Quote Originally Posted by Jock Scot View Post
The problem comes after the germ of a kilt idea is sown on a person wandering around, Edinburgh, who has no idea about kilts and woke up that morning with no intention of spending money on a kilt. So he spots a kilt being worn--any kilt, good or bad-------likes the idea so off to a shop he goes wanting one NOW. IF he enters a good kiltmakers premises he will find kilts to buy at far more than he wants to spend on a whim, or he finds that the kilt he wants is not only expensive,but also he will have to wait 12 weeks for it to be made. So off to the tat shops he goes to buy an instant, cheap, and often badly made kilt. That is how it goes and the good kilt maker does not often benefit from his expensive advertising, but the tat shops do! Come on! How many of you recognise that situation?
No doubt that individual (tourist) will do exactly as you described. They're the same ones buying cheap foreign "leatherboard" sporrans instead of my fairly expensive ones.

They AREN'T the customer of a real kilt-maker though, just as they aren't my customer. Nothing is going to change that ***

You are obviously much closer (both geographically and culturally) to the situation than I am, but the person that's planning to buy a GOOD kilt may still be swayed by seeing it moving around on the staff rather than sitting static on mannequins.

The shop might also get good mileage out of the free advertising of people seeing the staff on morning and evening commutes.

Obviously the shop owner might not want to kilt out the stockboys, or staff that tend to be transitory, but the investment of time/material in steady staff seems wise to me. The shop keeper could also make that a test when hiring new kiltmakers; making a kilt for one of the staff, from measurements to final fitting.

ith:

***Nothing, perhaps, except the experience of wearing the cheap kilt & sporran, loving it, and eventually moving up to a product of better quality.