UTKilts is knowingly selling synthetic Pakistani tartans using the terms "100% Woolen

[User]

UTKilts is knowingly selling synthetic Pakistani tartans using the terms "100% Woolen wool" and "Scottish Wool"

SYNOPSIS:
If you own a kilt from UTKilts that claims to be wool, place a loose thread from it in a bowl of bleach and see if it reacts.
If it doesn't, it's synthetic, not wool.

MY EXPERIENCE:
I ordered two great kilts from the UTKilts website. I clicked on "Scottish Wool Tartans", and the description says they are "100% Woolen wool".
When they arrived, one kilt bag had a "Made in Pakistan" sticker, and the other had the sticker cut out of it.

I was taken aback by how similar the material looked and felt to an acrylic Pakistani kilt my wife purchased at a Scottish festival in a tartan that matched one of the UTKilts. So I did some research and quickly discovered that when wool is submerged in common household bleach (sodium hypochlorite, NaClO) it rapidly loses color, and within hours dissolves entirely.

I submerged fibers from both UTKilts I purchased in a bowl filled with bleach. They didn't react in the slightest.
For control groups, I placed a fiber from a Strathmore kilt (real wool) and a fiber from my wife's acrylic kilt into the same bowl with the UTKilts fibers. The Strathmore fiber immediately began bubbling, and its color began to fade. In under 15 minutes, the Strathmore fiber was completely dissolved. The acrylic kilt fiber had no reaction, just like the UTKilts fibers.

I left the UTkilts fibers and the acrylic fiber in the bleach for 22 hours. They appeared the same at the end as they did at the beginning. Their colors were unaffected, and they had not diminished in any noticeable way.

Wool cannot survive that test. I let UTkilts know the kilts are synthetic as well as the testing I performed to determine that, and I returned them.
UTKilts says I'm wrong, claiming the kilts are 100% wool. They say the kilts look exactly like all of their other "100% Woolen wool" kilts from the same supplier.

After UTKilts received the return, they placed the synthetic kilts back for sale in their clearance section, still advertising them as "100% Woolen wool". One has already been purchased by another unfortunate customer, which prompted me to write this post. ("all that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing")

So UTKilts has scientific evidence they're selling fakes, but they're determined to do it anyway. They're knowingly running a scam. Please beware, and if you have a wool kilt from UTKilts, I recommend testing it yourself.

In the attached image, the Strathmore thread is in the top-left, covered in bubbles from reacting with the bleach. The Pakistani acrylic thread is the blue one in the middle. All of the other threads are from UTKilts.

UTKilts is a wolf in synthetic sheep's clothing.

[ShaunMaxwell]

There's a reason they're no longer an advertiser on or member of this forum...

SM

[Vikingnephilim]

I did a thread test on the UT Under Ukrainian Skies kilt I have, and low and behold, zero reaction to bleach, and when burning (used the flashes), it went up in no time.

Did a woolen wool thread from my wifes crocheting wool, and that was dissolved in about 20 minutes. Can confirm the issue with the UT Kilt

[Jock Scot]

I did a thread test on the UT Under Ukrainian Skies kilt I have, and low and behold, zero reaction to bleach, and when burning (used the flashes), it went up in no time.

Did a woolen wool thread from my wifes crocheting wool, and that was dissolved in about 20 minutes. Can confirm the issue with the UT Kilt

As you are in the UK, I wonder what the" Trading Standards" people would have to say? For those outwith the UK, " Trading Standards" is a UK Government Department that ensures, amongst other things, that items are sold to the public as described. Is there a potential "Health and Safety issue" as well? It would, I think, depend if the vendor was operating with an "office" within the UK? Perhaps the USA might have something similar?

Hefty penalties often follow, if things are not sold "as described ".

[Vikingnephilim]

As you are in the UK, I wonder what the" Trading Standards" people would have to say?

Not a lot. There is no UK office, it's based in Utah. As such not subject to their pervue. I have spoken to them about it, but nothing to be done as it was an online purchase. However, as I paid by credit card, it's sat with them to resolve as it was over £100 to purchase.

[Jock Scot]

Not a lot. There is no UK office, it's based in Utah. As such not subject to their pervue. I have spoken to them about it, but nothing to be done as it was an online purchase. However, as I paid by credit card, it's sat with them to resolve as it was over £100 to purchase.

Gathering up all the sarcasm that I can muster. Oh, what a surprise! I hope the refund arrives as it should, although I would not hold your breath!:

[OC Richard]

For those outwith the UK, "Trading Standards" is a UK Government Department that ensures, amongst other things, that items are sold to the public as described.

The USA has quite strict laws on clothing.

Clothing must be labeled declaring country of manufacture, fibre content, and laundering instructions.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topi...parel-labeling

Somehow large amounts of UK-made and Pakistan-made clothing flies under the radar and enters the US and is sold here without the required labels.

I have a number of UK-made jackets and kilts in my closet and only one item, a jacket, complies with US law.

It's an interesting case: the jacket has a hand-written label inside with laundering instructions. I've never seen that before.

[Jock Scot]

That’s very interesting OCR. I am no expert with international laws regarding trading standards, but I imagine there are reciprocal international laws regarding these things to ease the paperwork. Who knows? Certainly not me!

Whatever the system might, or might not be, regarding these things, it appears to me that at the very least that if something that is being sold as wool and plainly it isn’t, then questions need to be asked. And questions need to be answered within the laws of a particular importing country’s satisfaction.

If that is not actually the case, then something is amiss. As a layman I would call that dishonest and it matters not to me which country is supplying the goods.