New Kiltmaker?

[Alan H]

All right, so sez I, I'm going to make handsewn custom tartan kilts! Allrighty-then!

Do the very, very basic math...

Making 6-8 yard kilts takes 3-4 yards of material. That material, "to the trade" is going to cost me around $40-$50 a yard. Let's go with the 8 yarder. OK, so that takes 4 yards of 60-inch wide tartan, or $160-$200 worth of material.

Let's say that I can turn out a custom product in 30 hours. Barb and Matt Newsome can do it quicker apparently, but I have my doubts, personally, so I'm sticking with 30 hours. If I pay myself $10 an hour, then that's $300.

In other words, DROP DEAD minimum, this kilt is going to cost $460-$500. Why should someone buy a $500 kilt from me when they can get one from Scotland for the same price? And remember since I'm paying myself $10 an hour to stay competetive, I'm still only making $20K a year.

Let's say I know that I need to make $40,000 a year to "make a living". That's pretty darned tight here in the San Franciso Bay Area, but you can live on it. What would my kilts cost if I had to make 40 grand a year?

40,000 a year translates to about $20 an hour, plus or minus a few dollars and assuming three weeks of vacation. Well, they'll still take me 30 hours to stitch up, right? The cost for the material is still the same. 30 hours times $20 an hour is $600. Add on the $180 for the material and my custom-sewn kilts are going to cost $780.

.........and nobody will buy them.

Upshot is, I have no freaking idea how on earth our kiltmakers are making a living at this. The numbers are really sobering.