Got Lucky on eBay

[OC Richard]

a former Centerville Georgia Fire Department Pipes and Drums kilt. I am tempted to reach out to Higgins just to see if they have any info about the kilts they produced for this band, if they were done as a mass order or individually. It would be interesting to discover which mill produced the cloth as well.

Yes contact Higgins, they might have records.

About mass order, or individually generally for bands it's both: the initial order of 20 or more kilts, and follow-up orders in succeeding years for additional matching kilts.

Higgins does a load of band kilts and they're very good at exactly matching existing band kilts whether or not Higgins was the initial supplier. Kilts being one of the prime expenses of starting up a pipe band, it's common for startup bands to acquire the entire band set of kilts from an existing band that's switching to a different tartan. Our band acquired the entire band set of the Regina Police Pipe Band, and Higgins was able to precisely match these kilts when we needed more. Higgins identified the weaver and weight and made the pleats the same as the existing kilts. You can't tell them apart.

About the Centerville Georgia Fire Department Pipes and Drums around 2004 or 2005 they became The Heart Of Georgia Pipes And Drums.

A quick Google revealed contact information for the latter band, though it was all several years old.

I've been through the frustrating process of contacting a band and its supplier to track down a certain tartan. I found a band that wears Portree. I'd only found that fabric in 11oz but when I contacted the band they said they had both lightweight and mediumweight kilts in the band, and they told me who supplied their kilts (not Higgins). Well when I contacted the supplier they said they had no recollection or records pertaining to the band kilts in question, and said that they too could only provide the tartan in 11oz.