Quality or quantity.....?

[Livingston]

I look at it more as "I prefer my tank but my Stillwater heavyweight will do the trick." As tartans that are on my list show up at Stillwater, I'll add them to the kollection (if the funds are there). If I have the funds, I'll go for a tank every time.

[Riverkilt]

I started out with Utilikilts and SportKilts...somewhere along the line I became a hand sewn traditional kilt junkie.

Somehow, in the last 2 1/2 years of my kilt addiction I've managed to accumulate 48 kilts and two more are on order.

Of those, 13 are what I call fancier kilts, six hand sewn from Kathy Lare, and another from Celtic Croft. Also have a leather UK and a leather RKilt, three semi-traditionals from USA Kilts, and a dress model Freedom Kilt.

The rest are USA Kilts Casuals, Utilikilts, AmeriKilts, SportKilts, Freedom Kilts and Pittsburgh Kilts.

Ron

[Colin]

It's all about Quality for me. I have a really nice 8 yard wool kilt that I paid a fair bit for, but than I have a couple really well made PV kilts that I paid a fair bit for as well (all things considered, they were roughly half the cost of the handsewn wool).

The misconception that the Scots are cheap is off base. The Scots are frugal. I was brought up to believe that meant buying the product that was the best value based on price, quality, life span, etc. You get what you pay for. Now I understand that at times money is tight (believe me I understand all to well), but to me, when money is tight, I save up rather than spend what little I have.

I don't see the point in buying 10- $50 or 5-$100 kilts that are poorly made from inferior fabric for a off the rack type fit that will not last very long, when I can pay $500 for 1 really well made garment that will last my life time. Even the PV kilts I own are showing alot of wear and tear in the years I have owned them, but that was why I bought a few "wear to the pub, etc" kilts and one "wear when it's important to me" kilt. I like having the kick around kilts option, but I don't need 10-30 of them in attempt to save the cost of a traditional kilt.

[Blu (Ontario)]

.... I don't see the point in buying 10- $50 or 5-$100 kilts that are poorly made... I like having the kick around kilts option, but I don't need 10-30 of them in attempt to save the cost of a traditional kilt.

I think a low price can be very seductive.

There is also an "instant gratification" factor from purchasing mass produced stock.

And let's not forget the satisfaction of making multiple purchases.

In the end, I guess each of us does what works for us.

.

[Colin]

I think a low price can be very seductive.

There is also an "instant gratification" factor from purchasing mass produced stock.

And let's not forget the satisfaction of making multiple purchases.

In the end, I guess each of us does what works for us.

.

I couldn't agree more Blu. I have gone that route with vehicles, mp3 players, cordless phones, jeans, suits, jackets, etc. I am a big fan of instant gratification (ask my wife, she can't stand it) and when I want something, I want it right now. I just wish I could say that I had gotten quality with any of my instant gratification purchases in the past. We are not programed in North America, to wait for a quality product. We are trained to look for the best deal in the masses of flyers and commercials we see daily and than to buy that product asap. We are also trained to replace that product the next year with the "new and improved" updated version.

Parenthood taught me that anything worth really having, is worth waiting a little bit for.

[arrogcow]

Just because I had nothing better to do, I decided to try and figure out what it costs to weave a tartan.

Using the trusty internet, I set out to figure cost of raw yarn, how much yarn is actually needed, how many yards can be woven per hour and set up times.

I haven't completely succeded (I still don't know how many yards a commercial loom can do in an hour and how long it takes to set up).

With out boring you all with the details I have come up with a figure of appx $23.80 per yard for worsted wool fabric based only on materials alone (and that is using 70% of the retail price I could find for worsted wool yarn).

Assuming that 4 yards can be made in an hour, that adds $5.00/yard (loom operator salary)

The hassle and time to reset the loom (for a special run tartan $20.00) $5.00/yd (assuming a 4 yard run $2.50 for 8 yd $1 for a 20 yard)

Cost of the machine ($60-80 per day s)$2.50/yd

And we end up with $36.30 per yard before the weaver even makes his first dime (still 31.30 if they're just running Blackwatch all day every day)

Add cost of business (location, power additional employees etc)

20% Markup and we get to about $50 per yard

So maybe it is the yarn manufacturers getting rich

Adam