Surprises inside a custom Scottish-made kilt

[unixken]

If you go back to "the test" that was described earlier in this thread (pulling on the strap in one hand, and the buckle in the other, as if intending to stretch the kilt), then it doesn't take a kiltmaker to know that a "casual kilt" is no less susceptible to the fabric stretching, or the stitches pulling, than any 8yd traditional kilt. The purpose of those reinforcing elements is to take the strain of that tugging/stretching, so that the fabric does not have to. If your casual kilt has a strap on one side, and a buckle on the other, the expectation is that there would be a pulling tension between the two, as soon as you put that kilt on. THAT is what the reinforcements are meant to bear.

I would turn my back and walk away from any kiltmaker who told you a 5yd kilt wouldn't be just as as stressed as an 8yd traditional.

The only kilt that would NOT experience those stresses, would be one that has NO kilt straps, and relies entirely on a belt to hold it up.