Kilt Sales../..Tartan Fabric

[HighlandMax]

I've noticed that on Scottish websites, they have what they call " Stock " tartans, which means that those are the ones they generally keep in stock. Yet, they are imported from Scotland. OK, special tartans, ones that are not in stock, but have to be ordered, are imported also from Scotland......bottom line, they are all imported from Scotland. Keeping that in mind, why is it, that when some of these stores have sales, the sale will only apply to stock tartans only ? Is that really fair to those of us whose tartans are not stock ?
And why are some tartans more expensive than others ?
Please excuse my ignorance, I'd just like to know.
I honestly can't remember what site it was, I've looked at so many, but there was a set price for a kilt, I put in my clan tartan, and the price nearly doubled. Out of curiousity, I put in a more common clan tartan, and that set price remained the same. Therefore, telling me that my tartan is more expensive......Why ?

[haukehaien]

"Stock" doesn't mean that the tartan is in stock at the store; it means that it's one of the standard tartans woven by most mills. Tartans which are not stock have to be specially woven and hence cost more. Basically, the mills weave the more common tartans just as a general rule, because they know their suppliers will buy those tartans; special tartans they only weave to order, which both requires extra setup and also negates any economies of scale.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Well, I can speak on behalf of the Scottish Tartans Museum gift shop -- when we speak of "stock tartans" we mean tartans that the woolen mills we order from keep in stock. We are a small gift shop, so obviously we don't have room for hundreds of bolts of various tartan cloth.

Non stock or "custom" tartans referrs to tartans that the mills do not keep in stock and would have to be woven to fill your order. This will understandably cost more.

Why do some tartans cost more than others? Without getting into the issue of various qualities of cloth, a lot of it boils down to economics of scale. For example, Lochcarron has various price ranges in their 16 oz Strome cloth, depending on how popular the tartan is. Tartans they know they will sell a lot of, they can go ahead and weave in larger quantities, making it less expensive per yard. Tartans with less of a demand they may still support from stock, but they just won't weave as much at a time, making it more expensive per yard.

Don't think of it so much as being penalized for having a less common tartan -- think of it as a benefit for those with a more common tartan.

[ShaunMaxwell]

Highland Max:

If you're looking for Maxwell, Marton Mills Jura in 16 oz. is very reasonable...

SM

[ForresterModern]

If you let us know what tartan you are looking for we may be able to help find the best deal.

As Matt says it is economies of scale. The reason it is cheaper for the companies to do larger runs of any given tartan (typically the popular ones) is that, besides the cost of the actual yarns and the usage time on the looms, there is a rather expensive time element getting all the threads set up in the warp and weft portions of the looms (set up time) that is labor intensive. The more yards you can weave in one sitting the less per yard the set up costs are, so the more popular tartans, which get woven in large runs, generally cost less than those that require the same setup costs but get a lot less yardage made. It is not cost effective for the mills to keep a lot of stock of uncommon tartans on hand due to inventory and storage costs, with additional potential for loss should there be stock damage (moths, warehouse leaks or fires, etc...), so for the less popular tartans they typically only weave what they have ordered or maybe a few yards more so they don't have to set up the machine again when another stray order for that less popular tartan comes along. But they can weave hundreds of yards of the popular tartans as they know, after years of sales accounting, about how many yards per year they will need/sell of each of the more popular tartans, and plan that in their long term plans. Weaving in bulk brings down the costs.

If you want to see expensive try getting a few yards of a rare custom weave done----8 yards of single width fabric can cost you $80-100 per yard in some of them.

[bricelythgoe]

That is why when I go to purchase my kilt, I try and find a connection to a common tartan so I do not have to pay very much for. For example, my wife's grandmother is a MacKay. That was close enough for my to purchase my NEW 6 yard PV Ancient MacKay from Skye Highland Outfitters (can't wait for it to get it here). Also the reason why I chose the Clark tartan for my most recent purchase from SHO. I have to go back a few generations to get that connection, but it is there. I know some people don't like to do that, but it works for me and saves me some cash as well.

Brice

[Tobus]

If you want to see expensive try getting a few yards of a rare custom weave done----8 yards of single width fabric can cost you $80-100 per yard in some of them.

Wow, that seems really high. I'm in the process of getting some custom 16-oz tartan woven (Colquhoun weathered, which is not a stock item), and it is nowhere near that much. I'm sure each mill has their own prices, but the range you're quoting seems like quite a premium. Especially for single-width!

[ForresterModern]

Wow, that seems really high. I'm in the process of getting some custom 16-oz tartan woven (Colquhoun weathered, which is not a stock item), and it is nowhere near that much. I'm sure each mill has their own prices, but the range you're quoting seems like quite a premium. Especially for single-width!

I looked at several generally unwoven and rarely seen but recorded tartans (ancient red douglas and brown douglas) about a year ago (when the pound was equal to $2), and to have them woven custom at the only place I could find to do it was in the range I described. Most places had trouble finding the thread counts for several of the tartans I was pricing out and were not even able to do them. With the pound coming down since then, and business in general being poor for everybody I am sure those prices have come down of late.

j

[D.A. Guertin]

You can get any thread count you need from The Scottish Register of Tartans. Just register, which is free, find your tartan, and then click 'request threadcount information, and it will be emailed within seconds...

[James C]

Our stock tartans are tartans we have actually in house. Meaning there is no delay in waiting for the tartan to come in. Usually 1-2 weeks if in stock with the mill.

We refer to readily available (common) tartans as standard tartans and select refers to rare tartans. Rare tartans are just that, they are not commonly weaved so therefore they are charged more. Mills have minimums to weave tartans and unless there is enough demand they will not regularly weave them. Each mill has different minimums and a list of common tartans.

A tartan like black watch is costs less as it is more common then say Bowie Ancient.

For our casual kilts on sale we refer to these tartans as stock tartans. As we have these in our workroom ready to be made into a kilt. Some of these tartans are rare, some are even special weave and some are standard select.

Hope this clarifies what Burnett's & Struth means when they say stock tartans.