A word of caution about Atlanta Kilts

[Dr Mac]

Yes, appreciate it, Steve... easy to become complacent when ordering on the web, and yours is a needed reminder!

[Santa Wally]

Their website testimonials might be all BOGUS or their authors (kilt renters) know nothing about proper highland attire.

[castledangerous]

Did you see this one in the Tartans: "O'ffaly." Classic

[lethearen]

I got a kilt with that tag for 50$... and it was a fair sight better than what's been described on this thread! No match for my woolie, but still looks pretty good.

[ghostlight]

What an unfortunate story. Thank you for the warning. I hope the fellow sticks with his interest and doesn't let the experience sour his opinions.

[siva011]

Hmm, I will admit that I used this company for my wedding. It was just a PC rental, as the best man in my wedding didn't make getting his a priority, and when he finally went to the local shop they were out (big fest that weekend). They shipped overnight and were super to work with. This was just a PC jacket, not a kilt rental. And honestly, with my wedding I couldn't tell the quality of his from my much more expensive jacket.

They were very great to work with. Too bad it seems they don't know as much about their products.

As for pricing, always watch for upcharges. I've been through a celtic wares shop that sells Stillwater Thrifty kilts (labeled as such) for close to $100. I got mine direct from Stillwater for $29.

[bradpb]

As owner of AtlantaKilts.com, let me rectify the self-serving misinterpreted hearsay that has been posted on this good natured forum. You can not believe as fact what is posted from unsubstantiated hearsay. My company charges $127 USD for a made-to-order kilt (same as Stillwater), and $250 USD for a custom weave. In total, $377 USD for the kilt and weave.

1) The ENTIRE OUTFIT, top-to-bottom, CUSTOM woven and CUSTOM made kilt, good quality belt and buckle, excellent scain dubh, black fur sporran, decent gillie brogues, good hose, imported from Scotland, tux shirt, Prince Charlie jacket and vest, a tartan bow tie and a regular bow tie cost $735 USD plus shipping! Without a custom weave, the whole outfit, brand-new would costs $499 USD, and when lightly used the whole outfit costs $449 USD. These are great values!

2) The vast majority of my customers are thrilled with the quality/value that I supply. See http://atlantakilts.com/Testimonials.htm for actual emails from my customers and take a look at my Photo Gallery to see how our products look. This particular transaction is the very rare exception, which I aim to make right. Also, there was a lot of pressure to supply these custom products quickly, and we bypassed some of our typical quality crosschecks, like checking the length of the custom vest against the length of the jacket, and carefully checking thread count the whole length through. We commit to full quality control from now on, even for rushed orders.

My office staff called me yesterday morning, about this complaint, and I promptly called my customer to begin resolving concerns. I acknowledged that the waistcoat length should never exceed the length of the jacket, and offered to pay to correct this mistake and to pay to have his kilt taken in. If he were in the US, I would have paid for return shipping and used our reasonably priced local tailor to make the adjustments. But shipping anything to or from Canada is costly in customs, so I asked him to try and find a good tailor there in Canada.

And we began a discussion about the value of the kilt. It has SOME value. I committed to refund a portion of what he had paid to offset where our tailors or weavers had erred. So... the final cost is still not determined, because of the yet-to-be determined refund amount that I will send. This was before we had heard anything about the misinformation posted on this forum.

This kilt was made of 16oz acrylic wool, not the cheap 12oz fabric. We could have an intelligent discussion here about the pros and cons of sheep wool versus acrylic wool. I own both kinds of kilts. Acrylic wool is not as soft, but it lasts longer and is much less expensive. Many of the sheep wool items from my father and grandfather have been rendered useless by moths, or smell like moth balls.

I wear what I sell, an acrylic wool kilt, 2 or 3 times a week to piping gigs. And as pipe major of North Atlanta Pipes and Drums (recently taking 2nd at Greenville in G5) I've outfitted the pipe band in the same. The kilts I sell are sturdy and have sturdy straps and buckles, not the stamped metal cheap buckles. They do have 2 to 3 inch hems, so that the kilt hangs heavier. The hem also allows for adjustment, especially for young men that may grow taller, or if you desire to sell or give the kilt to someone taller (like in a pipe band). Nothing wrong with a hem. My kilt, and, in general, the kilts I sell, have deep 3" to 4" deep pleats, with good tight stitching. Of course, the pleat depth varies, because they are pleated to stripe, unless the customer requests pleating to sett. Again, this specific kilt may have gotten by my people, in part due to the rush. It is common for kilts to be wrinkled that have been boxed and shipped, no sin there.

Matching colors exactly is difficult, and from now on, I have corrected my process to require a swatch, if the customer intends the weave to match an existing tie or scarf. We don't always perform perfectly, but we honestly try to supply great value for the kilt outfit buying dollar. I love our music, our culture, and I aim to propagate these to future generations in an honest way. I, and all my 5 sons, play the pipes.

This deal is not done; I am in the midst of making this right with my customer. If you are genuinely curious, call me in a few weeks to learn how this story really ends.

I'd love to serve your kilt outfit needs. This particular transaction is an anomaly that I intend to make right. No company is perfect 100% of the time, but I aim to make every one of our transactions win-win, 100% of the time.

Best Regards,
Brad Beaton
Owner of AtlantaKilts.com
Cell: 678 429 2651
The grand canyon was created when a Scot lost a nickel down a gopher hole.

[RamsayClanCommish]

Wow.

Amazing how fast the vendors are respondig when they learn they are beign questione don this message board.

Another plus for X Marks.

[duchessofnc]

First of all I would like to point out a few things. Steve from Freedom Kilts actually saw the product and the only hearsay was by stating the price the customer told him he paid for the kilt. So I really don't see what he had to say was really all that self serving.

Acrylic wool? I've never seen an acrylic sheep before. You must post pictures of one. Or is it that you use an acrylic & wool blend? Now I understand your statement that apparently the kilts of your father and grandfather did not last and therefore a synthetic has been your choice. However, I suspect the overall care could have impacted it because I've seen kilts that have lasted generations.

There are still some business practices that I don't quite trust and if I were advising your customer, I would not trust either. You stated: If he were in the US, I would have paid for return shipping and used our reasonably priced local tailor to make the adjustments. But shipping anything to or from Canada is costly in customs, so I asked him to try and find a good tailor there in Canada.

I would advice the customer to not do this and to have YOU eat the shipping and customs. After all according to you, you are acknowledging that you made all the mistakes with this incident therefore you should eat whatever costs. If he takes it to a tailor in Canada to actually attempt to fix all the problems with the kilt if anything else goes wrong in the process, I fear that he is opening himself up to the fact that you can turn around and say that it's not your problem because Canadian Tailor XYZ messed it all up.

Not that you would do it. By having you eat the costs and everything it would make better business for you personally to prove your worth by correcting it all yourself. Furthermore the thread count was not consistent in the entire making of the kilt therefore a tailor really would not even be able to truly make it correct as the thread count should be consistent throughout the entire garment. Also from the business perspective, if you can't afford return customs and shipping to even Canada, then perhaps you should rethink international shipping in your business module.

I've read what you wrote. As far as I am concerned the jury is still out and you can say whatever you like about the original poster being self-serving. It still doesn't excuse the fact that your company made a gigantic mistake and seems to think that a regular Canadian tailor can fix the situation.

[beloitpiper]

You know after looking through the photos on the site I have to say that most look good, but there are plenty that look pretty shoddy. In the wedding section, I notice a lot of mis-sized jackets/waistcoats...