D.C. Dalgliesh - an update on changes

[Nick Fiddes]

madmacs: I, and the "trade customer" I am dealing with, have been waiting for 7 months for some cloth from Dalgliesh. It may come next month. Admittedly, it is a custom run and, apparently, requires some dyeing of thread, but that's still a long time.

After waiting for months, Jonesing turns into numbness. You sit in front of your TV staring at the blank screen, guzzling Woolite and sucking and chewing on your wool accessories like diced hose and old flashes (but not my Ryan Ross bonnet). It's a debilitating disease!

I'm really disturbed to hear this. If you'd like to contact me with your details directly, I'd be glad to look into it for you.

But it's true that until we stepped in, the mill had been getting into increasing difficulties with shortage of yarns, basically due to cashflow issues. And that's one of the big things we've been investing in since. It will take time to get the dye house to produce everything we want (especially since the other local dye house burned down a few months ago). But we're already in a much better position.

And more generally, we are also working on significant improvements to the ordering process, and communications. This too will take some time to get up and running. For example, in fact, just today we're introducing the first big step with a new email system that I can participate in from a distance, which will let me be more aware of day to day issues, and help to resolve them. So I'm optimistic that things will improve steadily in this sort of a way, and fewer socks will have to be gnawed in the future!

Please bear with us as we work on this. And to anyone who has had a disappointing experience in the past in any way, please let me know (directly by pm if you like) as we are keen to know all about any problems that need fixed.

[Nick Fiddes]

So as I am reading this, if we want a length of tartan woven by Dalgliesh we would order through Scotweb rather than from Dalgliesh directly.

Will only tartans not otherwise available from say Locharron be available?

I guess I am asking if it is not listed by DCDalg, will we just take what is listed on the Scotweb site?

And I do understand about price increases. We really appreciate what you are doing for the industry and the continued availability of such an important commodity

For non-trade customers (i.e. basically not purchasing for re-sale) then yes, you can purchase from Scotweb (or "Tartan Mill" in future) or indeed from any other retail outlet. Don't forget the XMTS discount we give to anyone coming via this site.

And no, Dalgliesh doesn't only weave fabrics not available elsewhere. Our mill does have its own speciality stock fabrics - especially the Reproduction colours that they pioneered, and everyone else copied, and also Dance tartans of course. But we also have a decent range of clan tartans etc. in Modern and Ancient colours, some of which overlap with other mills, and we will go on doing so for customers who value the quality of fabric we produce. Plus of course, any tartan can be woven to order, unless it's strictly copyright.

But Scotweb/Tartan Mill will continue to supply not only D.C. Dalgliesh fabrics, but essentially every tartan we can source from every mill in the country. So if you can't find it here, it's probably not available.

[Nick Fiddes]

But I remain quite annoyed with what they did when my kilt maker tried to order Ulster Peat. They had it listed as a stock Tartan and then tried to charge the same price per meter for 29" as 54" wide. This despite several individuals indicating this was not how their order had been dealt with for the same tartan. While I would not rule out attempting to select one of their tartans again, this left a very bad taste in my mouth as I had to cancel the order with the exorbitant increase.

Likewise, if you could pm me details I'd be glad to look into this. My understanding was that when stock double width fabric was unavailable they would sometimes offer to weave it as a single, but I thought that in those circumstances they'd do so at the same overall price. However, I could be wrong, so I'd like to know the facts.

In any event, I understand your disappointment. I hope you'll consider giving us another chance in the future.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Likewise, if you could pm me details I'd be glad to look into this. My understanding was that when stock double width fabric was unavailable they would sometimes offer to weave it as a single, but I thought that in those circumstances they'd do so at the same overall price. However, I could be wrong, so I'd like to know the facts.

In any event, I understand your disappointment. I hope you'll consider giving us another chance in the future.

That has happened to me a few times in the past when a tartan they normally stock in 54" was out of stock and would not be available for when I needed it. They wove a short length for my order, 29" wide, and only charged me the 54" price.

This does NOT mean that I paid for 54" and only got 29", which sounds like a rip-off. It means that I was charged for 2 yards of 54" stock tartan, whereas they delivered 4 yards of 29" custom tartan. I'm sure they took a loss when they did this, but I was grateful of the service.

