sending kilt by mail

[Dutch piper]

Hi,

What are your thoughts about sending a kilt by mail.
Which way is the best way to ship a kilt to the customer?

Fold it, and put it in a box?
Roll it, and put it in a cardboard tube which are used for sending blueprints?

regards,
Dutch piper

[Grizzled Ian]

I have received a couple of kilts by mail. They arrived basted, folded and boxed.

I have also travelled by air with kilts both in the carry-on bag and the checked bag. That's when I roll them and feed them into heavy black 200 denier stockings. Even if I have had to bend the resulting tube to fit it into the bag, the kilt is good to wear at the destination after hanging for a short while.

But I would not roll a kilt to send through the post or even by a courier service, because the sender has no control over how long the kilt must endure in its roll. Particularly if it inadvertently sails instead of flies.

One of my boxed kilts had clearly travelled by air, because it took three weeks of airing before the awful stench of jet fuel dissipated and I could wear it in polite company. But I calculated that it was in transit from Glasgow to eastern Australia for more than a week.

[Riverkilt]

I've shipped probably 40 kilts over the years...churning the collection...sell some to buy some more.

Always use USPS. I fold them once lengthwise then fold that in half. Fits well in a USPS box. I put them in a plastic garbage bag before putting them in the box in case something leaks on the box en route. Delivery time in the US is usually 3 days max depending on location its going to.

The kilts I receive by mail are in USPS boxes too and shipped that way though often without a bag covering just in case.

Never had a problem with a kilt damaged inbound or outbound.

[Katia]

Recently received my kilt that had been shipped via sea freight with my household goods. Nearly 3.5 months in transit, including 1-2 weeks in port waiting for Customs clearance in a hot and humid country.

It was tightly rolled in a box with other clothes; I stuffed it down the side to keep it from moving about too much (someone from the moving company decided to take everything out of the hanging wardrobe boxes and flat-pack it, so I rolled as well as I could).

It actually... came out not too badly. I have it hanging right now, to see how much pressing it might need, but it's possible that if I hang it in the bathroom during a nice steamy shower, it may come right.

If that was mostly fine, I'd have no qualms about rolling neatly and tightly in a box for mailing!

[Grizzled Ian]

Wool is a remarkably forgiving fibre, true enough. I once saw a kilt when its owner took it off a wire coat hanger for the first time in over a decade. The last time he had worn it, he folded it in thirds (as if to hang it with a proper kilt hanger), but then simply hung it in half on the horizontal hypotenuse of the coat hanger like a pair of trousers.

The resulting crease looked terrible, and permanent, but a few weeks later his dry cleaner had removed it completely.

[Barb T]

A kilt only rolls well if it has very little shaping in the fell. If the kilt you want to send has much shaping at all, you're better off basting the pleats, and then folding it.