Why a kilt costs what it does...a re-re-re-hash

[Alan H]

But...but...but...but....a pair of pants from Sears only costs me $35!!!

Right, and that pair of pants is sewn up in Indonesia by someone who is making two dollars a day. The company buys nine miles of the cloth so they get a discount.

Let's work out out, you know....real quick and dirty, why a contemporary kilt costs what it does.

OK, the cloth... A Utilikilt or Freedom Kilt or R Kilt contains something like 6 yards of material. This stuff wholesales for something around six dollars a yard. It's 58 inches wide, so it's double width. Anyway, the cloth costs your kiltmaker about $18.

Snaps, D-rings, doo-dads, thread, add another $2

I can make an X-Kilt in about thirteen hours. If I really worked at it, I might be able to get that down to about ten hours. I know that in the past Bear of Bear Kilts has written that he can make one kilt, himself in one long work day. OK, so that's about right. Does it seem reasonable that your kiltmaker make, oh....ten dollars an hour? I mean, what is minimum wage where you are? Should they make fifteen dollars an hour? Twenty? Let's say.....twelve dollars and fifty cents an hour. That's a decent wage, but nobody will get rich at $12.50 an hour. OK, so labor to make the kilt is $125.

Dear Lord, but they have to have a website, don't they? I mean, if they don't have a website, with Pay Pal and online ordering and their own domain and pictures that change months, professionally designed etc. etc. etc well...get WITH it. I figure that adds about two dollars to the price of each kilt. $2

Perhaps they rent the building they're in? Let's see...$400 a month rent amortized over 20 kilts a month = $20 per kilt. I bet that rent in downtown Seattle and downtown Victoria BC is a heck of a lot higher than that. Let's try $30 per kilt.

Did the sewing machine break down? I guess there'd better be annual maintenance on the sewing machine. Let's say that's $1 a kilt.

Add that up... it's right about $170 - $180 per kilt.

Is this kiltmaker getting rich, sucking you dry for this outrageous amount of money when you can buy a pair of pants for thirty five bucks??

Well, lets say that a kiltmaker can crank out four kilts a week. After all, he/she has to answer your never-ending e-mails about where your kilt is in the "queue" and they have to pay the rent and answer the phone and so on. If they're incredibly lucky they will actually be able to spend the equivalent of four days a week, out of five, sewing and cutting. This is not to mention the time spent going to Highland Games to hawk their wares, right?

OK, the kiltmaker is making $12.50 an hour right? Everything else goes to materials and expenses....so just $12.50 an hour, or $125 per kilt. They make four kilts a week, or $500 a week.

If the kiltmaker takes off two weeks a year for vacation that means they're sewing 50 weeks out of the year. That makes an annual salary of $25,000 a year. In other words...an OK salary for some parts of the USA, but not evenclose to acceptable here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So the next time you complain about how much a kilt costs, remember that it was made in the USA or Canada (or Scotland) by someone who was making some sort of living, but hardly getting rich. If you want to buy a $35 kilt, then go get something from Pakistan or China or Indonesia.

[toadinakilt]

Or get Barb's book, download Alan's x-Kilt manual and Barb and Matt's addendums, and learn to make them yourself. I realized two days ago, while doing our family budget, that if I wanted to have any decent number of kilts, I'd just have to make them.

[wildrover]

That's an excellent post, Alan!

Also, it's why I may never get anything other than wool kilts, unless there's a specifically good reason...like most other handmade goods, the majority of the price is in the work, not in the material...so it's worth spending a little more on the material, because the price for the work is the same whether the kilt is made from the finest wool in the world, or felted cat hairballs.

You'll find a similar attitude from customers and welders, machinists, fabricators, carpenters, interior decorators, party planners, tailors...any trade where the bulk of the cost is paying for irreplaceable human knowledge and experience.

-Sean

[The Wizard of BC]

Another good estimate and breakdown Alan.


Here are some actual numbers.

I charge a flat rate for my labor to make a Tartan Model Kilt of $325.00cdn.

It takes me between 24 and 30 hours to build a Tartan Model Kilt.

This means my hourly wage is between $10.75 and $13.50/hr.

16oz Lochcarron Strome fabric goes for $86.60cdn per meter double width.

For a person with Hips less than 45" I can order 4 meters of fabric.

This means that the cost of the fabric comes to $346.40cdn.

With a total cost of the kilt at $671.00 approx half of that is fabric cost.

I then have to sell some accessories if I want to eat that night.

[bricelythgoe]

But...but...but...but....a pair of pants from Sears only costs me $35!!!

Holy Cow! Sears is expensive!!

[Alan H]

Robert from R-Kilts sent me this...I have his OK to re-post it.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Rent is close to $1000, including heat hydro, phone and internet.
Hemp costs me $11 per metre delivered to my door.
Hardware re: buckles rivets snaps, clips rings and leather straps works out to $15 per kilt.
Thread costs me $25 per pound I run three spools for the serger and two per sewing machine. I have 6 sewing machines and 1 serger
Leather I buy by the square foot from $5-$15 per square ft. 40-60 sq. ft per kilt.
Sundry supplies $5 per kilt.
Highland games per season is $3000 to be a vendor. Travel to these games averages $200 (Up to 14 per season) in fuel plus food and accommodation.
I have about 40 dies for making pockets, straps, sporrans. On average each one is $120.
I have 6 presses for snaps rivets, eyelets at $200 a piece and three specialty presses for various leather operations at $1000 a piece.
Each Sewing machine purchased used, averages $1500 New they would cost 3-6K each.
I buy needles in bulk $35 per hundred.
About $500 in servicing for the machines
$1000 per year in equipment maintenance, display tents, tires for the trailer and vehicle.
I work 12 hour days quite often 7 days a week
Advertising and website upgrades $8000/year
My lowest price kilt sells for $260, average hemp is $325, leather kilts start at $750 with a limited edition, this years offering is 19 at $1195.
Belts and sporrans $35-100 for belts. Sporrans $95-160
Each kilt has on average 18 hours of time. In that is about a half hour to talk to the customer Usually I spend two hours with them.
I am a one man operation I’m lucky I see $7/hr when all is said and done.

