While worsted wool tartan is the classic cloth for making kilts it is hard to find a more ruggedly Scottish cloth than traditional tweed. If you are looking for a kilt that has a homespun country look, yet still retains a certain dignity, you may want to consider a
tweed option.
Harris Tweed
We have had a long love affair with the Clò Mór or "Big Cloth" as Harris Tweed is known in Gaelic. In order to bear the name "Harris Tweed" the cloth has to be hand-woven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides. We work with traditional Harris Tweed weavers on the Isle of Lewis to produce short custom runs of solids and traditional tweed patterns, including tartan. That's correct, you can have your own tartan woven in Harris Tweed for your kilt!
Organic Tweeds:
We also have enjoyed working with Ardalanish woolen mill on the Isle of Mull, operating on a traditional farm which raises (among other things) native breed sheep, raised for wool for the mill. The farm and mill practice organic farming and production techniques. The mill produces a range of certified organic and ethical woolen tweed cloth that creates kilts that literally smell of the Inner Hebridean soil of Scotland!
--Robert Bain in The Clans and Tartans of Scotland, 1938
