Editorial about Lidl and other imported kilts

[Monkey@Arms]

From the Daily Record's entertainment section.

Ban Cheap Kilts And Save Our Heritage
Feb 26 2008 Bob Shields

WHEN is a kilt not a kilt? The answer - according one MEP - is when you buy it in Lidl... and get enough change out of 30 quid for a case of Lithuanian lager.

Good luck to the SNP's Alyn Smith, who wants our national dress protected from foreign imports by European law. I think he'll need it.

For the kilt to join Camembert Cheese, Parma Ham and Champagne on the EEC's "protected label" list, he's going to have to prove that the kilt is a generic Scottish garment.

Alyn says he's going to be "banging on doors in Brussels to make this happen".

But when you consider the kilt's origins have been claimed by everyone from the Chinese to the Cornish, he's going to have an awful sore hand for a long time.

The traditionalists are right to point out that "genuine" kilts are eight yards of Scottish woollen cloth, woven by experts and hand-stitched in Scotland.

But they also cost in the region of £400 - and that's a lot of wedge to fork out for something that only gets worn at weddings and a Burns Supper.

You can't blame some Scots for seeking a cheaper alternative. Or tourists wanting a "fun kilt" to ponce about in at parties from Toronto to Tokyo.

But rather than protect our tartan industry by appealing to the law courts, why not take the simpler and cheaper route of appealing to Scotland's good taste.

Cheap kilts look exactly that - like cheap kilts.

The man who made my lightweight kilt for the New York marathon, Howie Nicholsby, says cheapo kilts look like "dish towels". And he's right.

Iwouldn't be seen dead in one, but mind you I have been mistaken for dead in my kilt after some Scotland games.

My kilt was made by Kinloch-Anderson, the bespoke Edinburgh firm who have been making them for so long they still have Moses' waist size on file.

It's got my name on the label, its own serial number and more Royal warrants than a Ballater baker's shop.

But more than anything, it's got history.

It was the first kilt ever in the Stade de France in Paris - they let me in to the half-built stadium the day after the World Cup draw in December 1997.

It's surfed on the waves of Sydney's Bondi and thrilled the bikini-clad beauties of Rio's Copacabana beach. And a geezer offered me two camels for it in Marakesh.

If my kilt could talk, a tabloid newspaper would buy it up for £20,000.

It's been sat on, spat on and sha . . . (we get the message Shields - Ed).

You could open a cocktail bar with every kind of drink that's been spilled over it.

But every time it emerges from the cleaner, it looks just like the day I got.

Mind you, these dry cleaning fluids don't half shrink the waistband over the years.

Our tartan industry should be selling a real kilt's strong points rather than attacking a tartan dish cloth's weak points.

How about "A kilt isn't just for Christmas, it's for life"?

Or has someone used that line already?

As for quality, there is one quick way of testing if a kilt is the real thing.

Bend down next to a kilt wearer with a cigarette lighter and gently apply the flame to the material.

If this is quickly followed by a blow to your groin with a Timberland boot, it's the real thing alright.

Best regards,

Jake

[Phil]

"My kilt was made by Kinloch-Anderson, the bespoke Edinburgh firm who have been making them for so long they still have Moses' waist size on file.

It's got my name on the label, its own serial number and more Royal warrants than a Ballater baker's shop."

Actually no. They are not a bespoke firm - they point you towards Dege & Skinner in Saville Row for that. Nice bit of advertising though, has to be worth a kilt or two don't you think?

[Larry124]

DUCK!

Not sure that much good can come from responses both pro and con that I can think to make to that wee tale.

So I’ll just say…
Interesting. Thanks.

[McClef]

This topic has already been extensively coved in other forums such as http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/l...highlight=lidl

[Nanook]

Re: Kinloch Anderson:

Actually no. They are not a bespoke firm - they point you towards Dege & Skinner in Saville Row for that.

Their kilts are "bespoke" as any kilt can be. They just no longer make jackets but source them elsewhere. Their kilts are not generally 100% by hand (few are these days) but the pleats and whatever you can see is hand stitched. Many of the bits that are done by machine are probably best done--- save for a warm fuzzy feeling of being able to think of the item as completely done by hand--- with a machine anyway. Dege & Skinner in Saville Row? They do "bespoke" jackets and sell Kinloch Anderson kilts. Are their jackets completely hand-sewn? No! Its like kilts...

[beloitpiper]

Their kilts are "bespoke" as any kilt can be.

But they still use patterns...therefore, not bespoke. Made-to-measure, yes, but not bespoke.

[Nanook]

But they still use patterns...therefore, not bespoke. Made-to-measure, yes, but not bespoke.

