In my experience retailing kilts to the public through the STM gift shop, the great majority of people who are interested in purchasing a kilt want what is still the "standard" kilt -- eight yards of their clan tartan, knife pleated either to stripe or sett.

We also sell Lochcarron's Casual kilts (which are machine stitched, four yards, and knife pleated), and of couse I offer my own box pleated kilts. I notice that these are becoming more popular lately, mostly I beleive because they cost less. The pound-to-dollar ratio has not been good for those of us who import goods from the UK!

We began to also offer Buzz Kidder's canvas kilts a couple of years ago. We get sporrans and shirts from him, so we thought we'd offer his canvas kilts as a less expensive alternative. I thought that our buyers for that item would be mostly guys in high school or college -- in other words people who would get a traditional kilt if they had the cash, but in the meantime wanted something they could wear to Highland Games, and at parties, that they could afford.

In actuality, what I found was that most of our customers who were interested in the cheaper canvas kilts were men who already owned one or more traditional, woolen, Scottish kilts and enjoyed wearing them so much that they wanted a less expensive kilt they could hike in, lounge in, wear at the Games during set-up and take-down, etc. In other words, in places where they would never wear their nice kilt, for fear of mussing it up.

So I think the two markets can be complimentary, if everyone plays nice. :-)
M