Where are Stillwater kilts made?

[KMacT]

This is merely the most current method to try to bash a company. They're doing business the smart way, and some just can't handle it.

I don't have an issue with Stillwater Kilts. I would have an issue if I believed that they used sweatshop labour to keep their costs down. Jimmy, I suspect you would have an issue with that as well. But the fact that the kilts are made in Pakistan, in and of itself, is not enough for me to conclude such is the case.

But as for this thread being merely a means to bash Stillwater Kilts, I would hope you are not saying that Magnus is merely bashing the company, and that his concerns are not honest concerns. That could be correct, of course, but as with StillWater Kilts, I will give Magnus the benefit of any doubt and assume his intentions are honourable unless I learn otherwise.

Kevin

[Magnus Sporrano]

First of all, I am not bashing the company. Not at all. It's the smart thing for a businessman to do. You see a market that isn't being reached, you find a way to reach it for a better value than the next guy, and you make it happen. Jerry is obviously doing a bang up job of making his target market happy.

I do honestly want to seek out more info. If Jerry were sewing kilts himself, I would gladly have been eating my words and begging him to make one a bit wider for my prodigious **** & gut. But, his products are made all over the world wherever he can get the best deal. Most people are fine with that. I tend to want to put a little more thought into where I buy things from.

We have a number of friends here that I like to support. I like to go see Jimmy Carbomb playing with Barleyjuice. I like to go see Rocky & Kelly @ USA Kilts and buy kilts from them. I'm really hoping badly to get a sporran from Freelander. And a camo kilt from Jeff @ Pittsburgh Kilts. And when I move back to NC I have some new friends down there to go meet, and the Scottish Tartans Museum to visit.

These guys are our friends, our brothers, and I think it's worth spending a few more bucks to support them instead of just going for the cheapest deal possible. I'm not exactly hard up for money. I make a decent living. I can afford to pay a little more for a kilt made by someone in our community. For those that can't afford the difference, I'm just happy to see you wearing the kilt. And for those that can afford the difference, it's a personal choice. I won't slight you for making that choice but I do hope I gave you something more to think about when deciding where to buy your kilts & sporrans from than how much it costs.

[Dreadbelly]

I agree with you Magnus.

However, I believe that it is important to support everybody in the long run. We should support USAK and PK... But, at the same time, we owe some support I believe to folk like Jerry, who are doing a lot more to make kilts mainstream by making them affordable. Making kilts mainstream is a nearly impossible task, and it's attack that must be made from all angles. Land, sea, and air. Combined arms.

We owe a debt to our North American friends and supporting the local economy. I agree whole heartedly. My first kilt is from Rocky, and I do have plans to order more from him in the future. I want a Freedom kilt quite badly. I love how they look. I want a PK. But I am hurting for money... So for now, at this time, I must take what I can get. And I am grateful for the opportunity provided by SWK to get such a deal.

[KiltedBishop]

Jerry,

I got your PM, most disappointing for a fat man. Thanks for the advise though, I guess I'll keep saving my nickels and dimes for a while longer so I can buy a tank.

Good luck and best wishes for success on the new line.

I am guessing you asked about sizes beyond what they offer? That was a question I was going to ask...

[Doc Hudson]

Jerry,

I got your PM, most disappointing for a fat man. Thanks for the advise though, I guess I'll keep saving my nickels and dimes for a while longer so I can buy a tank.

Good luck and best wishes for success on the new line.

I am guessing you asked about sizes beyond what they offer? That was a question I was going to ask...

Yep. Unfortunately, us fat folk are out of luck when it comes to budget priced kilts. Darned shame though considering all the good things we've heard about the Heavyweight Stillwaters.

[KiltedBishop]

Yep. Unfortunately, us fat folk are out of luck when it comes to budget priced kilts. Darned shame though considering all the good things we've heard about the Heavyweight Stillwaters.

*Enter explitive here*

Oh well...I guess that is a good incentive to lose weight.

[Hamish]

...............and it is my understanding that the major mills in Scotland now have many Asian and middle-eastern employees making their hand-made kilts.
.................................................. .....................

Jerry V
SK

That may be so, Jerry, but their work will be supervised by fully trained, traditional Scottish kiltmakers with years of practical experience.

I suspect that those employed in the Far Eastern sweatshops (if that is what they are) will simply be left to follow patterns, with any supervision coming from people who were doing the sewing machine operator's job a couple of years before! No kiltmaking apprenticeships served; no real experience, other than general dressmaking or T_Shirt sewing!

If the examples of Pakistani-made 'kilts' I have examined, and which retail at about £30 in the tourist-trap souvenir shops in Edinburgh and London, are anything to go by, then they are absolute rubbish and should be banned under the Trades Descriptions Acts!!

[bjcustard]

If the examples of Pakistani-made 'kilts' I have examined, and which retail at about £30 in the tourist-trap souvenir shops in Edinburgh and London, are anything to go by, then they are absolute rubbish and should be banned under the Trades Descriptions Acts!!

I have seen the "tourist" kilts and I own several Stillwaters. I can assure you, the quality of the products I have from Stillwater Kilts is far superior to those items.

I do not know the conditions under which these kilts are manufactured.

I do know that their quality is significant, and my money on them was well spent.

[Hamish]

If the examples of Pakistani-made 'kilts' I have examined, and which retail at about £30 in the tourist-trap souvenir shops in Edinburgh and London, are anything to go by, then they are absolute rubbish and should be banned under the Trades Descriptions Acts!!

I have seen the "tourist" kilts and I own several Stillwaters. I can assure you, the quality of the products I have from Stillwater Kilts is far superior to those items.

I do not know the conditions under which these kilts are manufactured.

I do know that their quality is significant, and my money on them was well spent.

Then I am gratified that you were not 'conned', BJC, as so many have been in the past - and will be in the future. Please do not think I am criticising Stillwater kilts, which I have not seen other than in photos, because I most certainly am not. As I say, I have never actually seen one, but I HAVE seen the cheapos being sold here in the UK.

[Jimmy Carbomb]

As I say, I have never actually seen one, but I HAVE seen the cheapos being sold here in the UK.

We know the ones that you're referring to buddy. Those things would be better served as curtains in a Volkswagen Micro-Bus! It's a shame that those have also made their way to some of the Music Shops and stores in such places as eBay.

The StillWater "Standards" and "Heavy Kilts" are a FAR CRY from the others. The point that has been made MANY times, and still needs to be reiterated, is that the StillWater Kilts are in NO WAY a replacement for a nice handsewn traditional.

They are what they are, and they fill a void that NO OTHER COMPANY is touching! A nicely-made kilt with thin pleats and three buckles that won't break the bank. They look MUCH more formal than most casual kilts (Bear's are an exception) and don't cost an arm and a leg. Simple enough.