Buyer Beware

[dfmacliam]

Thank you for passing on the word... I do find humor in the fact that some are too lazy to even put the effort into their own business ventures. We can talk till we are blue in the face about those who do what they do...

When good people pass the word, and we avoid those business... I see it played out time and time again... Poor quality products, usually give you poor customer service.. While you tend to get quality products with quality customer service..

Thankfully, I have found this site, and have made some big purchases from quality vendors...

I agree with what Chas posted above, it's not the manufacturers.. It's the middle man.. Look at Stillwater Kilts... Jerry let's you know up front, what you are buying.. a Pakistani made kilt.. not a bad made kilt, for the money.. what seperates Jerry from the rest... quality customer service.. he cares.. look at his website.. uniquely his own.. do not blame those not responsible for this situation... the blame solely belongs to the ones causing the problems...

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Exactly Chas,

The "factory" for Great Highland Wear is in Pakistan. The "office" listed on their site is in Indiana. I don't know who the owner is, whether he is black, white, brown, yellow, red, green or purple. And it really doesn't matter.

One should always strive to support business who maintain an honest business practice. Period.

[slohairt]

It is complicated issue and one I could not explain completely because of the rules of this forum. In the end, it is both the middlemen and the manufacturers who are responsible for this situation.

What you may not realise, Chas, is that these factories endlessly spam those of us in the Highland wear industry. I receive at least five annoying poorly worded emails a day from these manufacturers in Pakistan. I'm sure other vendors here on the forum can testify to this. No matter how many times I block them they reappear, trying to sell me their 'goods'.

Without delving into politics too much, I will say that the issue is not so much that these products are made in Pakistan but that they are made in a country like Pakistan. While the situation may (or may not) be improving, they have a deplorable track record concerning labour laws. I, for one, do not want to contribute to this. While it is unavoidable today to buy some products from manufacturers in these countries (household goods, etc.) in the area of Highland wear we do still have a choice. For now.

[RockyR]

Since none of us (save Jerry at Stillwater) have visited any Pakistani or Chinese factories where highlandwear is produced, we can't comment on their labor practices with first hand knowledge.

What we CAN comment on is the blatant COPYING of propietary designs of L & M sporrans, Margaret Morrison sporrans, Broadsword Sporrans, Glen Esk Buckles, etc. from these factories. The bottom line is that it's extremely expensive for this small 'cottage industry' that we're in to legally go after a company in Pakistan or China. Many times, it's cheaper to just stop that design and come up with a new one... OR sue the companies SELLING the 'knock off' products in the US or UK (where the design can be copyrighted). While that doesn't hurt the PRODUCERS of the item, it does hurt the people who BUY from the producers.

We have this same problem with proprietary / Copyrighted tartans... look at the Isle of Skye (aka 'Bright Skye') tartan. It's a proprietary design that is COPIED in Pakistan / China. The owner, Rosemay Samois, successfully sued the Gold Brothers firm in the UK to stop them from illegally importing it and selling it. The problem is, it's still being produced in Pakistan and China.

THIS is why I copyright AND register all tartans USAK creates and watermark every product picture on our website. Scumbags think that just because a picture is 'out there' that it's free to steal and use. The sad thing is, it costs the LEGITIMATE businesses time and money while the theives can just dance around the law.

When people complain about companies from Pakistan or China, PLEASE don't automatically assume it's a 'race issue'. Often times, it's a Business ETHICS issue.

[Brother Falldown]

Just before we get too xenophobic and racist, we should remember that, with the exception of a notable few, it is not the Pakistanis who are selling to us. Quite often it is our own people, our own countrymen, who source their goods worldwide.

If they don't buy it in China, then they buy it in Pakistan.

Then they sell it to us.

And then we buy it.

Hopefully, it is like our first cars. We bought any old rubbish, just to have wheels. Or just to have a hair sporran; or just to have a PC; or just to have coloured hose. In time we will buy a better car or a better sporran, a better jacket or better hose.

But for now, we should look at the people selling, not the people making.

Regards

Chas

I believe you are right on point. The manufacturer does NOT misrepresent his goods to the vendor. In more than a few instances sample goods are provided upon request, and frequently shipped un-solicited with every order. It is the merchant who takes his "goods" to the marketplace and claims them to be what they are not. ith:

[RockyR]

I believe you are right on point. The manufacturer does NOT misrepresent his goods to the vendor. In more than a few instances sample goods are provided upon request, and frequently shipped un-solicited with every order. It is the merchant who takes his "goods" to the marketplace and claims them to be what they are not. ith:

However, in THIS instance, the seller in question IS the 'manufacturer' and is selling his product DIRECTLY to the people (as well as offering to wholesale them to companies like Keltoi and myself). If you, as an individual, wanted to purchase the jacket directly from him, he would sell it to you, using the picture AND description from another company's website. Is that misrepresentation?

I'm NOT SAYING that there aren't unscrupulous companies out there that sell 'authentic tartan kilts, designed in Scotland' and trying to pull the wool over the consumer's eyes... I'm simply pointing out that the unscrupulous nature goes further up the chain than just small mom and pop shops selling Pakistani kilts marketed as 'Scottish'.

[piperdbh]

My buckle brogues arrived today. I'm no expert on shoes, but they appear to be well put-together. The problem is, they're a size too big. Now I'll have to ship them back for an exchange. I hope it doesn't take another 5 months to get the right size. Mr. Ahmed promised me a free Kenmore doublet to make up for all the time he's wasted and the lies he's told me. I would rather have had honesty all along. Kudos to the sponsoring merchants here at XMTS for their integrity.

[beloitpiper]

This happens all over. Today, in fact, we hat a group of men in the store. As usual, I welcomed them and offered them a sample of whatever cheese they wanted. They were happy to try our cheese and ask where we got them only to reveal right before they left (without buying anything) that they were opening a new grocery store down the road and had to figure out what to buy.

I was livid.

I know capitalism is about competition, but does it mean that we have to be treacherous and unrepentant?

[auld argonian]

I know capitalism is about competition, but does it mean that we have to be treacherous and unrepentant?

Apparently it does now. Just ask any of the big financial firms that needed to get bailed out.

I do, however, have to agree with a point that Rocky seemed to be getting at...that this vendor sells wholesale to retailers like USA Kilts but somehow has no problem turning around and undermining their retail customers by selling directly to the public. I suppose that there's nothing wrong with that technically but it certainly seems a bit unethical to me.

Best

AA

[RockyR]

Apparently it does now. Just ask any of the big financial firms that needed to get bailed out.

I do, however, have to agree with a point that Rocky seemed to be getting at...that this vendor sells wholesale to retailers like USA Kilts but somehow has no problem turning around and undermining their retail customers by selling directly to the public. I suppose that there's nothing wrong with that technically but it certainly seems a bit unethical to me.

Best

AA

Point of clarification: We buy NOTHING from them or any company outside North America or the UK. I know you said "retailers like USA Kilts", but I wanted to clarify.

MANY companies sell wholesale AND retail. There's nothing inherently wrong with that either (sport kilt does, Utilikilts does, gold brothers do, gaelic themes does...). As a retail company, the only time I have a PROBLEM with that is when the price they're selling to me as a COMPANY is the same as the price they sell to INDIVIDUALS. There's no room for 'marjins', but now we're on a different topic than my initial point about 'truth in advertising'.