PV Kilts

[Charles Exton]

Do you know of any UK based PV kilt suppliers?

[duke_19_62]

Do you know of any UK based PV kilt suppliers?

Maybe Heritage of Scotland in Edinburgh (www.heritageofscotland.com) or Tartanista in London (www.tartanista.co.uk). Heritage of Scotland has a brick-and-mortar store as well as online. I cannot say the same for Tartanista with confidence. Full disclosure: I have an HoS PV kilt (in Heritage of Scotland tartan), and love it. I have a tweed jacket and waistcoat, but not a kilt, from Tartanista and love it also.

Tartanista trades on eBay as Tartan Flame.

[Charles Exton]

Maybe Heritage of Scotland in Edinburgh (www.heritageofscotland.com) or Tartanista in London (www.tartanista.co.uk). Heritage of Scotland has a brick-and-mortar store as well as online. I cannot say the same for Tartanista with confidence. Full disclosure: I have an HoS PV kilt (in Heritage of Scotland tartan), and love it. I have a tweed jacket and waistcoat, but not a kilt, from Tartanista and love it also.

Tartanista trades on eBay as Tartan Flame.

Much appreciated, the selection seems to be the same on thescotlandkiltcompany

[The Q]

I have a Black Stewart 8 yard PV kilt from the internet though I can't remember who sold it to me, I suspect they all come from the same factory anyway. But it's does the job and unless you are an expert (ie 99% of the public) you wouldn't know the difference at 5ft from a traditional kilt
As for Tartanista I bought some minor Items from them and thanks to a mistake on my part they had to be swapped. Tartanista were very good about it and I can recommend them as for service( and the Items I bought were OK too)

[Charles Exton]

i've got a pair of hose from scotland kilt company, good service, nice and soft (%50 wool and %50 stuff which isn' wool xD), though how to put them on is abit confusing, so I improvise to get the desired look

I think a nice pair of wine red garter ties would go nicely with them

[The Wizard of BC]

Charles,

A small word of caution about the term "P/V".

P/V stands for Polyester/Viscose. Viscose is the British term for Rayon. So P/V means a fabric which is a blend of Polyester fibers and Rayon fibers.

The term was introduced to the kilt world about 12 years ago when a couple of companies here in N. America discovered the UK based weaver Marton Mills. At the time Marton Mills were weavers specializing in fabrics for academic uniforms. They produced a small number of Tartans in their Balmoral range woven from a 65% Polyester/35% Rayon blend.

These fabrics being machine washable, almost wrinkle free and far less expensive than wool quickly found a following in the kilt world.

This just happen to be right around the same time as the Mid-Eastern influx of kilts and Scottish wear began. The Pakistani makers quickly jumped on the term P/V and began to use it to mean any synthetic fabric. Today all over the web you can find advertisements for acrylic kilts sold as P/V and listings for 16oz P/V.

Please take these advertisements with caution.

The only weaver of kilt quality Tartan fabrics are Marton Mills. The fabric alone will cost right about $100.00 us dollars. If you see a kilt for sale, for less than the cost of real P/V, it is probably Acrylic made in the Middle East somewhere even though it is purchased in Scotland.

[Charles Exton]

Charles,

A small word of caution about the term "P/V".

P/V stands for Polyester/Viscose. Viscose is the British term for Rayon. So P/V means a fabric which is a blend of Polyester fibers and Rayon fibers.

The term was introduced to the kilt world about 12 years ago when a couple of companies here in N. America discovered the UK based weaver Marton Mills. At the time Marton Mills were weavers specializing in fabrics for academic uniforms. They produced a small number of Tartans in their Balmoral range woven from a 65% Polyester/35% Rayon blend.

These fabrics being machine washable, almost wrinkle free and far less expensive than wool quickly found a following in the kilt world.

This just happen to be right around the same time as the Mid-Eastern influx of kilts and Scottish wear began. The Pakistani makers quickly jumped on the term P/V and began to use it to mean any synthetic fabric. Today all over the web you can find advertisements for acrylic kilts sold as P/V and listings for 16oz P/V.

Please take these advertisements with caution.

The only weaver of kilt quality Tartan fabrics are Marton Mills. The fabric alone will cost right about $100.00 us dollars. If you see a kilt for sale, for less than the cost of real P/V, it is probably Acrylic made in the Middle East somewhere even though it is purchased in Scotland.

I've seen some posts of yours on other threads, i've done my home work, don't worry, also, is that price including P&P?

[The Wizard of BC]

Obviously I can't quote prices for anyone but myself.

[Charles Exton]

Obviously I can't quote prices for anyone but myself.

P&P must be a worth a pretty penny

[California Highlander]

Abbreviated quotes with italics mine:

Charles,

A small word of caution about the term "P/V".

P/V stands for Polyester/Viscose. Viscose is the British term for Rayon. So P/V means a fabric which is a blend of Polyester fibers and Rayon fibers.

These fabrics being machine washable, almost wrinkle free and far less expensive than wool quickly found a following in the kilt world.

Please take these advertisements with caution.

The only weaver of kilt quality Tartan fabrics are Marton Mills. The fabric alone will cost right about $100.00 us dollars. If you see a kilt for sale, for less than the cost of real P/V, it is probably Acrylic made in the Middle East somewhere even though it is purchased in Scotland.

I'd suggest that some of the budget kilts are also P/V or more recently Poly/Acetate. It's not Marton mills quality (as Steve rightly suggests), but it's not acrylic either. They are typically sourced from Pakistan. For a knockaround kilt, they are fine. I have 2 and wear them for yard work, walking the dog, etc, and while I'd prefer a MM P/V, these P/A kilts are great for the $50-70 price point. They have a much tighter weave than acrylic, are machine washable, and look a bit more like wool. I also have a 16oz Locharran wool low-yardage kilt and have owned an acrylic kilt and would suggest that the budget P/A is in the middle from a looks and quality perspective. After getting my two budget P/A kilts, I immediately sold the acrylic based on the fabric "feel".

I'd go low-yardage wool if you need a budget or pub kilt, then a P/V (better) or P/A (not too bad), and suggest passing on acrylic unless it's truly out of your budget for a "poly-something" kilt. A P/V from one of the XMarks vendors such as Freedom Kilts or USA Kilts with Marton Mills fabric is going to be of much better quality than the P/A kilts out there. Of course, the 8 yard 16oz tank is still the best choice if you can afford it...and it's not too warm for where you live.

My 2 cents, YMMV.