Pictures of Kilts4Less Ex-Hires?

[KennethSime]

Out of curiosity, were the pictures in my link of any help to you? I am happy to help if there is another picture you are looking for.

Rob

Hey Rob,

They were, and I apologize for not thanking you earlier. The pleats shots were just what I was looking for. The Carnegie looks very nice!

Just a touch too large for me, or I'd have contacted you already. :-)

[WalesLax]

Hey Rob,

They were, and I apologize for not thanking you earlier. The pleats shots were just what I was looking for. The Carnegie looks very nice!

Just a touch too large for me, or I'd have contacted you already. :-)

No worries - I just figured that I have the means to show you the thing you were looking at, so if I could help any more, I wanted to make sure I did.

Good luck on your search!

Rob

[WalesLax]

Hi Rob - I got it at the end of last summer when they lost the SRU licence to Kinloch Anderson. Jumped on it pretty quick, when they made the announcement on Facebook. Secured my order PDQ - Kilt No. 9 in their list. Had to wait about a month until the end of their hire period though to get my hands on it.

Although you have got me thinking and I might need to double-check what I paid - I may have got it mixed up with a MacFarlane kilt I bought around the same time, although pretty sure it was nowhere near £250 (the £150 I paid for the McCall's kilt is about top end for me on ex-hires).

No worries - I actually started keeping a list of what I bought and how much I paid, but then my wife found it, and I quickly remembered why we don't keep track of things like that.

I will tell you, I have had my eye on getting an SRU kilt probably from around the time you said you got yours, but I kept watching, expecting some sort of sale to come up, and haven't seen any so far. I was half hoping you were going to say something like "wait for the Columbus Day sale!" so that I could hold out some hope that my wait was worth it. For what it's worth, I specifically chose Columbus Day because I know *how incredibly important* Columbus Day is in Scotland...

Anyway, I will keep golding my vigil until they drop the price or, more likely, sell out.

Rob

[Tomo]

Anyway, I will keep golding my vigil until they drop the price or, more likely, sell out.

Happy hunting.

It looks like the change the licence every couple of years - I think Geoffrey (Tailor) had it before Slanj - so may also be worth keeping an eye KA (the current licensee) as well!!

[Spauldrochie]

I was in Edinburgh 10 days ago and ordered a couple of kilts from John Morrison of the High Street. I noticed that they were selling off some of their ex hire stock although I think they were all in generic tartans eg Black Watch, Royal Stewart and Isle of Skye etc. I wanted two kilts in my clan tartan so i didn't pursue the ex hire offer but the quality looked very good. They had a special offer running whereby a bespoke 16oz 8 yard kilt was available at 275 pounds. I believe this was in response to trade being somewhat affected by the Covid outbreak. The shop was keen to gain business not only for themselves, but also to help the tartan mills from whom they obtain their cloth.

Many people hire or buy a kilt for a wedding, but far fewer are taking place now and most public events are cancelled. The situation may remain very challenging for some time, possibly beyond New Year. Hogmanay celebrations also give rise to many kilt hires or purchases and it appears that retailers will be badly affected. I suppose that this situation may lead to a number of them selling off some of their hire stocks.

[MikeC]

I have both an ex-hire from K4L and from A1 Kilt. Both i got off eBay. I feel the quality of the kilt i got from A1 was much nicer than that from K4L. The biggest difference i found was that K4L hemmed their kilts for different lengths, where as the kilt from A1 was selvedged (?sp). The quality of the wool seemed a bit nicer too.

Hunting Robertson - A1 Kilt



Isle of Skye - K4L

[WalesLax]

I have both an ex-hire from K4L and from A1 Kilt. Both i got off eBay. I feel the quality of the kilt i got from A1 was much nicer than that from K4L. The biggest difference i found was that K4L hemmed their kilts for different lengths, where as the kilt from A1 was selvedged (?sp). The quality of the wool seemed a bit nicer too.

Hunting Robertson - A1 Kilt



Isle of Skye - K4L

Funny; I recently reached out to A1 because I saw their Robertsons on eBay...

