im frugal .... nah im cheap

[dowofbuchanan]

so i was on the hos website and 4 yards double width lochcarron strome is aroond 300 shipped ... would it be cheaper to buy my fabric and take it to my local kiltmaker of which there are a couple, to have them make it, or have them order it and make it. ive also always wondered if our friends matt and barb get any kind of discount based on the volume of tartan the buy and connections in the business

[HeathBar]

so i was on the hos website and 4 yards double width lochcarron strome is aroond 300 shipped ... would it be cheaper to buy my fabric and take it to my local kiltmaker of which there are a couple, to have them make it, or have them order it and make it. ive also always wondered if our friends matt and barb get any kind of discount based on the volume of tartan the buy and connections in the business

A good kiltmaker would probably charge around $250 to build your kilt out of your own material. If you buy the material yourself, don't forget about the customs charges. That would add quite a bit to the cost. Or were you counting that in the $300? Then you would have to ship the material to the kiltmaker unless they live close by. Also if the kiltmaker orders the material from the mill, they usually get the fabric labels that add a nice touch to the kilt. Kiltmakers probably buy fabric at wholesale prices, but they usually don't publish those prices. But I don't think there is much of a markup on it anyways.

I think you would be better off letting the kiltmaker order the fabric. But that's my opinion. Best of luck on your decision.

[fluter]

I think you would be better off letting the kiltmaker order the fabric. But that's my opinion. Best of luck on your decision.

Almost always, let the kiltmaker handle it.

If I were buying the fabric, I would definitely go with ScotWeb (Xmarks sponsor, Xmarks discount, outstanding service). However 4 yards would probably have to go FedEx, with their flat fee on top of duty---which they might very well get wrong despite ScotWeb's best efforts. I'd do it, but I'd be prepared to argue with FedEx

[Colonel MacNeal]

Frugal, Cheap, Thrifty, Tight, Nigardly, Tightwad, Penny Pinching, Miserly, Parsemonious, Stingy; any other adjectives come to mind?

I get it honest - my Dad was cheap too!

[SteveB]

According to most of my coworkers, the truck I drive states my name every time it is in reverse. Cheeep ......... Cheeep...........Cheeeep....

[Bugbear]

I've had to think about this fabric issue. As far as I know the cost of my tartan is the cost of my tartan whether I buy it or a kilt maker buys it; that probably isn't the usual way it works.

There doesn't seem to be a good way to figure out what the duty charges will be before you buy the fabric.

So, I'm having to figure on having some extra money laying around just for that.

I don't know what is best.

[ForresterModern]

What tartan are you looking to buy, as that makes a difference in price? Right now HoS has a 20% off sale for less than another 48 hours and you can get some good deals on tartans because of it, as well as on kilts, if you like letting them make it up for you (I have three of theirs and they are well made kilts on par with other Scottish machine mades from other vendors).

I was looking at several tartans yesterday and priced out several 16 oz 4yd DW pieces at the following prices per meter :
Douglas Weathered, manx Weathered, And Maple leaf Modern in Lochcarron 16 at about $56US DW per meter
Forrester Hunting Modern 13oz Strathmore at about $57 per DW meter
Maple Leaf Batley 16oz at $34.78 per DW meter
Maple Leaf HoE 13oz at about $53 per DW meter

While the sale continues through about 6 pm US Eastern time tomorrow (Friday 6/26.) Depending on the size of your order add s/h but HoS will send Royal mails so you can usually avoid customs, especially if your order is not too big.

Not bad prices for quality fabric when the sale is going on. Same fabric you would get anywhere else, just have to mentally justify working with the Gold Bros, something which I know some people just cannot bring themselves to do under any circumstances.

Then you have to figure in the kiltmaker's labor, which can run here in the states from $200 US for a handsewn up to the topflite kiltmakers at $300-350 or even more for a handsewn my one of the masters. Kiltmakers definitely have the inside track on fabric prices but sometimes cannot compete with the prices available during this kind of sale at HoS.


As I have said before HoS makes a decent machine sewn kilt, but dealing with someone across the ocean should things not be perfect is a very difficult and sometimes costly ordeal. You would, however, get the same discount off the price of the kilt as off the fabric alone, as long as you order before the sale ends.

[csbdr]

I'd let the kiltmaker do it, unless you got some kinda deal on the fabric. I've ordered fabric twice from Fraser and Kirkbright, and both times the fabric cost was an outlandishly good bargain and worth doing this bit myself.

[macwilkin]

I do not prize the word "cheap." It is not a badge of honor. It is a symbol of despair. Cheap prices make for cheap goods; cheap goods make for cheap men; and cheap men make for a cheap country.

-- William McKinley, President of the United States

Thanks to Matt for alerting me to this quote.

[Barb T]

Any kiltmaker can purchase fabric wholesale, but many do mark tartan up for resale. So, comparing kiltmakers by comparing labor costs can be misleading. A kiltmaker who charges $350 in labor won't necessarily make the most expensive kilt if he/she doesn't mark up the tartan.

If you order tartan yourself, you may or may not wind up paying duty or other customs charges if you order from Scotland. So that needs to be factored in. But any kiltmaker should be willing to make a kilt from tartan supplied by the customer (provided that it is suitable for kilting).

The best thing to do is to contact a kiltmaker you're interested in buying from and ask what the cost will be for a kilt.