Furthermore, they always offered - I never had to ask.

What your case sounds like to me is a failure somewhere in communication.

[madmacs]

The bottom line is that there's no point in our selling materials at a loss, and if we want to maintain the standards of production (which we do) there is no choice but to raise prices and trust that enough customers will be willing to pay for that quality.

I agree with you wholeheartedly on this Nick... If you're making a loss, then it will just be a matter of time before the inevitable... I'm sure we all hope you manage to turn the red into black... there is precious little of the weaving industry left in the UK.

For me, I used to drive a German car... would still like to... but I'm driving a Japanese car at the moment, It's definitely not German but it comes a good second... I only hope that you pricing structure (and the exchange rates) dont affect peoples choices like my analogy.

[RockyR]

That has happened to me a few times in the past when a tartan they normally stock in 54" was out of stock and would not be available for when I needed it. They wove a short length for my order, 29" wide, and only charged me the 54" price.

This does NOT mean that I paid for 54" and only got 29", which sounds like a rip-off. It means that I was charged for 2 yards of 54" stock tartan, whereas they delivered 4 yards of 29" custom tartan. I'm sure they took a loss when they did this, but I was grateful of the service.

Furthermore, they always offered - I never had to ask.

What your case sounds like to me is a failure somewhere in communication.

Actually, the same thing happened to me that happened to Seanachie (more than once). I called to order something that was 'stock supported' and when they said it was out of stock, they offered to do a custom weave, but stated that it would be the standard custom weave price.

I'm not complaining or bashing, just relating an experience I had to confirm Seanachie's own experience. If that was a mistake and they will be offering it at the standard 54" wide price (divided by two since it's only 28" wide), then I would consider that fair and would be pleased with that outcome.

[Spartan Tartan]

I just priced up a 8yd 15oz custom weave through Scotweb. Unfortunately it's way out of my reach.

I can't even seem to find the prices.

[Nick Fiddes]

Actually, the same thing happened to me that happened to Seanachie (more than once). I called to order something that was 'stock supported' and when they said it was out of stock, they offered to do a custom weave, but stated that it would be the standard custom weave price.

I'm not complaining or bashing, just relating an experience I had to confirm Seanachie's own experience. If that was a mistake and they will be offering it at the standard 54" wide price (divided by two since it's only 28" wide), then I would consider that fair and would be pleased with that outcome.

That's useful to know, and that the policy seems to have been inconsistent. This is all news to me. I'll be finding out more when I can.

To be honest, whilst it's certainly great customer service to offer a much costlier alternative at no charge, I'm not sure this is a promise we'd always want to make. It's almost certainly been loss-making, and I doubt if other mills would do so. In fact, apart from car hire companies who often upgrade if your model is unavailable, I can't think of many vendors who routinely foot the difference for a more expensive alternative if the item you want is out of stock. Normally as a customer I'd just think it's bad luck, and pay up if I want the alternative.

Anyway, it seems to me it would only occur in situations of real urgency, as we'd usually expect to re-weave stock tartans when they ran out anyway, so the other alternative is just to wait. But perhaps a middle ground may be possible, depending on the situation. I'll add it to my list to discuss next time I'm down there.

[Tartan Tess]

Nick
Within the last 3 months I was sent two samples of O'Neill tartans from Dalgliesh. When my client makes up his mind which one he wants and I order it from Scotweb, do I need to specifically ask for that tartan from Dalgliesh? I am thinking that the more "common" clan tartans might come from different mills and I will want the one from the samples I gave him. I am wondering since it was during the changeover.
Thank you for your time

[English Bloke]

I can't even seem to find the prices.

I priced it up as a finished 8yd 15oz Kilt in a custom woven tartan. Came to:
£583.13 = to $966.45
(£663.13 = to $1098.71 for all hand sewn)

I'm sure it's worth every penny and I know that Scotweb (Tartan Mill) produce Kilts of the highest quality but that is a bit too high-end of the market for me.

Sorry Nick, regrettably, I'm out.