Review: Various Products

[Mathew MacKillop]

On the Evening of May 28th, I received my order from Stillwater Kilts. I had ordered the Economy Wool Black Watch, a "Premium" 3 Tassel Sporran with a leather strap to replace the chain, hose, flashes, and a belt.
In a general sense, I am very pleased. The order was placed on a Saturday, and shipped out the next Monday. By Thursday it had reached its' destination in Woodstock Vermont, and from there was brought to me in Montreal by friends who were coming up for a wedding. Shipping time was therefore excellent, and as promised the items were shipped the next business day after the order was placed.

Once received, I noticed that the kilt was badly deformed by the shipping process, and a simple steaming was not adequate. A full repressing of the pleats and ironing of the front aprons was in order, but once that was done, it was apparent that this was a very nice kilt, for the price. I would certainly order another, though I do wish they were available in something other than just even sizes, as a 43" would have fit me much better than the 44". Having a few different lengths on offer would be nice too, but it is what it is. I am also aware that Stillwater can do customer orders, but when it comes down to it, if I had the money and time for a custom order I would go straight to USAKilts and get a custom made one. So far the kilt has held up under any conditions I have thrown at it.

The hose, flashes, belt and socks are all rather average looking and average in quality. I was not blown away by them by any means, but for the price I paid I am quite satisfied.

This sadly brings us to the sporran. There are a few models available, and not wanting to look the pauper, I purchased the one labelled as "premium". Now this is where the problems started. First, the dye on the leather has transferred onto everything else I own. Formerly white dress shirts are now stained with black, and when I wore the sporran I had to avoid opening or closing it, as the dye would rub off on my fingers and get under my nails. After only a few days worth of wear, though, this became unnecessary when the inner half of the snap (the part attached to the flap of the sporran) came unattached and I was no longer able to close the sporran at all. This was at a wedding where I was the officiant, and quite embarrassing. The solution was to tuck the flap into the pouch, which then caused the rivet holding the middle tassel to break, so that tassel was no longer firmly attached...

Of course, Jerry being Jerry, a replacement is being arranged. I truly do not wish for this review to appear as a negative comment on the services received; it is far from that. I would, though, suggest that anyone looking for a basic sporran take the time and save up the extra pennies for something of better quality. Perhaps something made in Canada, the US, or the UK. I am hopeful that this was simply a defective item and that the replacement will be sturdier; I truly doubt that any frugal Scot would be happy with a sporran that needs to be repaired or replaced after only a few days' worth of wear!