Question about the Utilikilts company

[RockyR]

It is my understanding that the issue stems from the basic business plan that the Utilikilts company first came up with.
They sub-concentrated all the manufacturing out to firms around the Seattle area.
Then the retail arm of the company was sold. The way I understand it is the store and website in Seattle is not owned by the original owners of the Utilikilts company which now has far fewer employees that it once had. I don't believe that Steven is even part of the retail any more.

Steven (Krash) still owns and runs the shop with his wife, Caitlyn. They shut down their "Shopping district" store a few years ago after a flood and now operate a "by appointment only" retail space in their production facility in Seattle.

[RockyR]

Does anyone have examples of how their quality has suffered over time? I have heard rumors of this but no real specifics.

I have owned a handful (6 or 8) different Utilikilts over the years. In my (not so humble) opinion, their QUALITY has not changed at all (always been very high quality). Their design has changed however, with their 'adjustable waistband' and 'asset' (***-coreset... that was Krash's phrasing) to allow a single size to move up and down as the user gains or loses weight.

I'm not a big fan of their new design with the corset back, but I have found that if I order a size up, I can tighten it down so much that the lacing essentially disappears. I'm a size 34 pants (in UKs, you order your pants size) and my size 36 waist UK cinched all the way down fits great.

[OC Richard]

Steven (Krash) still owns and runs the shop with his wife, Caitlyn. They shut down their "Shopping district" store a few years ago after a flood and now operate a "by appointment only" retail space in their production facility in Seattle.

Thanks for that info.

When Utilikilts first appeared part of their immediate and large impact on our Highland Games community was due to them having a large booth at many of these events.

That was our first knowledge of them- a big booth at a major Highland Games with a huge crowd around it, people trying on the hitherto unknown things and buying them by the hundreds. It was a two-day Games but they sold their entire stock on the first day.

I can't recall seeing a Utilikilts booth at a Games in years. Rather, various "tat" booths sell cheap Pakistani utility kilts along with their cheap acrylic tartan kilts etc.