I would suggest wool in whatever tartan you feel appropriate, 13 or 16 pz, made up into a nice machine sewn 8 yard knife pleated traditional kilt. I have a couple HoS kilts and they are fine, a reasonable value. Scotweb makes a nice kilt as well, and offers a roughly 10% discount to xmarkers who access their site through this site by clicking on the advert top right of each page. If the prices are even close I would go with the Scotweb as they definitely have a better reputation overall, and exceptional customer service, besides being a major advertiser and supporter of xmarks.

If you are only getting one kilt and can afford a good one go with the wool. Handsewn is in someways nicer than machine sewn, for those who can appreciate the differences, but the price goes up significantly for that artisan quality, which few people will even be able to notice or appreciate the difference.

One man's opinion.