Kilts - Do You Know What You Are Getting?

[jimbo50]

It has been annoying me now for ages. My wife is a kilt maker and takes great pride in producing a hand stitched quality kilt for a customer made from materials produced in the UK.

She spends a great deal of time preparing and producing a quality authentic Scottish product made in the traditional way i.e. hand stitched.

Many companies are advertising their kilts as “Hand Finished” when in fact they are kilts produced on an industrial sewing machine and the hand finishing can consist of as little as sewing a label on to the kilt. There are also those companies on the web, and High Streets, who sell “tat” imported from the Far East, India and Pakistan who sell kilts, and I use that term “loosely”, at a price that does not even cover the cost of the material used in a quality kilt.

Many companies and this includes many of the major players, now when describing their kilts for sale will not mention the fact that their kilt is machined but check out their prices.

This practice is affecting the traditional kiltmakers who are trying to make a decent living from their skills. I feel sorry for the customer who parts with their hard earned cash without knowing exactly what they are getting for their money.

My wife has had had kilts in for alteration from customers who bought in good faith from some of the major companies. The quality leaves a lot to be desired, many thought they had bought a handstitched kilt when in fact it was a machined kilt and they paid a premium price for it. Others had a kilt which was hand sewn but with a cheap machine thread which is much weaker than the hand sewing thread my wife uses and this results in the pleats not being able to take the strain of movement and the stitches bursting and the pleats of the kilt falling apart.

I feel better now that this rant is over but if the customer is more aware of the pitfalls of purchasing a kilt they can maybe get a better value for their money.

[RockyR]

Welcome from Pennsylvania. That's a heck of a first post!

That's the beauty of this site. There aren't many places for the uneducated customer to ask questions and LEARN about what they're purchasing before it's too late. We (if I may VERY briefly speak for the group up here) like to promote "truth in advertising".

While opinions vary on what is a "quality kilt" (and this post is not meant to re-hash that discussion... do a forum search and you'll find we've had this discussion many times over), the thing we seem to agree on is that retailers should be honest about the country of origin(s), the fabric used, methods used, etc.

Again, welcome to Xmarks.

[Tartan Tess]

"You get what you pay for" has been a saying around for a long time for good reason.
I just did an alteration on a Lochcarron kilt and was amazed how often a sewing machine was used. Still a nice kilt and cheaper than what I charge for all hand sewing.
I prefer to make my kilts by hand...because even if I start out using a machine I wind up spending more time hand sewing because I like it.( Elsie sits on my shoulder saying "What are you doing?!")
I also do repair on stained glass windows and lamps....same thing. Those made with hardly a bead will fall apart as soon as a 100 watt bulb lights them up for half an hour.

[wildrover]

Glad to hear your wife is "doing it right". A guy really does have to keep on his toes these days..."Made In" logos rarely tell the whole story, so a buyer really has to examine the product & company carefully.

[saxandpipes]

I don't know if you can get too sensitive about the issue, as a kilt-maker.

There is a market for machine-made (stitched) kilts, as this is what the majority of kilt-wearers can afford.

There is a market for fully hand-made, painstakingly detailed kilts- and this, like the market for painstakingly detailed, hand-assembled automobiles, is small, very small.


This is the reality of the situation, and to be brutally honest- even if your kilt is machine stitched (as long as its not one of those plasticky drinking kilts), then the chances are that the thing was made by skilled craftspeople, in one of the developed nations. (Something that can't be said for a lot of other so-called luxury clothing, think Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren etc.)

I think that if you are making a bespoke, luxury item (and let's face it, a kilt is), then you need to expect some (fair) competition from those willing to produce for the ones not priviledged enough to buy bespoke.

If the thing is worth paying extra for... there will always be someone willing to pay for it.

Cheers,

Michael

[CMcG]

<snip>

I feel better now that this rant is over but if the customer is more aware of the pitfalls of purchasing a kilt they can maybe get a better value for their money.

If the customer is more aware of the pitfalls of purchasing a kilt they can DEFINITELY get a better value for their money... not just "maybe!"

I always hope for truth in advertising but I firmly believe caveat emptor. I also believe that having competition in a market is healthy and that different qualities of goods all have their place.


from Toronto, Canada.

[MacBean]

I sympathize with the original post completely. I prefer, when possible, to buy crafted items from people I know, being sure that they made it themselves. That personal connection adds so much to the thing. Hand-sewn vs. machine-sewn, interesting, but not a subject I know much about. I'd like to know more.

[Jordan]

First up

Second, I have been in the situation mentioned. My first kilt from a well known and supposedly reputable company in the UK here I paid for what I thought was a hand sewn kilt only to find out it was thrown together in a machine in some factory somewhere. There is a noticeable difference between it and my hand sewn ones.

Jordan

[Riverkilt]

Not sure where in the World you're from, but welcome and HEAR HEAR!!

What makes a piece of wool fabric into a kilt is THREAD....thread thread thread...no one talks about the threads they use and as you indicate too many think any thread will do. My kiltmaker gets her thread for hand sewing kilts special in the U.K or Germany. Only the best will do.

Just opened another vendor catalog and saw pages of sporrans for sale and NOT ONE SINGLE ONE indicated the size of the sporran. Hello vendors - we're entitled to know the quality - or lack of quality - and size of the products you offer.

Harrummmph....grumble....

[jimbo50]

Many thanks for all your welcomes and replies; I am glad to see that we are not alone in our thought about how a kilt should be made.

For the record, Riverkilt, we are in Scotland.

My wife has done a lot of contract kilts for many of the main companies on the West coast here; we have done a few for you Rocky, and part of the problem and solution are those bigger companies.

There was an article recently in the Scottish Sunday Herald about the decline in the number of traditional kiltmakers left in Scotland. The article said that there are only 10 left in the whole of Scotland, my wife would like to know who the other 9 are! They claim that this problem was caused by the number of exports and machine made kilts.

The problem as I see it is profit, and I do not have a problem with that. The main companies’ contract a lot of their work to outworkers, many of whom work at home, do not declare or pay tax on their income and accept the low prices paid from those companies, at a rate per kilt which is below the national minimum wage. Where is the incentive for a kilt maker to continue working for this rate? If the companies paid a realistic rate for a kilt we would have more kilt makers willing to stick at the job. My wife by the way fully declares all income, pays too much tax and is trying to promote kilt making by taking on and training people in the ancient art.

As I said in the original post many companies now sell machine kilts because they only have to pay half of what it would cost for a handstitched kilt but do they pass that on to the customer? There is a market for machine kilts but at least be honest about it, don’t call it “hand finished” or “bespoke” and charge top dollar for it.