I suppose that it would be a noble experiment for someone with a few spare swatches to mount them on a board and put them outside in the sun and snow and wind and rain for a year and see what happens...sort of like what the paint companies do to test the weather-worthiness of their products.

Now there would be a difference between samples from, say, New Mexico and Vermont...or from the US and the UK, I'd guess. Maybe the Pacific Northwest would be the best "average" location for a test of this sort.

Jock, I have been steadfastly trying to avoid the temptation to get another kilt, having two nice ones in variations of Robertson, but the temptation of getting the Robertson Hunting in the weathered from Lochcarron is mighty strong...it's pretty good lookin'. Since I think that wearing the weathered for "good" wold be sort of inappropriate, I'd be thinking about one of the five or six yard casual affairs rather than going the whole eight yards.

...yet pity stays my hand...it's a pity that I don't have the money...it would also be a pity if my dear wife were to kill me for getting another kilt.

Hence, the old joke:

"My wife told me that she'd leave me if I bought another kilt."

"Gee, that's too bad."

"Yeah...I'm gonna miss her..."

Anyway, I do think that it's not so much a cynical marketing ploy but rather the mills trying to expand their lines to sell more goods and thus stay in business. The nice thing is that if no one shows any interest, they just stop weaving it and go back to the basic line that they've always had a market for.

Best

AA