The question of the rumpled apron in part depends on the quality of the tartan. I've made kilts from tartan that I have been less than fond of where the apron wrinkled in the time it took to fold and unfold the kilt. My favorite heavy weight tartans, on the other hand, don't wrinkle nearly as badly.

In the kiltmaking method that I learned, basting the pleats is part of the construction process. I can't imagine trying to press a 27-pleat kilt properly if the pleats aren't basted first. So the question for me isn't whether to baste the pleats for shipping but, rather, whether to take the basting _out_ before shipping. I figure that I'll do everything I can do to have a kilt arrive in dandy shape, so I leave the basting in rather than taking it out before shipping.

Maybe other kiltmakers don't baste their pleats at all. Maybe that's what's going on with the Scotweb kilts that arrive in a big bundle and are separated and shipped. I don't know. If the kilts are basted, and the kiltmakers are taking the basting out before sending them to Scotweb, it would be an easy matter for Nick to ask them to leave the basting in. If they don't baste the pleats in the first place, then it would be an extra step to baste them before sending them to Scotweb.