Quote Originally Posted by figheadair View Post
The tartan would have been standard cloth for the military (different qualities for different ranks and uses) and not a bespoke weave.
Exactly so, which makes the cost of the kilt even more incredible.

But my point was to show that in today's terms, bespoke-weaving and kilt-making would have to be something exceptional to demand a price anywhere near 20 percent average earnings.

Back in the late 1980s-early 90s, there was an army surplus outlet in Nottingham selling off double-width military kilting, at what I remember being £2.00 a metre. It was only Mackenzie, and they had several bolts of it - I wonder if it all sold.