Real deal or scam?

[dmstlouis]

Hello all,

Im new to the forum and wanted to ask a question. Discovering my fathers Scottish heritage, although not sure if Matheson and Mathew are related, I wanted to dress in a kilt and jacket at an upcoming event. This would be my first kilt.

Knowing that true, authentic kilt outfits can be pricy, I have been emailing with kiltandmore who had a great price on a blue tweed jacket/vest and of course the rest, even shoes . With that said, I was surprised when they sent an invoice before payment reading Pakistan, with their full bank acct and routing numbers.

I found 1 random review that they were a scam, piggybacking on kiltsandmore (notice the S). The post claims they send poor quality and they dont look like what you'd expect.

I have not paid and wanted to seek advice on whether anyone has experienced this domain as a scam, or just cheap knockoffs? Im wise to you get what you pay for, and when they offered to include a free kilt in a 2nd tartan with matching accessories as a gift, it also made me pause.

Thanks for your advise!

Dale M

[Balaamsass51]

"Matheson" is a Scottish clan. Mathew is not listed as one of their septs. There is no Mathew clan. Mathew is usually an alternate spelling of Matthew. Most of those with the surname Mathew come from India.

[MacCathmhaoil]

I personally wouldn’t purchase anything from a company that would advertise in so deceptive a manor as playing off the name of another company with an established reputation. Clearly they lack any ethics, I would avoid them like the plague!
There are a number of excellent vendors listed here, why not look at one of them. Basically you need a kilt, sporran and hose, buy the best you can afford, there are a number of extremely good quality used Scottish-made kilt jackets for a reasonable price on eBay. OC Richard regularly posts some very nice sporrans for sale at reasonable prices. A little bit of looking around can save you money and get you some quality items.

[OC Richard]

Purely about the quality of Highland Dress from Pakistan, it's a curious mix.

I've seen Pakistani-made black Barathea Argyll jackets and Prince Charlie coatees, and tweed Day Argylls, which were perfectly acceptable quality. (And I'm a Made In Scotland snob, some would say.)

I've also seen sporrans which were decent quality.

Where the Pakistani makers seem to fall down most, perhaps not surprisingly, is in kilting cloth and the kilts themselves.

I've yet to handle a Pakistani-made kilt (and I've handled hundreds of them) that could be mistaken for a moment for a UK-made kilt. The fabric itself has a completely different look and feel. It's nowhere close to kilting cloth. Hard to describe but it has a slinky waxy insubstantial feel so utterly unlike any UK woven wool I've handled.

The construction of Pakistani-made kilts is diametrically different from any kilt from any legitimate kilt maker. Pakistani kilts employ none of the traditional construction methods, but are machine-sewn without stabilisers etc etc.

So I would recommend that people who want to start a kilt outfit should begin with a quality kilt. Once you have that you have a wide range of ways to accessorise it, dress it up or dress it down.

[dmstlouis]

"Matheson" is a Scottish clan. Mathew is not listed as one of their septs. There is no Mathew clan. Mathew is usually an alternate spelling of Matthew. Most of those with the surname Mathew come from India.

Thank you for the info! I will certainly need to do more research.

[dmstlouis]

I personally wouldn’t purchase anything from a company that would advertise in so deceptive a manor as playing off the name of another company with an established reputation. Clearly they lack any ethics, I would avoid them like the plague!
There are a number of excellent vendors listed here, why not look at one of them. Basically you need a kilt, sporran and hose, buy the best you can afford, there are a number of extremely good quality used Scottish-made kilt jackets for a reasonable price on eBay. OC Richard regularly posts some very nice sporrans for sale at reasonable prices. A little bit of looking around can save you money and get you some quality items.

Thanks for the advice. I was able to reach the original kiltsandmore and talk about it, which they were aware of.

[dmstlouis]

Purely about the quality of Highland Dress from Pakistan, it's a curious mix.

I've seen Pakistani-made black Barathea Argyll jackets and Prince Charlie coatees, and tweed Day Argylls, which were perfectly acceptable quality. (And I'm a Made In Scotland snob, some would say.)

I've also seen sporrans which were decent quality.

Where the Pakistani makers seem to fall down most, perhaps not surprisingly, is in kilting cloth and the kilts themselves.

I've yet to handle a Pakistani-made kilt (and I've handled hundreds of them) that could be mistaken for a moment for a UK-made kilt. The fabric itself has a completely different look and feel. It's nowhere close to kilting cloth. Hard to describe but it has a slinky waxy insubstantial feel so utterly unlike any UK woven wool I've handled.

The construction of Pakistani-made kilts is diametrically different from any kilt from any legitimate kilt maker. Pakistani kilts employ none of the traditional construction methods, but are machine-sewn without stabilisers etc etc.

So I would recommend that people who want to start a kilt outfit should begin with a quality kilt. Once you have that you have a wide range of ways to accessorise it, dress it up or dress it down.

Thanks for your reply. I am certainly not ordering from them and will just have to decide on how much I can afford for something with authenticity and quality.