I've had customised cap badges made by a company in Sialkot previously. The quality was actually quite good, much better than I had expected but a lot of time and effort had to be spent actually getting the items. Claims of them having posted the items but them going missing in the mail etc. In the end however, I think it was worth it.
I've certainly had an even worse experience with companies elsewhere and without any doubt, my worst experience was with a company based in Thunder Bay, Canada. The service and quality of the goods (almost certainly originating in Pakistan) was shocking.....but it was the service that really appalled me. After the event, I found that others have had similar experiences and posted details on piping related forums.
As OC Richard says, there have been some fairly decent bagpipes made in Pakistan in the past; so what went wrong?
In these days were they just trying to make and sell a quality product? Has that now been taken over by volume sales of poor quality goods?
About nine years ago, I ordered and received samples of a glengarry, a waistbelt and buckle and a sporran from a company in Pakistan. They were all inferior to the Scottish products that I had and which they were clearly copied from. Heaven help you if you wore a white shirt whilst wearing the glengarry in the rain......you'd end up with a zebra striped shirt!
The belt and buckle were made of heavy material and acceptable but the sporran wouldn't have lasted long. Cheap materials and not put together well. The sporran was almost definitely copied from one originally made from Wm. Scott & Sons.....and the quality wasn't even close.
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