[Alan H]

My point is that the price for a Utilikilt is pretty much right about where it should be, for the product. It's made in the USA and the people sewing them up make USA wages.

If it's more important to you to save $100 than to buy something made here, then you can buy a contemporary kilt made in Pakistan or Indonesia.

Or...and I think this is the best option....you can learn to make them yourself. But quit the complaining about how much a kilt costs. NOBODY is getting rich in this business.

[bricelythgoe]

My point is that the price for a Utilikilt is pretty much right about where it should be, for the product. It's made in the USA and the people sewing them up make USA wages.

If it's more important to you to save $100 than to buy something made here, then you can buy a contemporary kilt made in Pakistan or Indonesia.

Or...and I think this is the best option....you can learn to make them yourself. But quit the complaining about how much a kilt costs. NOBODY is getting rich in this business.

An interesting thread. Your thread made me think. If there is SO MUCH money to be lost, not made, in making kilts, then why are there so many places that do it? You can get online and find company after company that will sell you a custom made kilt. If I am not mistaken, I am looking JUST at this page on xmarks and see 11 advertisers that make custom kilts, in one form or another. Granted, they are not becoming rich off of it. However, why would so many places exist if one could only make 10-12 dollars an hour (or R-kilt guy that makes 7 dollars an hour)? I am a school teacher and I have to have two jobs in order to make the money I need and I am making WAY MORE than what the average kilt maker supposedly makes. My SECOND job nets me more than 20 dollars an hour. Things are just not adding up to me.

I can understand that you would make kilts because you love it. I have lots of things I LOVE to do, but that does not mean I can make a living at it. I do not see how all these people make kilts and survive, unless it is just a part time thing. Obviously the person from Rkilts is full time. Lets use him as an example. Lets assume he works 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, at the LUCKY 7 dollars an hour. That adds up to: 588 dollars a week. That would not pay for rent/mortgage, especially if you have any children. Not sure how that guy even lives on that, considering that is income without any taxes being taken out.

I have several points to make with this. First, if what you are saying is EXACTLY right, no one could survive on just making kilts. The money has to be made somewhere. If you are correct, then I must assume that any accessories these companies offer have a HUGE mark up to compensate for the supposed low profit in the kilts (maybe that is why sporrans cost as much as a kilt).

I also want to make sure people realize that although some things on this thread might be correct, someone can always come along and do it better, quicker, and sometimes a lot less expensive. Many kilt purchasers are stuck in the thought that a quality kilt, made in the USA, MUST cost lots of money. Not true! Our economy works in wonderful ways. This is one of the most beautiful. You find a way to make the same product, just as good as the other guys, but charge less. Red flags are raised ALL OVER THE PLACE when someone tries to tell me that a certain item MUST cost a lot of money and there is nothing that you can do about it. When anyone says that something MUST cost a lot of money, I am wary of it and usually be careful about believing what they say.

No offense to anyone on here and I know I will get quite the response from this. But look at a perfect example: Skye Highland Outfitters. They offer an 8 yard, made to measure PV kilt for 189.00. The next closest company, that I know of, that sells PV, made to measure, will cost you (at my size) 240.00 or more. Plus their is not even 8 yards. Josh found a way to sell a better product, with a faster finish time, for less money. Plus, the quality is the same if not better than most.

Let the anger and retribution begin!!

[Barb T]

I have to say that it is painful to hear someone say the "supposedly low" profits in kiltmaking. As if we're trying to pull the wool over someone's eyes and sneak some profits in there by lying about costs or about how long it takes to make a kilt.

I've been making kilts for many years. I make kilts by hand using traditional methods. I sew fast (ask Steve Ashton - he's watched me make kilts). I do not cut corners in terms of the interior construction that no one can see but that is critical to a kilt that will stand up to years and years of hard wear. I do not cut corners in the tailor basting that helps hold a kilt for proper pressing and shaping. I don't have a standard formula - each kilt is custom designed to the measurements and the person's shape. From the time I open a package of tartan that I've ordered from a mill to the end of removing all the basting, it takes me about 20 hours to make a kilt. Could someone do it faster? Sure. They could take fewer stitches in the pleats. They could be less careful about matching the stripes or making the pleats exactly the right size. They could leave out the tailor basting and interior construction. Could someone do it faster *and* better? To be honest, I would challenge anyone on that point.

I charge $325 plus the cost of the tartan for a kilt. That $325 also includes the cost of buckles, straps, canvas, lining, and thread. So, I'm not actually making $325 profit. It takes me 20 hours to make a kilt - you can do the math to see the fabulous "hidden profits" that I am making in this business....

[MacBean]

The kilt to pants price ratio is startling, but not because kilts seem expensive. Instead, the price of pants is amazingly low. Consider the shipping from far-off lands, labels, pricing, warehousing, ordering, stocking, sales clerks salaries, management, rent, taxes, etc., I'm suprised that they can sell them for what they do even if they obtained them for free. As for the folk abroad who make them, and all the folk down south who no longer make them... Anyway, Alan's figures are probably way low.