What should we have to accept when buying a custom made kilt?

**CDNSushi** · 6th February 11, 09:57 AM

Greg,

Without getting into what went wrong in the specific situation you highlighted (and why), I think there are a few things we still need to consider. Perhaps a brief story will illustrate it better.

Years ago, I was digging through some boxes in the attic at my parents' house when I came across an entire bolt of very nice, navy blue, pinstriped wool fabric. There was a fair bit of fabric, so I inquired as to its origin and purpose. Turns out, it was going to be made into a suit for a family member to be worn at his own wedding, but somehow the situation changed and the plan never came to completion.

Having come from a long line of tailors and seamstresses, I asked my grandmother, an accomplished tailor, whether she would make me a 3-piece suit, since it would be such a shame to see such nice wool go unused. Of course she was more than glad to do so, and immediately enlisted the help of her sister, (my great aunt), also a tailor whose specialty was theatrical costumes, to assist her with the project.

Over the next six weeks, they worked tirelessly to complete my creation, and for my part, I spent several hours being measured, re-measured, and trying on pieces of the unfinished suit, from the waistcoat, to the jacket, to the trousers. Finally, when the day came that the suit was finished, it was flawless, and perfect. It fit me like a glove, and no one else in the world would look as good wearing it as me, as it was custom-fitted precisely to my body's specifications. Many fittings and measuring sessions made sure of it.

Nowadays, we still desire that same level of bespoke craftsmanship from kiltmakers, but we don't always consider that we have them at a bit of a disadvantage. We expect bespoke perfection from a company across the ocean, from someone whose only knowledge of us is a set of numeric measurements. It would be terribly impractical to go in for a fitting when our kiltmaker lives 10,000 km away, and across an ocean. And yet, we still expect perfection.

I would propose this. Regardless of whether you pay $150 for a kilt, or $700, if you receive a flawless item count yourself lucky if you haven't visited your kilt-in-progress in PERSON while it was being made to make sure that it was progressing the way it should. Even my accomplished tailor grandmother adjusted and changed the way certain pieces fit together as she was going along... Changes for which mere measurements with a tape measure would be insufficient.

Some people, by there unique body shape and specific characteristics are harder to fit than others. I happen to be one of the lucky ones who can grab many off-the-rack items and have them fit well. But others who don't generally fall into that category may be expecting a bit much even from an expert kiltmaker, if they are doing business from another country and over the Internet.

With that, I'm not trying to defend shoddy workmanship, nor am I trying to make any statement regarding the case in question here. But let's try to keep things in perspective when we order our next kilt and just ask yourself whether you're truly getting a bespoke product?