Ahhh yes, so many sides to this coin....

Back in May I had an email from Kathy Lare saying she "had" to raise her prices a bit, she wasn't making it financially. Not just the exchange rate's effect on fabric, the increasing shipping rates both inbound and outbound.

She is a member of the Kiltmaker's Guild in Scotland and found her hand sewn kilts were the lowest priced of ANY kiltmaker in the guild.

She said she had a prospective customer tell her that her hand sewn kilts must be cheaply made because her prices were so low compared to other hand sewn kiltmakers.

I don't know about you, but I'd never consider the expense of kiltmaking school, then coming home to sit for hours hand sewing a kilt for no hourly wage/profit for doing so. Then have prospective customers question my quality because I wasn't paying attention to business expenses and hadn't kept pace with my pricing.

Having grown up in, and spent my early adult years in, the cut and sew trade I know well about 144 deep fabric on huge cutting tables. Today I'm guessing most pattern layouts are computerized for maximum fabric use. When the cut pieces are sent down the production line of sewing machines to be assembled I'd be curious to know the ages and wages and length of workday of the sewing machine operators in whatever country these women's skirts are made these days.

And, I wonder just how long one of those women's skirts will last...probably not handed down through the generations as a fine kilt will be.

You can have any two of price, service, or quality.

And welcome aboard. This place can use all the medics we can get.

Ron