Why does a kilt cost what it does? (re-hash for new folks)

[Alan H]

I think it's time for my occasionally-posted review of "let's get real about kilts and money". I do this from time-to-time just as sort of a reality-check. Why does it a kilt cost so much, and why don't custom kiltmakers offer big discounts all the time?

Well, I can hand-make an eight-yard kilt...32 pleats in about 30-34 hours of work if I focus on it. Barb says she can do it in about 20-22 hours...WOW. She also says that's about right for most professional kiltmakers. I can machine-sew a box-pleat kilt in about 12 - 13 hours. Bear, of Bear Kilts once told me that it took him a full 8-hour day plus some extra to machine-sew up one of this 4-yard kilts, and I *think* that Rocky has said the same about one of his Casuals. I expect a semi-trad from USA Kilts takes significantly longer. OK, lets run with that.

What is a "reasonable" working hourly wage for a trained, professional kiltmaker? Five dollars an hour? Ten? Fifty? What does your electrician make? What do *YOU* make at your job? Is it unreasonable to assume that a trained kiltmaker could make $15 an hour? That seems reasonable to me, I mean, minimum wage in California is about $8 an hour and making a custom kilt is way, way beyond minimum-wage skill-level work.

OK, so if a professional, traditional kilt-maker can crank out a kilt in 20 hours, then 20 hours times $15/hour equals $300.

Three Hundred Dollars....that's just the labor for your typical formal knife-pleat kilt, 7 - 9 yards..

How about a machine-sewn box pleat from Yours Truly? That'd be $180 labor.

How about a USA Kilts casual? 8 hours x $15 an hour is $120 Ditto for a Bear Kilts 4-yard. THAT'S JUST THE LABOR.

Now let's say that the cloth we're working with retails for about $60 a yard. If we assume that since the "in the business" we get a 50% break on that price. OK, so that means we're paying $30 a yard for cloth. Polyester -viscose is more like about $15 a yard, but the margin is probably a lot less than 50% so lets call it $10 a yard. These are for double-width cloth, right?

So for your magical 8-yard kilt in worsted wool, your "to-the-trade' kiltmaker is paying $120 for the cloth. For the Box-pleat they're paying $60 for the cloth.
for your 4-yard USA Kilts Casual or Bear kilt, the material cost is $ 20.
For the Wool kilts you have to throw in about $20 for buckles, straps, hair canvas, etc. Add in $5 velcro and stuff in the casual kilts.

...and I might add that I left out a few little things...... lining, thread and the semi-annual maintenance call on the sewing machine. Oh, say...do they rent out space in which to sew? Gosh, maybe that loft - retail space costs money. Can you pay them with Pay Pal? I mean, if you can't in this Internet Age, well...how *backward*! What percent cut does PayPal take? Let's say that all this "schtuff" add another $30 to the cost of each kilt.

So what does all this cost, then?

Traditional 7-9 yard worsted wool, knife pleated kilt adds up to: $470-$490

For the 4-yard box-pleat: $290 - $300

For the 4-yard casuals in PV: $180 or thereabouts, depending on the complexity of construction

At bare minimum, THAT is what a kilt should cost, and in fact, that IS right about what they DO cost. The logic is simple, the costs are reasonable. NO KILT-MAKER IS RIPPING YOU OFF, HERE. Gee, all of a sudden that USA Kilts Casual model looks pretty darned affordable, doesn't it?

Now let's think about thtat kiltmaker and whether they're making a living.. Not only does that person have to sew kilts, but they have to maintain a web site, because it's the internet age, right? They have to bill for kilts made, receive material, BUY material, go to to the bank, order buckles and straps, answer the phone, answer the e-mail etc. etc. etc. How many posts on this board are screaming about how kiltmaker so-and-so didn't answer e-mail fast enough, huh? None of that activity pays anything does it? The only time the kiltmaker 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.

OK, but let's say they do it. Let's say our kiltmaker actually spend 30 hours a week, sewing. Personally, I'd kill someone if I spent 30 hours a week, sewing, but whatever...Well, 30 hours a week times $15 an hour is $450. Multiply by four weeks per month, and our kiltmaker is generating about $1,800 a month income. If they only take two weeks of vacation a year, and work the other 50, that kiltmaker is making the truly sumptious annual salary of $22,500 a year.

And THAT, gang, is why I didn't change careers, to become a professional kiltmaker, three years ago. It's also a VERY GOOD REASON why custom kiltmakers don't go offering steep discounts on their products, because they're not making a bluidy dime on them.

If you just have to have a $50 kilt then it HAS to be made the following way:

1. out of much less expensive material, and that means "not wool" 'and not even Marton Mills polyester-viscose. It's got to be stuff that costs $2 or $3 a yard.

2. made by someone who is making $10 a DAY, not $15 a HOUR.

