Where to get the weaving done in 2025?

[SMcCandlish]

Industry scuttlebutt has it that at least two of the major tartan weavers (D.C. Dalgliesh, and I'm not sure what the other was, maybe Lochcarron) were really messed up by the pandemic, including loss of most of their trained workforce (foreigners on work visas that expired) and seizing up of their looms with corrosion due to lack of maintenance and regular use, which compounded the delay problem (the pandemic itself caused backlogs, and the post-pandemic downtime doubled them).

I don't know at present which tartan mills (of kilt-appropriate quality) are actually reliable for getting a full bolt done (much less a kilt-length). But I figure the pros in here have a handle on which weavers are presently viable.

[OC Richard]

I think people have been having Andrew Elliot Ltd do their special runs.

I believe House Of Edgar will do them too.

Who are in the know much better than I are Peter MacDonald (who has done numerous bespoke tartans) and Glen Allardyce (who has done a number of runs of his Scottish Wildcat tartan).

I did speak with Robin Elliot (at Andrew Elliot Ltd) who told me their minimum was 11 metres.

[jsrnephdoc]

Industry scuttlebutt has it that at least two of the major tartan weavers (D.C. Dalgliesh, and I'm not sure what the other was, maybe Lochcarron) were really messed up by the pandemic

In midsummer 2023, (ALMOST post Covid), my sister, son, and I spent a good part of a day touring Lochcarron's mill, warehouse, and gift shop. We saw many happy employees, including a portly matron happily replacing a single repeating transverse error in a VERY long piece of newly woven cloth armed only with a special needle that could remove one thread and insert another..

Actually, it wasn't QUITE post-Covid, because our return to the US saw us snake along in a back-and-forth line among hundreds of other returnees and immigrants, many of them coughing and unmasked, in a cavernous basement room at ORD, all queueing up for a small number of immigrations and customs agent kiosks (all of us envying the occasional person who would stroll up to a automated kiosk, flash his passport at a scanner and his face towards a camera and be on his way within a second or two). Two consequences:

1. We all applied for Global Entry and won't ever travel internationally again without it
2. We all got symptomatic Covid

Here's a picture of that same smiling matron, taking a break from her work at the same station. She has an excuse (the guy shaking hands on the right). But, while we saw her work, she gave us the same smile and an informative lecture on her work.

And, of course, they DID weave some tartan just for him…


That tour was one of the best parts of our two weeks in the country.

[SMcCandlish]

I did speak with Robin Elliot (at Andrew Elliot Ltd) who told me their minimum was 11 metres.

Sounds good, though I think I would do considerably longer. My tartan is one that's not kept in stock by anyone, and various cousins are going to want some but not be able to readily get it otherwise. With a yard and metre being comparable, Elliot's minimum would be a kilt plus enough left over for a fly plaid and some accessories (or 2 kilts, if their material is full-width). I'll probably have a full bolt done.

[SMcCandlish]

... spent a good part of a day touring Lochcarron's mill, warehouse, and gift shop. We saw many happy employees ...

I'm glad Lochcarron is going strong; I can add them to my list of potential mills for my project. I'm now at a loss for what the other weaver was who was said to be having severe problems. Maybe it was another of the several (like DCD) now owned by ScotWeb/Clan.com. (I don't really have the heart to go dig up that detail again, since it'll entail poring over email with a kiltmaker I placed a $2K order with, who between my order and over a year of waiting in vain for cloth to be made, ended up going out of business, without a means to either repay me or provide the kilt and stuff I ordered.)

[Adrian]

I may be able to help, own the yarn stock that came from the liquidation of D C Dalgliesh, it fills a shipping container. Currently working on a business relationship with various parties to be able to offer some kind of service and weave some tartan, PM me with some details.

[OC Richard]

Elliot's minimum would be a kilt plus enough left over for a fly plaid and some accessories (or 2 kilts, if their material is full-width).

Robin mentioned 11 metres single-width.

[OC Richard]

In midsummer 2023 my sister, son, and I spent a good part of a day touring Lochcarron's mill, warehouse, and gift shop.

That tour was one of the best parts of our two weeks in the country.

My wife and I, in 1986, did a similar tour of the Lochcarron facility. Yes it was one of the coolest parts of our trip.

One really cool thing was to see the bolt of tartan my pipe band had ordered being woven. We went through that bolt quickly, and had to order another. Pipe bands go through a lot of tartan! (I'm front row, third from left.)

And they DID weave some tartan just for him.

I see a gent in the background wearing a kilt in what seems to be that same tartan. (He looks familiar but I can't place him.)

I wonder what tartan that is.

[figheadair]

I see a gent in the background wearing a kilt in what seems to be that same tartan. (He looks familiar but I can't place him.)

I wonder what tartan that is.

His name escapes me but he is one of the Lochcarron team. His tartan is not the same as that being viewed by HM.

[figheadair]

IHere's a picture of that same smiling matron, taking a break from her work at the same station. She has an excuse (the guy shaking hands on the right). But, while we saw her work, she gave us the same smile and an informative lecture on her work.

And, of course, they DID weave some tartan just for him

I had the privilege of designing the tartan and being there that day.