Thanks for the question lethearen. This is a great example of how useful a forum like this is to us as well as the community, since it helps us to 'see ourselves as others see us', if I may borrow from the Bard.

And in fact what this has woken me up to is that the way we were presenting the Manley Richardon kilts on our web site wasn't really doing them justice. The descriptions were written several years ago and hadn't been properly looked at since. So I've just gone back and given them what I hope communicates more effectively why there's such a difference. See http://www.scotweb.co.uk/kilts/kilts..._eightyardkilt for example. But I'll also take a little time here to explain more fully...

In short, the Balmoral is a kilt of which we're extremely proud, and into which years of large and small production improvements have gone, to supply a garment that stands up to the very best available elsewhere, but is offered at a quality and price that no one else can match. Yes, full-hand sewing is available at a fairly modest premium (which means it's still about half the price of Kinloch Anderson's equivalent, for example). But there are many other ways we've developed in association with our kiltmakers to reduce costs whilst actually improving quality rather than reducing it. Raising quality ALWAYS comes above cutting costs. So for example, without giving away trade secrets, our process for pleating correctly and accurately for each tartan sett is enormously faster than most hand-makers. Our pressing process produces pleats far faster AND more durable than any hand-maker's iron or home press. And by using machining in the more labour-intensive but invisible areas, alongside lots of other detailed ways to improve the quality whilst reducing the overheads, we deliver a product that's outstanding to inspect and to wear, but at an incredible price.

The Manley Richardson kilt is a totally different ball game. It is not only hand-sewn and hand-made in the most traditional way by some of the most experienced kiltmakers in Scotland. But customers are enabled, nay encouraged, to become co-creators of their own kilt in a bespoke process that goes far beyond what most kiltmakers can offer. The touches such as embroidered linings and embossed buckles and straps are just the icing on the cake. The real difference is that the kilt's owner can ask for practically any custom finish they want, and if it's physically possible they'll get it, usually at no extra charge because it's being hand-made for you already. We've just had to raise our prices for these due to the far greater person-hours involved (if you ask nicely sometime soon, we'll try to match the old prices) but it's still much less expensive than the Kinloch Anderson equivalent, and that's before all the no-cost options with MR such as box pleating that KA charge for.

I'm not knocking Kinloch Anderson in any way, by the way. We know them well (not least since we developed their first web site for them, and taught them how to market online). They're a company I have a lot of time and respect for, both professionally and personally. So that means they're the traditional gold standard against which we measure our own offer. And I think we have a lot to be proud of there.