Vintage military kilt cloth query

[Troglodyte]

For many years, I have worn casually an ancient ex-army (Black Watch) kilt, as that regiment rather conveniently wears my clan's 'hunting' tartan. This kilt has always intrigued me, as the cloth from which it is made is much thicker, coarser and heavier than normally seen. The 'handle' much more like the cloth used for horse blankets than the kilting we are used to.

Many years ago, I acquired and passed on to a Mackenzie friend, a Highland Light Infantry (Mackenzie tartan) kilt in a similar cloth, that was never issued and that contained the maker's label and date - 1936. This kilt is very similar in style and construction to the HLI kilt, and has the same unnecessarily thick and bulky cream woollen lining.

I have been unable to find definitive information as to when this style and weight of cloth was introduced, what its linear weight was, and when it went out of service. If anyone has this information, I would be most grateful.

The pictures show the kilt in question, together with another kilt, in a heavy-weight cloth woven in the 1950s, for comparison. The difference between the two is similar to the difference between medium- and heavy-weight cloths seen nowadays.