American tartans

[RockyR]

I hear what you're saying, Downunder, but selling is an active process not a passive one. An All American tartan could be sold if the sales folks would just get off their collective behinds and sell it. Salespeople aren't rewarded for twiddling their thumbs, they're rewarded for moving product. Any tartan weaver or purveyor that commits to moving an American tartan will profit.

Hmm... kind of sounds like how / why we designed our 2nd most popular selling tartan (behind Ireland's National): American Heritage.

(stated with a FIRM "wink"... I know it's not your cuppa tea and that's fine. )

[BCAC]

BCAC, this is a place where the overwhelming content is statements of opinion. You express yours with every post. I expressed mine. I've never been afraid to. I've learned when you express an opinion in public some may jump in and agree with you, yet just as many, often more, will give you holy hell. I don't like American Heritage, it pushes all my buttons in a bad way. Sure others may like it, some have said so, and more power to them. I set out looking for a tartan that represents America, that makes me, and I would hope many viewers, feel good, not depressed. It so happens, after all my searching, the only readily available American tartan is the morbid, funereal one. I'd drape a catafalque with it, but I'd never wear it. It would be nice if some already accepted tartan like American Bicentennial or American District were in production and a stock item, but apparently they aren't. I'd prefer a tartan in p/v because I wear kilts a lot, and find p/v's ease of care a plus. I gets hot here and p/v would be a little cooler than wool.

There are ways of expressing your opinion, BB. Saying X Tartan is morbid is different to saying I don't care for X tartan because it seems too dark to me and I prefer tartans that seem more electric, more alive. The first phrase is dissing X tartan. The second phrase is stating your opinion of X tartan.

[Nathan]

1) Benning Boy, I feel the same way about the Cape Breton tartan. There are tons of Cape Breton Scots, not just in Cape Breton but abroad. Folks like Riverkilt who have a connection to the Island but live somewhere else now. I think if it was produced in heavy weight cloth regularly, it would sell. Oh well...c'est la vie. I've toyed with having a crap load woven and testing my theory by selling it. If I get rid of all the tartan and profit, I was right - if not - oops. Perhaps you should put your money where your mouth is and order 200 kilts worth of the stuff and make a website. Contact kiltmakers and send out a few swatches and let them know there's a new tartan in town. Let's see if your tastes are as universal as you think.

2) Expressing your opinion is valid, but tact is also a virtue. Consider, "I find the American Heritage tartan too dark for my tastes because for me it doesn't evoke the vibrancy of the flag enough to capture the National sentiment I'm going for." That is, after all, your opinion and we're talking about taste here. There is no right or wrong with aesthetics. Calling it morose, ugly, morbid, looks like taps sounds etc... is simply insulting. People are going to think what they like about the tartan, but such unkind and emphatic language about someone's creation and a purchase that many others have made makes you look like you lack class and couth.

3) Rocky, you have shown commendable calm and tact in your responses to Benning Boy's unkind and oft repeated exclamations of vitriolic dislike for your popular tartan. I think the tartan is very handsome and I'm pleased that you are doing good business with it. Well done on both the design and the classy responses.

[RockyR]

Designing a tartan is kind of like "art". Not everyone will like all designs and that's completely fine! There's enough room in the tartan design process for multiple opinions and multiple designs. If someone doesn't like a design I produced, it doesn't hurt my feelings. I have pretty thick skin and several dozen designs to my name, so someone, somewhere, was bound to dislike one of them (heck... Kelly hates many of my designs and tells me that on a regular basis)!

[Terry1948]

I hear what you're saying, Downunder, but selling is an active process not a passive one. An All American tartan could be sold if the sales folks would just get off their collective behinds and sell it. Salespeople aren't rewarded for twiddling their thumbs, they're rewarded for moving product. Any tartan weaver or purveyor that commits to moving an American tartan will profit.

Actually, Benning Boy, I am not sure if I agree with you on all your points here. Yes, salespeople are "rewarded for moving product", but I never got a sense when visiting/calling several Kiltmakers in Canada that they were "sales people" in the same sense as someone working in a store where he/she is paid on commission. I was first asked what I was interested in, and what I knew about the choices, and then we reviewed options. Perhaps it is because all the companies I contacted were Kiltmakers first, and had retail stores "on the side". The focus was on what the customer wanted to wear, not on what the store staff wanted to sell.

[Benning Boy]

OK. I surrender. I always got a low mark on my Officer Efficiency Reports for tact. I'm said to be very emphatic, and too didactic. I just can't escape my programming.

I'll continue to pursue this on my own. Anyway, it's been fun communicating with all of you. My respect to each. On to another topic.

[Zardoz]

I know I'm late to the party, but as the proud owner of an American Heritage kilt, I'll say that while didactics and lack of tact are not exactly unknown here, you need to remember that there are likely lots of folks who like the stuff you don't and vice versa. I like a more subtle tartan, so even though I'd wanted an 'American tartan' since I started, the loud all red white and blue ones didn't appeal. So I was happy to see Rocky's more subtle, or somber if you prefer, AH tartan.

[TheOfficialBren]

Zardoz, I wIll have to take your word for it that you're in that photo. Lol. You accessorise very well, sir.

[KiltedKnome]

OK. I surrender. I always got a low mark on my Officer Efficiency Reports for tact. I'm said to be very emphatic, and too didactic. I just can't escape my programming.

I'll continue to pursue this on my own. Anyway, it's been fun communicating with all of you. My respect to each. On to another topic.

It is a wise man who knows his strengths and his weaknesses! I look forward to meeting you in August.

[BBNC]

I know I'm late to the party, but as the proud owner of an American Heritage kilt, I'll say that while didactics and lack of tact are not exactly unknown here, you need to remember that there are likely lots of folks who like the stuff you don't and vice versa. I like a more subtle tartan, so even though I'd wanted an 'American tartan' since I started, the loud all red white and blue ones didn't appeal. So I was happy to see Rocky's more subtle, or somber if you prefer, AH tartan.

Zardoz, personally I don't see BB's remarks about "morbid" or "death" in the American Heritage kilt at all. Rocky did an excellent job of selecting and combining the red, white, and blue elements in a very tasteful way. I can easily see AH as my next kilt. Americans don't need to wrap themselves in the flag, which by the way stands on its own, to be considered patriotic.