Thanks for a great chat today Steve - Great visit to Freedom Kilts

[The Wizard of BC]

Most of the guys who walk into my shop are exploring. They may have a family oral history, they may have worn a rental kilt to a wedding. Most have heard the myths.

But few have ever owned a custom made piece of clothing. Most are not ready to plop down a few hundred dollars. And fewer really know what a kilt is, other than it is supposed to be made out of some kind of plaid fabric. It is most likely, that the guy who walks thought my door, has never actually held a hand stitched, 4 pound kilt.

Oh sure, I could have a whole rack of pre-made kilts and I am probably a good enough salesman that I could get them to the cash register with a kilt, hose, garters, sporran, belt, and maybe even a $100.00 sterling silver kilt pin with their clan crest on it.
But if any of you have had a look at my website you may notice something odd. It is an e-commerce site with no "Click-Add to Cart" buttons.

Sure, I could sell a guy my idea of my perfect kilt. But I would rather sit with him for a while and have him describe his perfect kilt.

If he does not know or understand what goes into a kilt - Well, that is when I go into teaching mode. One of the girls who used to work for me dubbed it "The Kilt-a-cation". We start with Tartans. Where they come from and how to choose a Tartan. We go into the ways that fabric can be folded into pleats and the different ways that "Pleating to Sett" will look different from "Pleating to Stripe".

We talk about the Durability of a kilt. What makes a kilt last and what will cause it to wear out and fail. We talk about the Fit of a kilt. I demonstrate the Full Rise fit of a Traditional kilt and show them an actual RSS military kilt with 3" rise. We talk about the different Fabrics and how some are machine washable and some will have that famous swish. And finally we talk about the concept of a kilt with Pockets.

Does anyone recognize the DFF&P from "The Hand-Crafted Contemporary Kilt"?

So yes, I really love talking to customers. I get to hear their stories and why and how they come to walk through my door. Sometimes it is the wife or girlfriend who has talked him into it and sometimes the wife just sits there with the "Why did he not tell me about this interest BEFORE I married him" look.

And every once in a while I get to meet a guy like Rod who I have only known as a screen name here on X Marks. And that just makes my entire week a pleasure.

Thank you Rod for making the effort to stop in. And thank you for bringing your lovely girlfriend to visit. You are why I do this, why I make the kilts that I do. An X Marks member is automatically a member of the family. Welcome in my shop any time. There are cookies in the jar and coffee in the pot.