Scot's being outdone by southern neighbour

[MacCathmhaoil]

It would seem that there are more kilt rentals in England than north of the border!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...tish-wear.html

[cessna152towser]

I take what I read in the Daily Wail with a pinch of salt.
They could be right about the numbers of kilt hires but I suspect that the greater number of kilt hires in England is by ex-patriate Scots rather than by English nationals.

[Jock Scot]

I ws thinking along those lines too Alex. I just hope that the English kilt hire shops are more accurate with their kilt attire and advice than the Scots kilt hire company that I visited not so long ago, to pick up an outfit ordered for a friend flying in from afar.

[StevieR]

. . . I suspect that the greater number of kilt hires in England is by ex-patriate Scots rather than by English nationals.

Most definitely.

[OC Richard]

Reading between the lines, and connecting the dots, the article doesn't really say what the title implies.

"According to Young’s Hire, the largest formalwear hire company in the UK, only 2,645 Scots took out the attire last year- in comparison with 5,000 English."

- "the company", "its kilts". This indicates that only this single kilt-hire chain is being discussed.

- What isn't mentioned is what proportion of the firm's hire shops are north of the border. London and other English locations taken together might outnumber their Scottish locations. If so it would be expected that the English locations as a whole would do more business.

Also this firm's Scottish locations might have more competition from other hire shops.

I'm sure we could find a kilt hire chain that has most of its locations north of the border, whose hire figures would prove the opposite of this article's claim.

[Chaps]

Also, could it be that more Scots own kilts and therefore have no need to hire one.

[Nathan]

I think we've made quick work of dissecting the hyperbole behind the claim in this headline. Well done all.

[The Q]

A quick check shows there are approximately 160 Stores holding their wares, most appear to be through in store agencies. The branches include those in Wales, and Ireland(North and South) plus of course Scotland.
Scotland seems to have only ten shops. which means rentals per shop are approximately 265 per shop in Scotland, against 33 per shop for the other countries.
plus of course in Scotland there are many other stores to choose from.
I checked the Number of stores for Norwich as that's my nearest city, and there are half a dozen places you can hire a kilt but except for one they are all part of large National chains (Moss bros, Debenhams, Austin Reed, Slaters) which would, no doubt, import their Kilts from central warehouses.

[Kiltedjohn]

Some fascinating points being made here about interpretation of statistics. I used to teach some stats - this would have made a wonderful illustration of how statistics can be misused (either deliberately or accidentally) to convey completely false information. Thanks to all who have commented.

[MNlad]

My father was a statistician and taught me at an early age that you can find numbers to match nearly any argument you care to make. It is a lesson that has served me well and probably explains why I look at any claim backed by a stack of stats with a healthy dose of scepticism.