This is an interesting thread and many great points have been brought up over the course of this thread's development. Just to chime in from my point of view--since I am NOT a kiltmaker I will answer the first question:

I would absolutely expect a kilt to be made properly, regardless of cost. That said, not addressing the specific kilt here but instead in general terms, I believe you get what you pay for.

I sort of assume that less expensive is a business rule that correlates to fewer quality controls. Quality controls mean time and people, time and people mean cost to the business, cost to the business is translated to my purchase price. So if I want to pay less, I have to accept fewer quality controls. This is MY assumption--others may (and likely will) disagree.

Fewer quality controls, means (to me) I can, AND SHOULD, expect greater variance in the final product and still be "within tolerance" of what constitues a properly constructed kilt. If I desire LESS variance, then I need to pay for the additional quality controls.

In the end, if I were disappointed with what I recieved I would return it or have an appropriate discussion with the manufacturer. Furthermore, if I were absolutely not willing to take any risk in final product, I would hop on a plane and visit my kilt maker of choice and have a personalized fitting--and I would pay A LOT more as well to ensure my tolerance for the final product was met.

Just my thoughts.