Matt - I concur with you about the uniquely satisfying feel of the "hard" tartan produced by Dalgliesh (sp?). I believe a weaver's term for this unfinished straight-off-the-loom cloth is "in the grease." It feels great - I don't notice any scratchiness on my skin, and the cloth does a good job of resisting wrinkling on the pleats (from sitting in a car for extended periods). I have a four-yard box-pleat kilt from you in "hard" Old Culloden tartan and, while it may not have the swish others describe, it feels "right" - a traditional kilt in a historically-correct cloth. Most tartan was of the "hard" variety until the mid-19th c. Working with Figheadair, I got some reproduced pre-1745 tartans in plant-dye colors and the "hard" finish for reenacting, and they are very hard-wearing and hardy for rough use. Today's off-the-loom unfinished cloth is about as close as we're going to come to genuine "hard" tartan the way it was made back in the day, i.e., combing the long fibers of wool, spinning them into a very tight "hard" worsted cloth, dyeing it, and weaving it. Figheadair told me that if all the old-time steps were followed to produce "hard" tartan, it would be prohibitively expensive - hundreds of dollars per yard. Nevertheless, I recommend today's "hard" tartan option for modern kilts.