I'm tearing apart a Gold Brothers kilt...

[Alan H]

I thought about taking pictures, but this morning I opted to just stitch it all back together again. It's been sitting in my closet, partly ripped out for 3+ months, I just wanted to get the job done.

I'm wearing it now and my brain isn't itching because now I have a prominent stripe in the tartan lined up in the middle of the over-apron.

Regarding the "I hate the Gold Brothers" emoticon, which seems to be missing from XMTS today... I don't hate the Gold Brothers kilts. They found a market, they found a way to satisfy it. That's a uniquely Scottish thing, promulgated by oh... Adam Smith, for one. It's called free markets and capitalism. They produce a kilt which looks reasonable at least, and is available for not a whole lot of $$ for people who can't afford a nice wool kilt, or who don't care to own one. That doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Where I'm with the Gold Brothers haters is that I really don't like marketing the stuff as if it was exactly the same as a really nice, handsewn wool job. However, after walking around the Royal Mile in Edinburgh while I was there, the difference between the "tartan tat" shops and actual kilt shops like Gordon Nicholson or Geoffrey Tailor is quite obvious to anyone with 1/3 of an eye for classy vs tacky. The kilt lasses who sell these kilts at the Games here in California will tell you straight-up that their stuff is not the same as a custom-made wool kilt. I have no problem with that.