Larry124]

There has been unrest there many times prior.

My guess is that the manufacturers are smart enough to be connected with their local military, police, or civilian “powers that be” for protection.

Since the kilts are not for local consumption, generate local employment, and earn foreign currency (especially Pounds and Dollars), I don’t know why either the government or the Taliban would mess with them.

Also not likely that they work during non-curfew hours?
Maybe if there were to be a disruption of electricity or transport there could be a problem, but only if it were for an extended period of time. Or fighting in the streets around the factory.
Would you locate your facitity next to a military base? Police Station? Mosque? Pros and cons I would think.

Does the Pakistani Army currently have kilted bands or other units?

[creativeaccents]

With American, British and other young boys being killed every day by the efforts of Taliban and Al Quaida and the role of dictators around the world avidly opposed to freedom and democracy, somehow the cost of a kilt would seem to pale in comparison.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071103/...re_as/pakistan
So, we know that companies and manufacturers don't generate funds that may well contribute to such efforts?

[Riverkilt]

Whoa!!! That'll get a thread locked up....yikes!

Ron

[Mike1]

Whoa!!! That'll get a thread locked up....yikes!

Nothing is locked as of yet. But we are watching...

[Larry124]

...So, we know that companies and manufacturers don't generate funds that may well contribute to such efforts?

Dunno. Guess it depends on which side they are paying protection money to.

From Wikipedia: “…agriculture now only accounts for roughly 20% of the GDP. …The top industries in Pakistan are telecom, software, automotives, textiles, cement, fertilizer, steel, ship building, and more recently, aerospace.

Good. No poppies.
Textiles = kilts.
Aerospace…?

[Fedgunner]

Folks... there is a greater issue here... How are the Pakastanis going to make kilts and sporrans when the .gov is touching off nukes(This is a worst case, I understand)

I want my SWK leather sporrans.

[macwilkin]

To [sort of] bring this back on topic:

Does the Pakistani Army currently have kilted bands or other units?

Pipe bands, yes -- are they kilted? No.

Both India and Pakistan have regiments that maintain ties to the old Indian Army of the British Raj; The Gurkha Regiments, the Sikh Regiment, the Frontier Force Rifles, etc. Some of them do maintain pipe bands and in the case of the 3rd Battalion, the Sikh Regiment (Rattray's Sikhs), they do wear the Rattray tartan, but not as a kilt.

Regards,

Todd

[Ian.MacAllan]

. . . Economics comes to the kilted world.

Not really; it's been here all along. Maybe awareness of it is new.

As long as there have been people, economics has been a principal consideration driving their behavior. They could not otherwise survive.

Why did the Scots choose wool for their clothing? What alternatives did they have? There were no man-made fibers until the late 19th century. The natural fibers available in the Middle Ages were wool, linen (flax), hemp, cotton and silk. Cotton and silk were both very expensive because of the high cost of producing and importing them. If you ever wear hemp you will wonder why ascetics wore hair shirts instead of hemp.

That leaves wool and linen, both domestic products in Scotland. Wool is far superior to linen in combating cold and wet. Difficult choice, eh?

The main reason we now have a flourishing trade in relatively low-cost kilts is that we now have a winning combination: low-cost fabrics that are satisfactory for this use, low-cost labor to make the kilts, industrious entrepreneurs to put a system together and maintain it, and customers willing to buy when the price, quality, and service are right. Let's hear it for free enterprise!

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