Tartan Fabric-> ALL MAKERS!

[RockyR]

Elijah,

The Scottish Weaver (aka Peter Wilson) is the US rep for F & K. Not everyone knows that, so I figured I'd clarify it for ya'.

Rocky, remember those swatches I sent around when we were looking into who might weave the first run of X Marks tartan? That was N. Bately's stuff.

Their polyviscose is nothing as good as Marton Mills, not even close. It's got to be about 7-8 once at best, and the selvedge is awful.

Their weight classifiactions were way off, I think all the kiltmakers commented on that. Their "16 ounce" was more like a 13 ounce, their 13 was more like an 11. The kilitng selvedges weren't even as good as what I'm seeing from Fraser and Kirkbright. Folks did like th quality of the material, away from the edges, though.

In my experience, Bately, as a company was communicationally dysfunctional. But that's just my experience....

Those are hard words, but that's what I remember.

Hey Alan... this is no reflection on you and ALL the work you did getting this whole XMARKS tartan thing going. Please don't take offense to these comments...

If you remember, I didn't speak negatively about Batley. Since I wasn't getting material and you wanted to go with F & K, I went with it. I actually use Batley on a regular basis and personally think they're head and shoulders above F & K.

I agree that Batley's PV was (is) crap, but their wool is fine! As a point of clarification, they only HAD 11 oz (they call it "Cuillin") and 14 oz (they call it Torridon) wool. They NOW have (beginning this past January) a 16 oz category, but at the time you got the swatches, they were only 11 and 14 oz. Also, I'm not sure why you think their selvedge edges were poor, but they're MUCH better than the ones I've seen on F & K's Xmarks tartan.

As to the comminication issues... I've not had a problem. I email them and receive answers immediately (especially about bills I owe them ).

I'm not trying to rip on any particular company or anything... I'm just making observations I've noticed through dealing with several different mills. Honestly, I have no vested interest in where the next batch of Xmarks tartan comes from as I'm not on the list of those getting the material. I'm just trying to get the people here the best material for the money.

[Alan H]

As to the comminication issues... I've not had a problem. I email them and receive answers immediately (especially about bills I owe them ).

Yeah, I remember you said that you had no communications issues with them. I sure did, though. It's probably becuase you're a "Trade" customer, and a regular, known entity and I was a "prospective" customer that they didn't know from Adam.

At the time those swatches came through, I knew literally nothing about material. I wish I could see them, now. I DO remember falling in love with the Holyrood tartan because of that swatch, now I wish I'd kept it! I'd make a bow tie out of it!