Actually kilts don't use "patterns". They use (mathematical) models for pleating--- and these can be quite individual given differences in waist size, seat size, length of pelvis and femura. The only cutting pattern is the straight edge. Its also more common that kilts be truly "be spoken for" in the sense that their fabric is reserved in the name of a customer. With kilts it can be quite "exclusive": Its, after all, not wholly uncommon for someone to have a run of tartan produced on commission. Most of the mills provide design services and are able to deliver unique fabrics to meet customer desire. I know of no "bespoke" tailor that routinely offers absolutely unique ("one of a kind") cloths but almost all rely upon their sample book of fabrics made in factories (save a few oddball materials like tweed)--- Dormeuil, Hunt & Winterbotham (John G. Hardy and J & J Minnis), Loro Piana, Scabal, Zegna and others. These fabrics are at times offered as exclusive to a tailor (part of the legacy of "bespoke")--- Ciro Paone (Kiton), for example, started off as a fabric merchant--- just as most of the designers (Even to lower tier brands like Boss, Perry Ellis, Ralph Lauren etc.) provide their (machine made) suits and jackets exclusive to a shop (no two shops in an area should ever be able to provide the same suit).. Kilts too can also be quite "custom" as a customer can (should the kilt maker willing) request an assortment of special features (hidden pleats, hidden pocket, etc.). Most kilts, however, as provided by the high street shops use standard tartan from one of the large mills and their "made to order" production is "just in time" (even the finest "bespoke tailors" on the Row have for well over a century a modern model of production with segmentation of work among cutter, finisher, tailor etc).

[Phil]

Re: Kinloch Anderson:


Their kilts are "bespoke" as any kilt can be. They just no longer make jackets but source them elsewhere. Their kilts are not generally 100% by hand (few are these days) but the pleats and whatever you can see is hand stitched. Many of the bits that are done by machine are probably best done--- save for a warm fuzzy feeling of being able to think of the item as completely done by hand--- with a machine anyway. Dege & Skinner in Saville Row? They do "bespoke" jackets and sell Kinloch Anderson kilts. Are their jackets completely hand-sewn? No! Its like kilts...

I quite agree but Kinloch Anderson, who used to be one of the bespoke tailors located here in George Street have long since ceased to be that and for this newspaper to describe them as such is misleading, but then that is nothing new for them. It is simply a sign of the times that people generally are not prepared to pay more than a certain amount and they have adapted their production methods accordingly to survive. They will still make a hand-sewn kilt at a price but prefer to guide you in the direction of a machine-sewn one or even one of their cut-down models (what in Glasgow would be described as a "faun doon kilt" - falling down kilt - for wearing when consuming large amounts of alcohol). To compare a kilt with bespoke tailoring is hardly a fair comparison as the two require quite separate levels of skill. A kilt, basically, is just a wrap-around pleated - dare I say it? - skirt, whereas jackets, trousers etc. involve a considerable degree of construction. I know most of this can be industrialised for "off-the-peg" clothing made cheaply in low wage economy countries but for something to fit perfectly it has to be bespoke as mass produced items are a "one size fits all" and do not take account of the slight physical variations we all have from the norm.

[Nanook]

It is simply a sign of the times that people generally are not prepared to pay more than a certain amount and they have adapted their production methods accordingly to survive.

And they are doing fine while most companies have long since folded. Kilt makers, sporran makers.. some survive but most have closed or close to.. And its not just the tourists chasing tat.

They will still make a hand-sewn kilt at a price but prefer to guide you in the direction of a machine-sewn one or even one of their cut-down models

Which are worlds better than the any of those kilts Lidl sold.

To compare a kilt with bespoke tailoring is hardly a fair comparison as the two require quite separate levels of skill.

Not level of skills but different skills and talents.

A kilt, basically, is just a wrap-around pleated - dare I say it? - skirt, whereas jackets, trousers etc. involve a considerable degree of construction.

Can involve a lot of hand construction BUT these days can be done pretty fast using fusing and cheap using offshore labour. Even among the best shops, you'd be surprised what new machines have entered into the tool chest over the past 30 years. Sometimes the machines are not used since the labour is cheaper.

I know most of this can be industrialised for "off-the-peg" clothing made cheaply in low wage economy countries but for something to fit perfectly it has to be bespoke as mass produced items are a "one size fits all"

They are NOT. A good tailor, I may suggest, can get a better fit and hang with a well made factory suit from Brioni, Kiton, Oxxford than all but a very tiny hand full of "bespoke" tailor shops. A good tailor (and granted they are quite rare to find) is the key and the key to a suitable suit (factory or basement shop) is a good cutter. Valentino, as my father used to point out, had in the 1960s such as good cut that despite being made on a machine his jackets were able to hold his own against some of the best Italian tailors.

Things, of course, do change.. and companies must always be prepared to adapt to changes in the marketplace. Today's shift to China is significant but nothing new.. I'm always amused whenI see the C&A brand "Angelo Litrico" since he was (and the brand was) one of the greatest in Roman style!

and do not take account of the slight physical variations we all have from the norm.

That's what tailoring is about!