Top of the line

There are many traditions and some rigid rules connected with kilt wearing. Traditionalist among kilt wearers will up front be strictly against changes including the kilt itself.

Let's start with their demands:

1. The fabric is Scottish wool
2. The kilt is made in Scotland by a skilled kilt maker.
3. At least 8 yards of fabric
4. Weight of fabric is 16 oz or more
5. Made to measure
6. Preferrably hand sewn.

As you might imagine a kilt produced this way and with that amount of fabric must be very expensive, and it is.
Also the price gap between a such kilt and other fine garments that now but a few are all mass manufactured in low cost countries has grown.
   Enevitably it has kept Scotsmen and other good men from wearing the kilt and no wonder, really, that the kilt was hardly to be seen in the streets of Edingburgh, Inverness and Glasgow anylonger. Kilt wearing tended to become a reantal business only for wedding and other most formal events.

The bottom
The affordable casual kilt

When buying a casual affordable kilt you have to give up a lot of things connected with the expensive high quality tartan kilt.
   First of all the fabric might not be woollen but poly viscose.
   Where an expensive kilt is hand sewn with the pleats exactly to the stripe or the set, the casual kilt is machine sewn and with far less precision with regard to pleating.  
   Also your choices of tartans are limited, and perhaps the only thing you can influence about sizing is waist measurement, because hip size and length are given.
   The standard length of a kilt shall with a few exceptions be 24 inch - take it or leave it.
  "Worst" of all things: It is probably made in Pakistan or another far east country.  

Too many sacrifices, you think?
   Yes and no. On a hot day poly viscose could feel better than wooll, and it is less scratchy, too.
   Also seven metres of fabric is a lot to carry around. Thus the cheaper kilt might - and to my opinion it is - be the more comfortable one.

An affordable kilt can give you a lot of value for money. If it should ever be ruined (stains, torn etc.) you can in short time and for a modest amount of money have it replaced.

In fact you could compare the kilt market with the digital camera market.
   Top professional cameras like Canon EOS 1D and Nikon D3x represent the expensive kilts whereas their cheaper semi professional or amateur models - with which you are able to take excellent pictures, too - represent the cheaper casual kilts.
   The owners of a cheap camera are not looked down upon by anyone - except for by a few snobbish photographers.

The important thing: To all but traditionalists, the casual, affordable kilt is just as manly as a hand sewn, custom made high quality kilt.
   It is NOT a tartan skirt from a womens' store.

Last, not least in Europe, except for Scotland and England, practically nobody knows how a genuine kilt looks like. Accordingly no one is able to tell an inexpensive kilt from an expensive one. They simply have no possibility to compare.

Kilt wearing might have been saved by the affordable kilts - in the long run to the benefit of all kilt wearers and the skilled kilt makers, as well!

Lidl (a German discounter for fast moving consumer goods) is said to have sold thousands of kilts on a one week promotion in 2007 and 2008 from their branches in Scotland. Price £25.
   Very few men might invest more hundreds of pounds in their first kilt ever. But a cheap one might be the start of a lavine.

The middle of the road
A 4-6 yard tartan kilt, machine sewn in Scotland, made from 13 oz. wool or poly viscose and often made to measure can be obtained for around £150. For casual wear it might be the best solution, perhaps not for your first kilt, but for your second, and third, and...