Bespoke vs Standard Hand Sewn

[Jock Scot]

Hello there, welcome from Inverness-shire.

I am sure that you will get several recommendations before long for kilt makers in the Cities that you are visiting. But, BE WARNED there are some vendors of kilts, particularly in Edinburgh, that do not make the best of kilts, so please do your research well and rest assured you will find the name of some of the finest kilt makers in the world.

Had you been visiting my neck of the woods, I would have no hesitation in recommending Duncan Chisholm of "Chisholm's" of Inverness, but as you are not, I will leave it to others to guide you.

[Downunder Kilt]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Bespoke clothing is traditionally cut from a pattern drafted from scratch for the customer, and should not be confused with made to measure

The distinction between the two is that bespoke is created without use of a pre-existing pattern, whereas made to measure alters a standard-sized pattern to fit the customer.

With a kilt there is usually are a number of styles eg, knife pleated, box pleated, pleated to the sett, pleated to the stripe, pleated to the no stripe, rolled military pleats. You can have two buckles or three buckles, belt loops or no belt loops, fringe (single, double, triple, none.) I would suppose a kilt can be classed as a bespoke item.

I think one of the most important considerations is that to have bespoke tailoring you must have fittings with the tailor in person. I cannot see how you can mail order bespoke clothing

As for jackets, see my first paragraph, a pattern has to made from scratch, not an adaption from an existing one. This of course means fittings.

All of this means money, but a truly bespoke item will always fit and should look presentable ( as long as you remain the same as the bespoke measurements)

All this is of course assuming you have a reputable, quality tailor making your items.

All the best in your endeavours

[Phil]

Enjoy your visit to Glasgow and Edinburgh and I hope you manage to find a bespoke tailor. I know of none in Glasgow and only two in Edinburgh but in any case a hand-sewn kilt is, to all intent and purpose, a bespoke garment. Jackets/doublets etc. are quite a different matter. I have long since given up making any recommendations as a complete waste of my time and effort but would echo Jock's advice to avoid the cheap and nasty end of the market, most of which is to be found on the Royal Mile and thereabouts in Edinburgh.