Do Your Research (aka Buyer Beware)

[ghostlight]

I will occasionally get people asking for a sample swatch of a custom tartan before it is run. The minimum amount for a custom tartan to be woven is four yards. That's the minimum. So if you want a sample swatch, it will be four yards long. :-)

I call that convenience!

"I'll be right there, dear. I'm ordering a...SWATCH...of box-pleated tartan!"

[Dianne B]

I am rather surprised a commercial weaver would put up a warp only 4 yards long - that is A LOT of work for such a short run (presumably on a motorized loom). The time must be reflected in the cost. I could see a sample run as a precursor to a large order like a large band or a standard tartan pattern but for a short-run, the weaver is undoubtedly not covering his costs or is not very busy.

Anyway ... getting off topic here .... sorry!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I am rather surprised a commercial weaver would put up a warp only 4 yards long - that is A LOT of work for such a short run (presumably on a motorized loom). The time must be reflected in the cost. I could see a sample run as a precursor to a large order like a large band or a standard tartan pattern but for a short-run, the weaver is undoubtedly not covering his costs or is not very busy.

Anyway ... getting off topic here .... sorry!

I order cloth from four of Scotland's top tartan producers. Three of them have relatively large lists of stock tartans and will do a custom run of a non-stocked tartan for minimum lengths varying from 10 to 30 yards double width (with prices being fairly high for anything less than half a bolt, or 30 yards).

One mill, however, maintains a fairly small list of stock tartans, but will do a custom run of non-stock tartan for a minimum length of 4 yards single width, thus allowing me to order only enough tartan for a single kilt or skirt to fill an order. Yes, it is more expensive per yard than a stock tartan, but far less expensive than weaving a half a bolt of fabric when you only need enough for one kilt. Small runs of custom cloth is this particular mill's niche.

[Paul Henry]

I order cloth from four of Scotland's top tartan producers. Three of them have relatively large lists of stock tartans and will do a custom run of a non-stocked tartan for minimum lengths varying from 10 to 30 yards double width (with prices being fairly high for anything less than half a bolt, or 30 yards).

One mill, however, maintains a fairly small list of stock tartans, but will do a custom run of non-stock tartan for a minimum length of 4 yards single width, thus allowing me to order only enough tartan for a single kilt or skirt to fill an order. Yes, it is more expensive per yard than a stock tartan, but far less expensive than weaving a half a bolt of fabric when you only need enough for one kilt. Small runs of custom cloth is this particular mill's niche.

Having just received a custom woven special variation tartan from these weavers, I have to say that the quality and the feel of the cloth is lovely, and the selvedge is wonderful!Yes of course a little more expensive but they were straight forward to deal with, it's still a family concern, and I'm more than happy to put my money that way.

[Riverkilt]

Originally Posted by bear@bearkilts.com
"I force myself to set aside my natural trust of people and only go on earned trust."

For sure! So many things that can go wrong during an Internet transaction. That is why I ONLY do business with a few trusted kiltmakers. Call me gunshy. I've read of more than one kiltmaker who took a customers money and never delivered the kilt....let alone the sad stories of delivery delayed beyond all reasonable expectations.

So while I have empathy for any merchant (27 years in Corporate America myself with a bag of my own stories) I am also very cautious about the vendors I choose. Thank God for this board where we direct each other to the stand out vendors who provide quality and service at a fair price, and we give each other a head's up about less than efficient vendors. The later exchanges have saved me many heartaches.

As to Matt's original post intent, in many industries its common for the customer to literally sign off on a final design of something created for them so that the producer has signed proof that the client has seen and accepted the product as designed. Sadly, not possible in the kilt industry beyond maybe approving an actual swatch.

Some of you will remember the actual process of selecting the final design for our X Marks the Scot tartan and the reactions when the finished goods arrived. Really hard to nail the image in someone's mind with the actual goods. Steve Ashton did very very well during that process....and it was a long process to get it right.

I recall an old adage in sales. Something along the line of, if you don't have a few angry customers then your marketing efforts aren't as effective as they could be. Meaning, if you're doing a good job with marketing you're gonna bring in some folks that will never be easy to please.

Ron

[slohairt]

Wow, that does suck! Especially when they relied on a mislabelled picture. When I made the tartan viewers on my website, I received many pictures that simply didn't seem to match the descriptions. Many emails later, I managed to clear them up. (I hope! I still worry that some may be incorrect, so I make sure I check with the customer.)

In retrospect, it would have been nice if the mills had just decided on different terminology like 'Dark' or Light' instead of 'Modern' and 'Ancient', but too late for that, I guess!

[ronstew]

So, Matt, how did this story end? Or is it continuing?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The client kept the kilt and I believe eventually realized that they had recieved some bad information about the tartan and were operating under false assumptions. It's a well made kilt and will hopefully be worn for many years to come. All's well that ends well.

[ronstew]

Good.