The end of traditional tartan - a personal view

[Tobus]

I agree, but Dalgliesh is becoming VERY expensive. Remember the Chattan kilt with an enlarged sett (8 yards; 15oz custom weave from Dalgliesh) I had started a thread about some time ago? Well, after inquiring with my kilt-maker about a price estimate, the total cost for one kilt came extremely close to $1,000 US. I'm sorry, but that's more than what I am willing to pay for a single kilt.

Wow, that is indeed pretty steep. Knowing what I know about their pricing, or at least what it was 2 years ago, I have a pretty good idea how much it has gone up per yard, based on your number. I was fortunate that they decided to make my Reproduction Colquhoun one of their 'standard' tartans right at the time I ordered it, which saved me many hundreds of dollars (I was ordering more than twice the yardage needed for a typical kilt). I was very amazed - and relieved - at the price difference between a small custom run and a standard tartan.

From what I know of their process, though, it is incredibly time-consuming to set up the machine for a custom run. So much so that it's not surprising that small custom runs are so expensive as to be unaffordable to most. Not to mention that every moment the machine is not running, it's not making money; it's losing money. Either they are getting tired of losing money on these small runs, and charging what it actually costs, or they're trying to price it so high that it discourages small custom runs. Either way, I'm sure that it was something that had to be done in order to keep the business profitable (and I hope that these news reports don't portend something bad at DC Dalgliesh).

Custom weaving on these old machines really is an art form, and I can certainly understand how it just isn't profitable to do small runs with today's competition. It truly does come down to cost, and one has to *really* want the custom tartan made by an artisan. Sadly, only a very select few will be willing (or able) to afford it.