Buying a Kimono in Japan ?

I'm going to Tokyo in August for 6 days and staying at Tokyo Dome Hotel ( Bunkyu ku ). I've read that buying a silk Kimono is extremely expensive $1000 and up.
I am looking to purchase as a gift a woman's Kimono at reasonable price and would like suggestions on where to look ?
Would hotel stores be tourist traps and sell poor quality Kimono's ?
Are the cheaper Kimono's made from Polyester or can they be 100% cotton ?
Thanks
Barry

Hello,I live in Japan and I'm sorry if miss my English.

I think so too that kimono is very expensive. And, it's soft, so difficult to keep in chest.

I suggest you buy yukata. It's easy kimono. It's cheaper and more thin.
You can buy it at department.
But when wear yukata, it need geta(shoes),bag,and some item for yukata.

Most cheep yukata is about 4000yen.

See you.

Barry,

Yes, polyester kimonos are not only reasonable but are very easy to wash and maintain. You can often get a whole set including under garments and obi belt etc. for less than 10000 yen. Then all you need is a pair of zori footwear. Almost any kimono shop carries all these, and they're good enough to wear to casual parties.

You can buy cotton kimono as well, but polyester is easier to handle and sometimes prettier in design. Yukata can only be worn during summer if not as night gowns, but they're very easy to handle too, and moreover much easier to wear.

Silk kimonos are not only expensive but very difficult to maintain quality and need special care when you want to wash them. Depending on the country, there might not even be the technique to wash them.

Also note that you need some training to wear a kimono properly, even if it's a casual one. Studying the procedure on YouTube will do the trick, but I hope the lady can pay the effort to do so. Tying the obi is particularly tricky, so you may want to look for ready-tied obi.

By the way, I think most hotels don't sell kimono in the first place, apart from perhaps touristical ones you can use as robes. It's not about quality. They are two different things.

The following are examples of kimono you can wash in your washing machine at home.
http://www.google.co.jp/search?aq=&hl=ja&rlz=1T4TSHJ_ja___JP509&q=%E6%...

I have been in Japan twice and found the best place is to buy them at flea markets second hand, as vintage. Also you can buy reasonably priced ones and antique ones including "coats" that go over both male and female ones in some good quality tourist markets, such as the Kyoto Handicraft Centre. I also found a second hand kimono store in the mall near the food market in the centre of Kyoto which had all the items you would need for a kimono and plenty of well priced male and female kimono and traditional clothing.