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I plan to take a trip to Aberdeen, Scotland sometime in October for my niece's wedding. Any tips on where to look for reasonably priced kilts?

I'm a Fraser, I've been to Scotland 3 times in my life to see where I came from, I never bought a kilt there, Wayyyyy too expensive, I have one Fraser kilt, bought it online for $157.00 which is about a third of the price in Scotland for the same quality kilt. I know the air is different there, but $500.00 for a little kilt seems high to me, There are dozens of quality traditional Kilt makers online. Good Luck.

Rick (?),

I have holidayed in Scotland regularly over the last ten years or so and have never found anywhere that sells cheap kilts there, so I tend to agree with Skip that the internet is the place to look.

Unlike Skip, I don't think that the prices charged by serious Scottish kilt makers are high; the clothes are generally hand made from very high quality wool and considering the work and material in a traditional kilt, £300 is not out of order; it's like buying a Rolls Royce and complaining that it is expensive. You just need to ask whether you actually want a garment of that quality and whether you will wear it enough to justify the outlay to yourself. Speaking personally I would not make sufficient use of a formal kilt outfit for it to be worth my money so all the kilts I own were made by cheaper manufacturers and from cheaper materials, cotton, polyester and denim.

Have fun,


Ian.

Taking a car? You might find it worthwhile to take a trip in the direction of Banff, Cullen and Buckie, along the coast there. A number of kiltmakers have established themselves in that area and you may well, for cash, get a 'real' Kilt for 2/3 City prices.

Ian, you misunderstood what I said. I never implied that the kilts in Scotland were in any way not the best kilts in the world, they are definitely the "Rolls Royces" of kilts. However, that doesn't change the fact that some of those same kiltmakers DO sell online for about a 3rd of what they charge walk-ins. If, by buying online, you can get the Maserati of Kilts for the price of a Mustang, why not do it? After all, I don't think anyone in his right mind just throws money away because he can. Even Donald and Richard look for deals in what they buy. (that's Trump and Bransford for the uninitiated.)

You are simply not going to get a US$157 kilt for the same quality as a Scottish kilt. It's just not going to happen.

Well - with one exception perhaps - and that's using cheap labour in a third world country somewhere.

As I am fed up of saying, £300 for a kilt - a garment which lasts 20+ years - is good value. It's not for everyone, but for me, I'll have the real thing, thnak you, and not some cheap imitation rip-off.

I can't speak for the US, but in Scotland, the online price is pretty much what you pay in the shop.

I said it twice. Some folks never understand obvious things no matter how many times they read it. Let's make a fictional kilt maker, say "Aberdeen Kilts" and they sell top quality kilts to people who come to their store for $US 500.00 or the equivalent UK price and they "Aberdeen Kilts" ALSO sell online. Online they sell the very SAME quality and name kilt for $US 157.00. They SELL this kilt for so much less because they don't HAVE to make it until it's already PAID for. They don't HAVE to hang an already made kilt on a rack for however many years it takes to sell that very same kilt for $ US 500.00. The kilts that Aberdeen charges $US 500.00 for to walkins might have taken room in the store for a short or long time. The important point here is that they were made and taking up room in the shoppe in advance of being paid for, where kilts sold online were not made until they were paid for. I hope this explanation gets through to those who think the "IN STOCK" kilt and the "ONLINE" sales kilt are somehow different quality. They are not.

To be fair, most reputable Kiltmakers don't have loads of 'ready mades' taking up valuable stock room. Display items, yes, but very few 'off the peg'. Admittedly, there's a fair bit of 'tolerance' in a Kilt, sizewise (not enough yet, for me to regain access to my 'posh Kilt', though! ), but most Kiltmakers prefer to work to accurate, individual measurements, and you're gonna have to wait a wee while for your treasured purchase! Same with quite a lot of 'online' examples, too! Not having to maintain a shop (and staff?) has more bearing on the 'online' price in many instances. As for quality, quantity (of material) can also have a major bearing on the price you pay. Many of the 'onliners' are made with a heck of a lot less material, and can often be less of a 'bargain' than might otherwise be...........