Quote Originally Posted by slohairt View Post
I've always found it a bit strange (and annoying) that the Strome 'Select' and 'Rare Select' categories contain far more tartans than 'Standard'. Many of them I wouldn't even consider rare. It seems to be a bit of an arbitrary distinction. I prefer how the House of Edgar's Old & Rare tartan range are usually odd variations of tartans found in old pattern books.
It's not arbitrary. In this context, "rare" doesn't really mean that the tartan pattern itself is particularly rare or hard to come by. It's all a matter of supply and demand.

If it is a tartan that Lochcarron is sure to get a lot of demand for, like say MacDonald modern, they will wisely produce greater quantities of it at a time, making the cloth less expensive per yard. This is their "standard" Strome pricing.

On the other hand, if it is a tartan they are not likely to get much request for (like Turnbull Hunging ancient), they won't produce as much of it at a go, which makes it somewhat more expensive per yard. This would be either their "rare" or "select" price categories.

Same quality cloth. Just a different economics of scale. Don't think of it as being charged more for certain tartans so much as being given a discount for certain more popular tartans.

Very often it will be a particular variation of a tartan that is priced as "rare," because it is not as popular. For example, Sutherland Hunting modern is standard price, while Sutherland Hunting weathered is "rare."

I, for one, am glad that Lochcarron chooses to offer the range of 16 oz tartans that they do. Most woolen mills offer a larger selection of 13 oz tartans, with a relatively small selection of 16 oz.