The OUTRAGEOUS Price of kilts!

[Rampant Lion]

/no, I don't work for wal-mart
//but wouldn't you love to see a kilt for sale there?

Not in a million years.

[ChromeScholar]

Considering that truth, kilt prices - if you would like kilt usage to become more widespread - should be on par with p*nt prices.

They already are on a par with pants. If you go to the average store (not Wal-Mart) and buy a pair of pants, you are looking at $25-$30. If you go to SWK, you are looking at $25 to $30. If you want designer pants, you are looking at more money, just like with a better quality of kilt.

Now go to a high quality tailor who makes custom-fit, hand-sewn dress pants and suits and see what those pants cost. A kilt will look cheap by comparison.

[mdeesnuts]

They already are on a par with pants. ...snip...

Well put. I guess I just wish there were more SWKs out there. Because I'm replacing pants and I don't pay $200 for a pair. When I got the kilt bug it took me a while to find SWK (after I found this place, actually). But I knew there had to be somewhere where I could get a kilt for $50 rather than $100++.

As for the argument that one kilt will replace 15 pairs of pants - sure, but who here (1) has only one kilt and (2) wears it everyday to every occasion? From what I've read it seems many people on this forum have a 'closet full' of kilts. It's fatuous reasoning to think one is replacing every pair of pants/shorts with one or two kilts.

Not in a million years.

Thanks for the input. Keep up the good fight, brother.


I do want to thank everyone here for all the great info I've found while browsing XMTS. You guys are great and I've learned more about kilts in just a few hours than I ever thought possible.

/now to go find out how to put pockets in my SWK.....

[mddock58]

They already are on a par with pants. If you go to the average store (not Wal-Mart) and buy a pair of pants, you are looking at $25-$30. If you go to SWK, you are looking at $25 to $30. If you want designer pants, you are looking at more money, just like with a better quality of kilt.

Now go to a high quality tailor who makes custom-fit, hand-sewn dress pants and suits and see what those pants cost. A kilt will look cheap by comparison.

While I agree with you in some respect, the kilts made in Pakistan must be compared to jeans from WalMart (this is not saying that they are bad, but that they both use a cheaper place of manufacture to make their items), but the difference between the prices are more representitive of demand than quality.

Jerry (Stillwater) has high standards for his products, and because of the demand (rising, but no where near the level of "jeans") the price will be higher for kilts. But as you will find, kilts wear better and last longer, so the actual "Total Cost of Ownership" may actually be less!

(I did not mention Frugal Corner only because I do not have one of their products as yet, and refuse to make any comments pro or con without first hand knowledge!)

[Rampant Lion]

Thanks for the input. Keep up the good fight, brother.

Haha! I guess I should've explained myself. I just don't think if WalMart would ever supply a kilt that would be of a quality that I think should be associated with kilts. We have vendors like SWK, FC, and SK that make good-quality inexpensive kilts.

I don't have anything against WalMart, it has it uses. I just hope never to see kilts there.

[Howard Clark]

I dinna think there is cause for worry over that !

If I am shopping for inexpensive stuff (usually shirts) I am partial to thrift shops selling "gently worn" clothing. GoodWill and Salvation Army are my favorites. Have scored some really good shirts for $3, and occasionally, I even buy trousers (gasp) there, for $3.99. Good place to find a nice Harris Tweed jacket to change into Argyle configuration if you are so inclined as well.

I think it is like everything else. There are different levels of price/features/materials, and different leveles of expectations and desires on the part of customers. The thing is to not denigrate others' taste and be happy with yourself, innit ?

And I won't set foot in WalMart except in case of dire circumstance (which is very rare). I don't think there will ever be kilts on the rack at department stores in america.

[Union Richard]

I keep reading about how *some* kiltmakers are out there to strip your pocketbook bare..HAHA!!!

I think it's time for my semi-quarterly review of "let's get real".

AKA..."Why Alan didn't become a profesional kiltmaker".

I can hand-make an eight-yard kilt...32 pleats in about 30-34 hours of work. I can seethat if I get really good at it and did a few of the seams (like in the waist band,for example) by machine, I could turn one out in about 24-28 hours. I can machine-sew a box-pleat kilt in about 15 hours.

OK, so what is a "reasonable" working hourly wage for a trained, professional kiltmaker? Five dollars an hour? Ten? Fifty? What does your plumber make? How about your electrician? How about your computer repair guy? When I do call-out computer repair, I charge $40 an hour. Is it unreasonable to suppose that, say, your trained kiltmaker could make $15 an hour? Is that SO unreasonable?

OK, then so if I got really fast and really good I could hand-make a kilt in about 28 hours of work. Let's say I get really good and it's 24 hours. 24 hours times $15/hour equals $360.

Three Hundred and Sixty Dollars....that's just the labor.

Now let's say that the cloth I'm working on retails for about $60 a yard. Now, we'll assume that since I'm "in thebusiness" I get a break on that price. Let'spretend that it's 50%. OK, so I'm paying $30 a yard for my cloth. I'm still buying 4 yards of cloth,though. That's $120

one hundred and twenty dollars

Then there are straps, buckles, hair canvas, lining, thread and the semi-annual maintenance call on my sewing machine. Let's say that's another $20 for the cost of each kilt.

twenty bucks

Add it up and what do you get? Five Hundred Dollars

THAT is what a primarily hand-sew, hand pleated, properly-done kilt made out of top-flight material should cost. The logic is simple, the costs are reasonable. NO KILT-MAKER IS RIPPING YOU OFF, HERE.

Now, mind you....let's think about thtat kiltmaker. Not only does that poor person haveto sew kilts,but he/she has tomaintain aweb site, because Oh-my-goodness, it's the internet age, get WITH it! And they have to bill for kilts made,receive material, BUY material, goto to the bank, order bucklesand straps, answer the phone, answer the e-mail etc. etc. etc. Of course none of that PAYS anything does it? The only timehe makes money is when he/she is actually sewing. If that kiltmaker can spend 30 hours a week actually SEWING, it'd be a miracle.

Have you everspent 30 hours a week sewing? I haven't, either. But I've spent 20 hours a week sewing and I got cranky and bored,fast.....But I digress.

OK, but let's say they do it. Let's say our kiltmaker actually spend 30 hours a week,sewing. Well, 30 hours a week times $15 an hour is $450.

Is our kiltmaker allowed to take two weeks of vacation a year? Seems reasonable to me. OK,so that measn they're working 50 weeks out of the year.

50 weeks times $450 a week equals $22,500 a year, annual income. Mind you, that doesn't include any benefits like health insurance, or a retirement plan.

Now, there are places in the USA where you can live on $22,500 a year, where that's a decent wage, even. But I have to tell you, it's not gonna cut it here in the the San Francisco Bay Area of California.

So much for our kiltmakers "ripping us off"....laughing all the way to the bank.

Well said :-)

Richard

[GreenDragon]

i am NOT complaining about the cost of my kilts.

All I will say is God Bless Stillwaterkilts.com