Why are 99% of kilts only available in 24" length?

[TNScotsman]

I've seen the 24 inch length as standard in Glasgow Edinburgh etc Kilt Hire shops.

I will say that recently many men's kilts are being made much shorter than ever before. Men's kilts are now being made in lengths that up until traditionally would only have been made for youths.

As a fine Scottish gentleman told me when I was helping host the Christmas tea for the local chapter of the Daughters of the British Empire, thankfully in the process of complimenting my correctly sized kilt, "I see guys wearing these things way above the knee, that's not a kilt, it's a skirt! It's either that or it's way below their knee, and that's not a kilt, it's a long skirt!"

[RGRatSea]

I can't afford a custom kilt so are there any solutions?

I have three bespoke kilts.
My first was sewn by my wife. She is a talented person who learned to sew as a young girl. She said, “I can sew a pleated skirt. How hard can it be?” As it turned out, with a little research into the general aspects of kilt construction, she did a very good job. The pleats were shallow, about two inches, but as we lived in the tropics the short amount of fabric made it comfortable in the heat and still looked the part. We ran around town to find leather and small buckles. With the two front aprons and a giant silver safety pin we were in business. It passed muster when my daughter received her PhD. and another father surveyed my kilt and said he wished he had worn his.

The second was sewn by a fine lady who had been sewing kilts for decades here in the US. She was a dedicated and talented seamstress and I believe we made her acquaintance at the Portland, OR Highland Games. She converted a Harris tweed jacket to a kilt jacket and sewed a kilt for me of Stewart Hunting PV. After that she said she had sewn her last stitch. It seems we are losing many kilt makers due to age.

My third, Fraser Modern 9-Yard Strom kilt was handsewn by the resident seamstress in Inverness’s Highland House of Fraser. It was not all that expensive and was completed in four days, 10 stitches to the inch. If you add in the price to get there, well, you know that might factor in as you calculate the cost. Might as well order it while you are there.

So there are three approaches, sew it yourself or have a skilled friend do it after reading as much as possible regarding the skilled approach, hire it out to an experienced local, or travel to Scotland and while there look over the kilt sewers in the area you visit. In Stirling our friends found a great kilt at a “charity shop” (thrift store) for 65 GBP. They do show up from time to time.

Happy kilting, from the Highlands of Oregon