Hand Sewn 8 Yard Kilt Price List and Comparison

[seanachie]

I love how no one has thanked this gentleman for his fine work Thank you very much kind sir, good information and well laid out.

Not to be smart or smug , but I did say "Thanks for the research and putting this together!" above.

Brice has been personally very helpful to me, and shared good information.
My next kilt will be a kingussie pleat and he was the one who steered me on to this.

[Ancienne Alliance]

As for Lady Chrystel, her 8 yards knife pleated kilts are priced thus :

220 Euros if you provide your material.
510 Euros otherwise.




Best,

Robert

[Barb T]

Hi all,

I do not have a web site nor do I advertise, so you would not know the price of my kilts unless you emailed me. Basically, I have enough business by word of mouth, so I don't advertise. But, I would like to be added to the list, Bricekolob:

Barbara Tewksbury Kiltmaker:

I charge a flat fee of $325 for an 8 yard knife-pleated kilt, which includes labor and all materials *except* tartan. All hand-sewn.

Tartan ranges in price from about $160 to over $350, depending on where I order tartan from (custom weaves are at the high end). So, you can list my cost as $485 to $675 plus shipping.

Don't forget that, in comparing final kilt prices, you may pay duty if you order from overseas.

It would be great if you could edit your original post and add Wally and me to the list, because that's the post that most people will read.

[Chas]

Thanks for putting this together Brice.

The amazing thing is that this has not been done before. On a site like ours, we really should have this information at our fingertips. It should be 'sticky' in some form or another and should be updated every 6 months.

Certainly here in the UK, we have a proliferation of price comparison sites - from insurance and broadband to white goods. This is a site for kilt wearers, it would seem only logical that there would be comparison information available.

Regards

Chas

[ForresterModern]

Excellent work, Bryce, and nothing less than the quality we have come to expect from your posts and your products. As others have stated this is just a starting point, as much more goes into the making of a bespoke handsewn kilt than just price---there is communication, measurement, updates, other service factors like rush orders, quality of materials other than tartan, build styles, etc... all other factors to be taken into consideration before making the final decision.

I think the fact that this is based on price alone is good in one way---it hits you where it counts, in the wallet----but bad in other ways, as it fails to include those other intangibles that are hard to list on a website, and which you don't get to know about until you have at least cursorily worked with a kiltmaker enough to get to know them at least a little bit. Many have had great relationships with different kiltmakers-----Ron with Kathy Lare, me with Bonnie Heather, many with Lady Chrystel and Barb and Matt and Wally and others here on the forum. Some have had good and or bad experiences with some of the more corporate vendors listed above and who may advertise on the site.

It might be valuable to gather some of those types of reviews together by kiltmaker in companion threads or composites of past postings about experiences with specific vendors and individual kiltmakers with this in mind---finding out more about the intangibles to add to our insight Bryce has brought about the generic financial part of the deal. I know at least one other kilt forum which has a section listing kiltmakers and vendors individually, and perhaps we should consider something like that as a place to post our composite experiences so that if Kiltwearer X desires a new kilt he/she might be able to peruse the reviews of several different kiltmakers in one compilation, instead of having to do individual searches for posts about those kiltmakers. It might even give a newer member of the group more alternatives to finding what they are specifically looking for, while providing more complete information about each different kiltmaker's price, style, communication, etc..... It would simply be composite information from reviews and comments fomr customers who might or might not be satisfied to varying degrees, rather than a more mechanical catalogue of prices and options, to address some of those intangibles in the kilt ordering process.

Just some random thoughts. Anyway, thanks again for all the effort, Bryce. Thorough as ever.

jeff

[dfmacliam]

Thank you for the hard work in putting your list together, I know the time going from site to site, gathering information, is very time consuming.

Like everything else, the price should not always be the main contributing factor, but a review of the kiltmakers quality, customer service, communications, and ability to give you what you require. I have personal experience with a couple of the kiltmakers on your list, and I would say, I am very happy with them (Steve/Freedom Kilts, John/Keltoi Gaelic Clothing). I am very aware of the many others on your list and their great reputation. I see the many wonderful examples of the various kilts made, by those listed and playfully wish I could have a wardrobe full of kilts.

