I"ve finally started on a project, and this one is different

[Alan H]

My church is involved with a number of Central American communities in El Salvador and Nicaragua. While those countries are a lot more stable than they were in past decades, nonetheless a lot of poverty remains, the infrastructure outside of the main cities is a disaster, and wounded fighters from both the Army and the revolutionary forces live all over the country.

It so happens that one community that my church partners with, has a small sewing cooperative; the ALGES Sewing Cooperative in Comunidad Segundo Montes.

About a year ago I had an idea. I knew that the sewing co-op was in trouble. They were tight for contracts and were getting by sewing up underwear for the Jesuits. WHAT IF...I sez to myself....WHAT IF.....the coop would sew up a derivative of an X-Kilt?

I know, this sounds crazy, but I don't have to convince anyone on this board about the market for contemporary kilts. If an organic cotton/hemp blend were purchased in bulk, perhaps in three or four colors, I'd assume that the price per yard of the
material might come to $5.00 a yard, of 54 inch material. I bet it's actually a lot less. It takes two yards to make one of my kilts, so material cost is about $10. It takes me about 12 hours to cut one out and stitch it up, and I'm not production speed by any stretch of the imagination. I bet anything that someone who was a professional could make an X-kilt in 8 hours, and probably faster. They ARE more work than a pair of pants. If a Nicaraguan or El Salvadorean worker makes $2.00 an hour, which I understand would be a phenomenal wage in those countries, then that kilt would cost roughly $26.00 to produce.

Is, in fact $2.00 an hour a good wage in El Salvador or Nicaragua?

http://www.romeropineda.com/resource....php?itemid=29
That's an article about Minimum Wage in El Salvador in 2007, here's an excerpt, bold highlights added by me..
Textile and confection maquila workers will earn $5.24 USD for an ordinaryworkday; or $0.65 USD per hour, or $157.20 USD monthly.

So yes, $2.00 an hour is a VERY VERY good wage in El Salvador. It's three times the minimum wage. So we're not abusing anybody, here.

The "organic cotton/hemp" blend appeals to a particular market of enviro-conscious folks, which might be a good market for a contemporary kilt.

Let's pretend that there's a 50% tax on importing the kilts into the USA. This is a complete and total guess on my part. Now our kilt costs $39 to get into the country. Add another $5.00 to pay for shipping to a sales location and storage for the items. The kilt now costs $44 to produce and get to a central sales location.

If you turn around and sell it for $84, you just made a profit of $40 and you're still selling a quality garment for $50-$75 LESS than the competition for "off the rack" kilts. If half of that went to paying a staff person in a 30 hour a week job to handle the sales/warehousing/shipping that would still leave $20 a garment to go to peace and justice and environmental causes. It would not surprise me in the slightest if 1,000+ units would sell each year for the next few years, at least. Remember, Utilikilts sold nearly 20,000 units in 2007 (3 million dollars in sales, assuming average sale price was $150) and they cost a lot more than $100. I have no idea how many Boulder Kilts were sold by Sportkilt, but I bet it was more than 1,000.

If 1,000 units old, that would provide income for one 3/4-time person in a part of the country where the cost of living wasn't too high (not the San Francisco Bay Area!!!) and still bring in $20,000 towards one or more Peace / Justice /Environmental programs. I think it would be *great* to raise $20,000 for habitat preservation in Central and South America, where land and habitat is disappearing so fast it's terrifying, and where the existing rain forest is a huge carbon buffer for excess CO2 that's involved in climate change.

I have really slammed some very rough numbers here, but I wonder if this couldn't be done. I DON'T want to make profit out of it, myself, I just want to make a contribution towards making the world a better place and this seems like a unique way to do it.

AND

this project makes less expensive, 'stock" (not custom) kilts available at a lower price to folks who'd like to try them.


Thoughts? Kudos? Condemnations?

[BEEDEE]

Alan - great idea. Why not see if Jerry at SWK would stock them for you. He is probably also a good resource for quality control and other issues working with non-US suppliers.

Brian

[Tartan Hiker]

Kudos from this member! I hope you can get this off the ground.

[Downix]

Brilliant idea!

[sharpdressedscot]

Great idea!!

[pdcorlis]

Thank goodness you mentioned your earlier effort - for a minute there I thought I was having a Deja Vu - or a stroke...

I wish you smooth sailing and the best of luck on your new project!

[Alan H]

This is about an embryonic as it gets, but if the sewing cooperative is interested then I will send down a modified X-Kilt to them when a team of workers from the local Sanctuary committee visits in a few weeks.

We shall see.

[Wompet]

Let's pretend that there's a 50% tax on importing the kilts into the USA. This is a complete and total guess on my part. Now our kilt costs $39 to get into the country.

Thoughts? Kudos? Condemnations?

Taking a quick look through the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (U.S.) - your duty(tax) could be 6.5, 7.5, or 8.5%. 50% is a bit high.
And if I remember correctly, neither El Salvador or Nicaragua have quotas on their textile products, so that shouldn't be a concern.
But keep in mind - my specialty is regulating raw or live cotton and hemp, not clothing made from them.

[oxter]

Sounds promising! Hope you can make it work. I would buy one.

[Iain Robb]

Let me add one cautionary note, intended as a help and not a discouragement:

You've overlooked marketing.

Marketing, done properly, is involved from the first step. You don't simply create a product and then try to sell it. You find a market and create a product for that market. In this case, I would strongly suggest a little research to determine whether there is a kilt niche market that you could create a product to fill, instead of trying to compete with established companies in the same market. Price alone will not give you a competitive edge.

Marketing will also help you determine a proper price. Too low and people may automatically assume it's an inferior product. Increasing the price could actually increase sales by creating a perception of quality, and give you more room to offer special discounts, which can also increase sales.

And marketing will tell you how to, well, market the product. Do you advertise? Where? How much? Do you concentrate your ads in one region, or in one market segment? How do you know when to expand your advertising> How elaborate a website do you need? Will you wholesale or retail or both?

And when all that is in place, you can take the steps to start production.

I do marketing for a non-profit organization, but I'm far more involved in promoting the organization than in selling anything, so if I get any deeper into this I'm probably out of my league. But I hope this is helpful.