Ex hire kilts?

[OC Richard]

1. Are ex-hire kilts generally low-quality mass manufactured kilts (i.e.- no stabilization, cheap wool, spotty construction, etc), or are there real deals to be had?

I'm in the USA but I do keep an eye on the Kilt Hire industry in Scotland. I've spent some time perusing the Scottish kilt hire sites, and on my visits to Glasgow and Edinburgh I always pop into the shops and have a look.

My main observation is that the industry has changed in recent years.

Traditionally the legitimate Highland Dress firms hired top-quality kilts, handsewn 8-yard all-wool kilts. This is still to be seen AFAIK with legitimate firms such as McCalls, Slanj, and firms of that sort.

A few years ago I began seeing several new kilt hire firms popping up around Scotland, and straight away I could tell, both from their pricing and from the look of their products, that they were hiring Pakistani tat.

You have to hire things for a percentage of what they cost, and if a firm is hiring at a dramatically lower cost you know they paid dramatically less for their clothing.

2. How can you tell a quality garment from a picture alone? What should be looked for?

The best guide is the prices the kilt hire firm charges to hire the items. There's a clear pricing dichotomy between the traditional firms hiring hand-sewn kilts made from UK-woven tartan and new firms hiring machine-sewn kilts made from Pakistani cloth.

Also many of the legitimate firms doing the hiring are Highland Dress makers and/or retailers so you can see how much their kilts cost to buy new.

3. Generally, how heavily used are these items?

It varies. The legitimate traditional Highland Dress firms will be honest and clear about the condition.

The firms in Scotland that hire Pakistani items, not so much. A scheme I've seen is for them to sell new kilts and jackets but call them "ex-hire" to trick the customer into thinking they're getting high-quality items at bargain prices. No, you're getting a new low-quality Pakistani kilt for a price that IMHO is too high for what it is.

Here, on Ebay. I bought one of these. It is not an ex-hire kilt but a new kilt. The tartan fabric is low-quality and IMHO quite obviously woven in Pakistan. The kilt is crudely machine-sewn. These particular Pakistani kilts are easy to identify due to the wide leather thing sewn on the back.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Spirit-of-S...C7L64drX5UILMA

Also there's something odd about the sett of Spirit Of Scotland, but I can't put my finger on it. Here's the actual tartan



It looks like all the sky blue and purple stripes have been made the same colour, not sure.

In contrast, here's a Scottish firm selling what I believe to be a traditionally made kilt in genuine Spirit Of Scotland fabric

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MENS-EX-HIR...MAAOSwmvBdPtXA

Now, why am I suspicious about the tartan used by Kilts4Less? One, I bought a Spirit Of Scotland kilt that was obviously Pakistani-woven. Two, they have been selling items on Ebay said to be Isle Of Skye tartan but which are actually variations on Isle Of Skye, which is a privately owned tartan and illegal to produce and sell without permission.

If you look closely you will see that the two front panels of this Kilts4Less waistcoat are made of two versions of Isle Of Skye: