Can you buy a good kilt for $400usd

[bug_n_67]

While I look for my first kilt, all over the net I want to know if I can find a good hand sewn kilt 16oz in worsted wool for $400 or anything at that price will not be that great. I will take any suggestion for shops that anyone has dealt with in and around that price range if there are any.
Thanks

[Bugbear]

Box pleat maybe... Try the Scottish Tartans Museum link here on the forum.

[gilmore]

If it's your first kilt, I very much doubt that you will be able to tell the difference between hand-sewn and machine-sewn. Many who have been wearing kilts for years can't. And many who can, don't care.

There is also "hand finished;" that is, much of the kilt is machine sewn, with some, I think usually the pleating and a bit more, done by hand. They are less expensive than those completely sewn by hand.

At any rate if you must have a kilt sewn by hand by an elderly 26th generation kilter living in the same smoke-filled croft in the outer Hebrides that her ancestors moved into during the reign of Robert the Bruce and who speaks nothing but Gaelic, now is the time to get one. The pound is down to US$1.36905, that is, the US dollar is now worth GBP .7304, the lowest I remember ever seeing it.

[Tattoo Bradley]

I would recommend contacting Matt Newsome.

[Bugbear]

Sorry, Matt Newsome is who I was talking about with the Scottish Tartans Museum. I should have provided a link.

[The Wizard of BC]

16oz. Scottish Wool Tartan fabric sells for between $68.00 and $90.00 per yard double width.

The average 8 yard Knife Pleated Kilt uses 4 fabric yards of Tartan.

This means the fabric alone for a Traditional Kilt will run you between $272.00 and $360.00. And that's just the fabric.

Then when you add the labor costs to make the Kilt it will easily go over your $400.00 budget.

Matt Newsome's 4 yard Box Pleated Kilts use less fabric so are a very good way to get a real hand-sewn 16oz Kilt within your price range.

But other than one of Matt's Kilts the only way to keep the cost down it to machine sew the Kilt or make it with less fabric.

Most Kiltmakers I know of charge somewhere around $250.00 and $300.00 for their labor. (That's about $8.00-$9.00 an hour if you must ask)

So I'm afraid that unless you are willing to cut a corner somewhere you may be out of luck.

[chasem]

Note that the 4-yd box pleat kilts are fantastic, and though it's cutting back on material and price, it's not cutting back on quality of craftsmanship or quality of appearance.

[Spc. Scott]

Note that the 4-yd box pleat kilts are fantastic, and though it's cutting back on material and price, it's not cutting back on quality of craftsmanship or quality of appearance.

Well said! I cannot wait for the go ahead from my wife to place an order with Matt.

[The Wizard of BC]

Please don't get me wrong in my post. Matt Newsome's Kilts are perhaps the most Historically accurate and well researched Kilts in the world today.
His craftsmanship is the highest. And I heartily recommend them.

I thought though that bug_n_67 was asking about an 8 yard Knife Pleated Hand-Sewn "Tank".

[Frank McGrath]

Put your cursor in the upper left corner and click on USA kilts. That is what I would do.