To buy or not to buy? That is the question.

[artificer]

http://www.heritageofscotland.com/8-...78,product.php

I don't have a lot of money, will I regret buying this?

That depends quite a bit on what you are expecting.

I have two kilts from Gold Bros (Heritage of Scotland, Monarch of the Glen, etc, etc, etc).

Are they 'bad' kilts? Not for the money.

Do they remotely compare to one of my custom made kilts? Not in a billion years.

The pleats are top stitched to the fell, there is little internal structure (no stabilizer), and they have rather weedy leather straps.

Do I still wear them? Sure. On occasions where one of my good kilts might get very dirty or beer soaked (like at a music fest).

If you watch ebay you might find one your size pop up. Gold Bros seem to drop loads of stuff on ebay for a lot less than they it for on their websites. I think I paid an average of $50 for each of my kilts, including international delivery.

ith:

[pbutts]

It concerns me that they are only asking for one measurement.....waist. That means unless you are perfectly "average" (whatever that means), the pleats could hang too loose or too tight around your rear end, and the kilt could be too long or too short at the knees.

For the extra money, you could get a custom fit PV kilt from USA kilt.

[Blupiper]

I have one of their PV kilts in Gunn Modern. It's a good knock-about kilt, well worth the money they charge for it and I like it. The PV material is substantial, has a soft feel and perhaps is a bit more "limp" than wool. It has very long straps--I guess it's easier to fit more sizes of people that way. My feeling is they try to hit the middle of the bell curve in terms of sizing to keep down their costs and so on. If you know going in what it is (a casual, mass produced PV kilt) and that off the peg it's not going to be like a more pricey, bespoke one, you won't be disappointed. It has a place in the market and serves a useful purpose. My two cents.

JMB

[Mel1721L]

I have one of their PV kilts in Gunn Modern. It's a good knock-about kilt, well worth the money they charge for it and I like it. The PV material is substantial, has a soft feel and perhaps is a bit more "limp" than wool. It has very long straps--I guess it's easier to fit more sizes of people that way. My feeling is they try to hit the middle of the bell curve in terms of sizing to keep down their costs and so on. If you know going in what it is (a casual, mass produced PV kilt) and that off the peg it's not going to be like a more pricey, bespoke one, you won't be disappointed. It has a place in the market and serves a useful purpose. My two cents.

JMB

Thanks for your 2 cents. I was wondering about the PV material but it's only the price of a good pair of shorts I suppose. As for the straps, I could trim them down with a sharp knife. I had to shorten my belts that way after loosing 12" off my waist.

[WillowEstate]

I have a Heritage of Scotland PV "16 oz" 8 yard kilt. For a general knockabout kilt for activities where you might get an expensive wool kilt dirty, it's hard to beat for the price. But as they say, you get what you pay for (mine was actually the next grade up but the description was very similar).

The cloth in mine is actually Polyviscose (I had a chemist friend test a couple of the fringe threads for me) but 16 oz? I think not. They used to post the shipping weight on their website but it no longer seems to be there - it was about 2 kg as far as I remember. When I asked them about it, they said it had the look and swing of a 16 oz kilt and indeed it does. I believe some of their kilts are made overseas (Pakistan, Bangladesh) but mine wasn't. I've been happy with mine because I did the research first and knew what to expect.

As has been noted earlier, the fell stitching (machine) is external and the belts have 6 holes, about an inch apart. The kilt lengths are all 24 inches, so that may or may not suit you. They are built as lower rise casual kilts, rather than the higher military style. And make sure you don't have any roughness on your sporran, otherwise, they will pill.

All that said, they are value for what you pay for them and if you spill anything on them, it's not a great loss, though they do clean up rather easily. Would anyone know they are low end budget kilts? Members of this forum, yes, the other 95+% of the population, very unlikely - I get compliments on mine.

[Mel1721L]

I have a Heritage of Scotland PV "16 oz" 8 yard kilt. For a general knockabout kilt for activities where you might get an expensive wool kilt dirty, it's hard to beat for the price. But as they say, you get what you pay for (mine was actually the next grade up but the description was very similar).

The cloth in mine is actually Polyviscose (I had a chemist friend test a couple of the fringe threads for me) but 16 oz? I think not. They used to post the shipping weight on their website but it no longer seems to be there - it was about 2 kg as far as I remember. When I asked them about it, they said it had the look and swing of a 16 oz kilt and indeed it does. I believe some of their kilts are made overseas (Pakistan, Bangladesh) but mine wasn't. I've been happy with mine because I did the research first and knew what to expect.

As has been noted earlier, the fell stitching (machine) is external and the belts have 6 holes, about an inch apart. The kilt lengths are all 24 inches, so that may or may not suit you. They are built as lower rise casual kilts, rather than the higher military style. And make sure you don't have any roughness on your sporran, otherwise, they will pill.

All that said, they are value for what you pay for them and if you spill anything on them, it's not a great loss, though they do clean up rather easily. Would anyone know they are low end budget kilts? Members of this forum, yes, the other 95+% of the population, very unlikely - I get compliments on mine.

Thanks for that, interesting about the weight, it should be 4 or 5 kilos, on the other hand cheap kilt and cheaper postage! I'm not keen on getting anything from Pakistan though. I'll take a chance anyway I think.

[Aussie_Don]

Thanks for that, interesting about the weight, it should be 4 or 5 kilos, on the other hand cheap kilt and cheaper postage! I'm not keen on getting anything from Pakistan though. I'll take a chance anyway I think.

I've got a 13oz Pakistani wool kilt as a cool weather "knockabout". I knew what it was going in to the purchase and I cannot say that I'm horribly disappointed -- the sett (MacGregor Modern) is smaller than the set of any of my other MacGregor kilts -- but TANSTAAFL -- it's perfectly OK for what I bought it for.

I wouldn't be too upset about Pakistani manufacture -- there's a surprising (or not) quantity of low-end "Scottish" merchandise comes from the "Highlands of Kashmir"
If the seller is well regarded, the quality should be commensurate with the price.


-Don

[Theyoungkiltman]

looks fine to me and very affordable

[Mel1721L]

After all that, I went to order one and they didn't have my size! This one looks nice though: http://highlandinspirations.com/p/10...it-tartan.html

[Mel1721L]

It concerns me that they are only asking for one measurement.....waist. That means unless you are perfectly "average" (whatever that means), the pleats could hang too loose or too tight around your rear end, and the kilt could be too long or too short at the knees.

For the extra money, you could get a custom fit PV kilt from USA kilt.

Yes one of the acrylic kilts I got didn't hang very well, I've just washed and ironed it to see if that would make any difference, They were the 24" drop which just happens to be ok for me. USA Kilts are out of the question due to the high U.S. postal charges and the tax I'd have to pay on it here.