“Why do kilts cost so much?”

[Dave Kerr]

Rocky and Eric address the price of kilts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6EwSt6wIFQ


Dave

[RockyR]

There's a lot more factors to pricing than most people know. And if the price is "too good to be true" it usually is. 😁

[geomick]

good wool fabric costs money to make, much more than cheap acrylo-sheep

[Troglodyte]

A kilt is a good example of 'you get what you pay for'...

Only when you see a kilt well-made in a quality wool cloth do you realise how poor the 'cheap' alternatives actually are.

A good kilt is more than a sum of its parts - in the way that a Rolex is more than just something to tell the time.

If you cannot tell the difference between quality and cost, and where the two coincide, it is better not to go kilt-buying alone.

Not for nothing is there the age-old saying: 'A fool and his money are soon parted.'

[figheadair]

A good quality kilt is one of the few, often the only, bespoke garment that many people will ever own nowadays. As such, people are often divorced for the real costs involved. It's one of the reasons I gave up full-time weaving many years ago as more people simply would not pay for the time and expertise involved and conflated what they could obtain from a mill as the same thing.

[Canadian Vet]

Some of we ethnic Scots need a lot more cloth than others.

[Pleater]

It isn't 'just' the tartan fabric, there are quite a few other things - the straps and buckles which are visible, but there is the lining and the foundation layer that takes the strain, possibly a waistband - it depends on how the tailor creates the kilt.

There might be little oddments such as straps for hanging up - but the material needs to be sourced and bought, the maker's label, the fibre content and care information which could well be special order and expensive.

When the component parts are all laid out and the measurements required are looked at for anomalies, the fabric has to be considered - how it is cut can be influential in how it can be pleated, though even before that the size of the set and the method of pleating required should be checked and counted out just to be sure.
When roughing out the folds of the pleats it is wise to check just how many pleats there should be and at what spacing the folds should lie, then the pinning and measuring can be done more exactly.
If I am making something with a firm internal structure I tend to make it, check it and put it onto a dress form, then wrap the pleats around to ensure it is right.

Sometimes a fabric can have a twist in the way it lies - maybe a fault in the weaving or finishing, but if it is picked up before sewing it can be laid out flat again and gently eased into shape, then refolded.

The fell is shaped so it lies flat, it is particularly important across the back at the waist level so as to support the weight of the pleats.
With tartan or other geometric patterns it is really important to get everything exactly right.
I use a micrometer when measuring pleats so as to be sure of accuracy.

With all the measuring, adjusting, checking and counting, making a kilt is a lot more than fold and sew - knowing how to correct a fault without wrecking everything is an expensive skill to acquire.

It isn't only the amount of cloth - which can be a lot, but the quality overall. A shorter yardage heavyweight box pleated to perfection kilt is as good an reason for staring admiringly at a man's rump as I have been able to find.

Anne the Pleater

[OC Richard]

When somebody expresses dismay at the price of a traditionally made kilt I ask

"Have you ever made one?"

"No."

"Make one. You'll find out."