Buyer Beware

[dfmacliam]

Thank you for passing on the word... I do find humor in the fact that some are too lazy to even put the effort into their own business ventures. We can talk till we are blue in the face about those who do what they do...

When good people pass the word, and we avoid those business... I see it played out time and time again... Poor quality products, usually give you poor customer service.. While you tend to get quality products with quality customer service..

Thankfully, I have found this site, and have made some big purchases from quality vendors...

I agree with what Chas posted above, it's not the manufacturers.. It's the middle man.. Look at Stillwater Kilts... Jerry let's you know up front, what you are buying.. a Pakistani made kilt.. not a bad made kilt, for the money.. what seperates Jerry from the rest... quality customer service.. he cares.. look at his website.. uniquely his own.. do not blame those not responsible for this situation... the blame solely belongs to the ones causing the problems...

[slohairt]

It is complicated issue and one I could not explain completely because of the rules of this forum. In the end, it is both the middlemen and the manufacturers who are responsible for this situation.

What you may not realise, Chas, is that these factories endlessly spam those of us in the Highland wear industry. I receive at least five annoying poorly worded emails a day from these manufacturers in Pakistan. I'm sure other vendors here on the forum can testify to this. No matter how many times I block them they reappear, trying to sell me their 'goods'.

Without delving into politics too much, I will say that the issue is not so much that these products are made in Pakistan but that they are made in a country like Pakistan. While the situation may (or may not) be improving, they have a deplorable track record concerning labour laws. I, for one, do not want to contribute to this. While it is unavoidable today to buy some products from manufacturers in these countries (household goods, etc.) in the area of Highland wear we do still have a choice. For now.