Shop around, talk to the kiltmakers, find the one you are most comfortable with, buy the tartan in the weight, and palate you prefer, and remember, the kilt you are getting will last your lifetime, and probably becomes an heirloom, passed from generation to generation.

[Riverkilt]

Excuse me all to heck Colin. The first line of my post #17 clearly thanks Brice for this extensive work.

Another factor a prospective kilt buyer may want to consider is what is your kiltmaker's training and experience. There can be vast differences in how a kilt is sewn up. The Keith Kilt School in Scotland teaches what they consider the traditional method. Other kiltmakers "apprenticed" with reputable kiltmakers. Some kiltmakers "tailor" a kilt. And some kiltmaker's "engineer" a kilt. Some kiltmakers learned from a "how-to" book. Some kiltmakers were trained in military service. And some kiltmakers just sort of figured it out. Then there are decisions like purchasing from a middleman and never knowing who your kiltmaker is and your kiltmaker only knowing your measurements - or do you purchase from a part-time kiltmaker with a usually longer jones time, or from a full-time kiltmaker. Either way there's gonna be a wait.

Not good, bad, better worse, but for sure different. Kind of like saying, "I need a tire for my car." "Tire" doesn't do much other than put you in the right store.

And, as mentioned, purchasing a kilt involves you or your kiltmaker first purchasing the material to make it from. Various mills, shipping costs, and the popularity of the tartan itself are gonna figure in.

I agree it's good to have ballpark comparisons - just as long as the folks risking purchase of their first kilt realize there are many many many factors more important in the long run than price.

I cannot imagine the anger and grief of planning a kilted wedding and not having the kilt arrive in time because it was purchased from an unorganized vendor to get a better price.

If you find a kiltmaker who can sew up your kilt a lot faster than anyone else best figure out why. My father taught me never to eat in an empty restaurant.

VALUE is the key word in kilt shopping.

[Colin MacBean]

*cough*

Hmm it would appear a few of you did thank him in retrospect
It seems my attention was drawn to the whining instead

[Chas]

There are many things that are just not quantifiable.

The experience of having your kiltmaker measure you personally, must be different from going to the shop and being measured by a sales assistant so the kilt can be made by a third party. Taking your own measurements and placing your order by phone or the internet will again be different.

Many men are intimidated by their tailors - they can't do it themselves and it is a foreign art to them. For them the postal and internet options are the best, whereas others much prefer the personal touch.

A kiltmaker, not yet mentioned, is Kinloch Anderson - kiltmaker to Her Majesty the Queen and their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales. And for a mere £650 they would make me a kilt that my kiltmaker made for me at exactly half that price. (Just as an aside, Kinloch Anderson would have to get the fabric from my kiltmaker.)

How does one quantify that? Does prestige count for more than good work done in a timely fashion. I think not - but that is only an opinion.

The only thing that can be quantified in the end is price - everything else (in my opinion) is opinion.

Regards

Chas

[Nick Fiddes]

Thanks for your very helpful efforts. But if I may sound a little self-interested here, I think you've been a little unfair on us. Perhaps this does a bit of a disservice to anyone here wanting to price compare in reality?

I'm not sure where you got your price from for our site. If you've set out to find the most expensive hand-made that would be our Manley Richardson. But surely if you're doing a price comparison service, the valid comparison is with the best value fully-hand sewn kilt, or else you're comparing apples and pears.

I'd say the fair comparision would be our Balmoral traditional 8 yard (which by the way receives universally rave reviews for its quality) that starts at around 275 US dollars, with a surcharge of 75 USD for all hand-sewing. That's 350 USD, which is BEFORE our XMTS 10% discount, which brings it down to under $320. This makes us the lowest price of all in your table, even before quality comparisons.

I appreciate the rules you appear to have set yourself. But since this would be the real price for almost every X-marker buying a hand-sewn kilt from us, I'd be really grateful if you could update your initial listing to reflect the realistic situation.

And our name is one word, Scotweb, by the way.

Thanks

Nick