How on earth Burnetts and Struth is offering those 5-yard machine-sewn made-to measure wool kilts they've got on their site right now, at the price point they're at ( $157 USA dollars, currently) I have no idea. They must have gotten the deal of the century on closeout tartan or something. It looks like a great way to go broke, to me.

[ali8780]

Great explanation! As a seamstress myself, I find that often people severely underestimate how labor-intensive garment making is. We are so used to our mass-produced made-in-third-world-countries-by-children-who-aren't-making-squat clothing that we forget that it really does take a lot to make a quality item. Not to mention that 100% wool is more expensive than people realize. Quality will always be more expensive, but it is always worth it.

Thanks for the reality check!

[Canuck]

There is another little hit in the cost of doing business. If we take credit cards for method of payment, we deal with a monthly service charge. A percentage from 1.25%-4.9% depending. NOW if we take in a rewards card (cards that offer points, air miles, rebates, reward programs) they hit us with a service charge on those. Also cross border transaction fees. I haven't even included the point of sale machines and regular bank fees! ....geez I better get back to work in order to pay these guys!

[Alan H]

There is another little hit in the cost of doing business. If we take credit cards for method of payment, we deal with a monthly service charge. A percentage from 1.25%-4.9% depending. NOW if we take in a rewards card (cards that offer points, air miles, rebates, reward programs) they hit us with a service charge on those. Also cross border transaction fees. I haven't even included the point of sale machines and regular bank fees! ....geez I better get back to work in order to pay these guys!

Oh, and did you attend some Highland Games or Celtic Faires, this year? I know that the Pleasanton Games charges $150 for a Vendors tent. Of course it takes a day to get there and set up, and a day to get home.....when you're not selling or sewing. Go to five or six of those and you just spent $1,000 in vendors fees and gas.

I didn't know that a Rewards Card cost the seller more that a "regular card"!

[JolyStNicholas]

I agree 1000000% with what Ali stated. You get the quality you are willing to pay for.

I asked my wife if she was willing to make me a new kilt, after she stopped
she just asked if I had ever tried to do that much sewing? And
some more and walked away.

[Canuck]

Oh, and did you attend some Highland Games or Celtic Faires, this year? I know that the Pleasanton Games charges $150 for a Vendors tent. Of course it takes a day to get there and set up, and a day to get home.....when you're not selling or sewing. Go to five or six of those and you just spent $1,000 in vendors fees and gas.

I didn't know that a Rewards Card cost the seller more that a "regular card"!

The games fees range from $75-$650. Some years I have done as many as 14 games during the season The furthest was 800km one way. Last summer fuel was $1.40/litre (3.8 L=1US gallon or 4.5=1 Imperial gallon) I get 10km/L pulling a trailer. They also charge for Hydro and parking as well as camping overnight.
I do manage to sew at the games as I have solar power to operate the machine.
The Vendors tents for a good quality 10x10 costs between $260 to $450 (I have three) plus a trailer that opens up to a vending space.

Yes, someone has to pay for the rewards and they pass it on to the merchant. It can be a set fee or percent and I don't know till I get my monthly statement...SURPRISE.....

[Tribal]

Can't we just get small children with nimble fingers from impoverished nations to make these?

The trick is to find a store that inexplicably has kilts that fit you that are on 80%-off clearance. Next time I'm in Edinburgh I'll see if I can't repeat that feat.

[dfmacliam]

I know it's tough, and all to often people do not think about all involved. I have learned you get what you pay for. I do shop around and look for the most bang for my buck, without sacrificing quality.

[cavscout]

Aye, while the price of any product is 100% cost to the customer, it is not 100% profit to the seller.

[rodandy]

I just paid about $255 for a semi-trad from USAK (including matching flashes).

When I talked to Rocky on Sunday he said he would make the kilt on Monday and have it out the door that day. (No, I didn't order it on Sunday, lest any of you that are still waiting think I somehow managed to sneak to the head of the line). I suspect he can make one in less than 8 hours, but I don't have any idea how much less. Goodness knows, when you look at the detail that goes into even a machine sewn semi-trad kilt I couldn't do it in 8 hours.

If Rocky paid $60 for the fabric and buckles, etc. that leaves him $195 for his labor, or a bit over $24 per hour. But wait, as Alan pointed out he has to have a space of some kind to do business from, he has to pay for lights and electricity to run the sewing machine and all of the other things that are necessary to keep a business going.

I suspect if he weren't selling the jackets and other accessories at a somewhat higher markup than the kilts he wouldn't be able to stay in business.

I think when you boil it all down nobody out there is making kilts because it's going to make them rich, they do it because they love it. If they can manage to make a living doing it, that's so much the better. If, on the other hand, they find it therapeutic to come home from their "real" job and knock out a couple of kilts a week and charge $15 per hour for their labor we're all better off because of it.

Thanks to all of you who make the kilts. To paraphrase a former American patriot: "I regret that I have but one small portion of my paycheck to give to kilt makers."