Any suggestions, advice, or things you would do differently? If this was a recent purchase, I am also curious about how “used” the kilt actually was.

I have had a few from K4L, and the quality definitely varied. One was a monster tank that I definitely got a steal on, whereas the other two were lighter, hemmed like you noted, and I am guessing their in-house brand. The in-house ones were worth the money, but definitely not as nice as that third one I got from them, and I am guessing they were similar to the Isle of Skye that you got from them.

Rob

[MikeC]

Any suggestions, advice, or things you would do differently? If this was a recent purchase, I am also curious about how “used” the kilt actually was.

I have had a few from K4L, and the quality definitely varied. One was a monster tank that I definitely got a steal on, whereas the other two were lighter, hemmed like you noted, and I am guessing their in-house brand. The in-house ones were worth the money, but definitely not as nice as that third one I got from them, and I am guessing they were similar to the Isle of Skye that you got from them.

For Both K4L and A1 reach out to them and ask questions. The people at A1 were super nice, and hunted for a Robertson size that they didnt specifically list on eBay. They just sent me a PayPal bill, and I received it about 10 days later (in Florida, USA)

I have been happy with the 4 kilts from K4L. I have one ex-hire, and three new. the new are all salvedged, only the ex-hire was hemmed. The have all been worth the $ for a wool kilt.

[OC Richard]

WalesLax, that Isle Of Skye-like tartan fabric is a perfect example of the "overseas" kilts4less fabric.

If you compare it actual Isle Of Skye fabric by a UK mill, say Lochcarron, you'll see that the UK-woven fabric has the same warp and weft (the threads going in both directions are identical in arrangement and colours) while the kilts4less Pakistani fabric has clear differences between the warp and weft.

For many years Lochcarron was the only mill authorised to weave Isle Of Skye, during the decades when it was a protected tartan. Nevertheless numerous Royal Mile tat shops were selling illegal imitations of it.

To show the difference between the kilts4less "overseas" fabric and the authorised Lochcarron fabric of Isle Of Skye here's a side-by-side of a kilts4less IOS kilt (it's your kilt actually, sorry that I stole your photo!) and a kilt made from the Lochcarron IOS fabric.

There are a number of strange things going on in the kilts4less IOS tartan, one of which is a brown stripe in the middle of the green area. There isn't one, in the actual IOS tartan. That portion of the tartan consists of three different greens, the dark outer bands are British racing green, within those are two bands of a bluish green, and in the centre is a band of olive green. The tartan has no black BTW.



The strangest kilts4less Isle Of Skye garment was this waistcoat they were selling on Ebay for a few years. Note that the two front panels are made from two different knockoffs of Isle Of Skye (this waistcoat was being sold during the time when Lochcarron was the only mill authorised to weave it). The fabric on the left side is a very close copy of IOS whose only issue I can see is that the pattern forms rectangles rather than squares; the fabric on the right is a bizarre mashup of IOS elements, and quite different between warp and weft as you can see.



In any case, here is a current kilts4less Ebay listing of an "ex-hire" kilt where it can plainly be seen that the straps have never been buckled, and it is, in fact, a new Pakistani-made kilt. BTW I believe that fabric is registered and protected by the Outlander production company.

[thecompaqguy]

I bought one of these from Kilts4Less, the "ex hire" ones are awful (with that awful Lion on the back near the belt loops), but the biggest giveaway is the odd looking straps with that "tire tread" effect that's embossed on them. Since getting more popular, the prices have gone up. Their Weathered Henderson is UK made, but close to £400!

SRU tartans can be found on Ebay around £100 for a quality Geoffrey Tailor example. Vintage kilts are generally cheaper, especially if sold from Thrift stores.

Picture of Pakistani Skye kilt. Note uneven aprons

which make it flare out. I got rid of this kilt after a while.

I bought a proper Skye kilt

Which was a proper vintage. I still have this vintage, 5 years on, for special occasions.