I've followed this thread for a couple of days and it provoked some thought, so here goes.

Sounds like several people here would order a shorter kilt option from StillWater if it were available, but I'm not convinced it would make good business sense for them to follow the well-intended advice given here.

It has been my observation that there are different types of customers out there; some prefer traditionally styled kilts, other go for modern expressions of kilts with their many conveniences, but only a relatively small proportion of kilt owners actually wear them regularly. Many who fall into that last category post on this board.

StillWater offers wool (and other) kilts at a very reasonable price. Their business model has been to keep prices down by mass-producing kilts in measure for the market, and I think we've all seen that it has worked very well.

Nothing I've seen here, however, has convinced me that it would be a sound business decision to effectively double the models of kilts they offer. Certainly they would sell some kilts to us, but that doesn't mean they'd sell enough of the proposed new model kilts to make a profit on the endeavor. Who knows, there could be a market for a "short" version of each of their kilts, but a smart business person would come up with solid empirical evidence of this before investing many thousands of dollars. At least that's what I would hope if I were the lending institution helping them expand their business.

Having said all that, I don't like being the nay-sayer here. As a constructive alternative suggestion, it might be more feasible to charge an extra fee for a limited range of customizations such as shorter kilts, or maybe such items as an upgraded set of buckles (StillWater's buckles aren't going to impress the Queen with their quality - they're serviceable and nothing's wrong with them, but they certainly aren't high-end pieces). Limited customizations might help broaden their market base, and if structured correctly and carefully controlled, could be a money maker. But make no mistake, any customizations will foster a fundamental change to the way StillWater produces kilts. It is most definitely NOT just as simple as buying a stack of better buckles, though it might appear to be a simple proposition.

But even that business model might not be worthwhile. It would take some effort to investigate not only what demand there might be for customizations, but also their cost to produce, what a reasonable margin would be, and then compare the cumulative total retail price of the new product to similar or equivalent products sold by others to see if their kilts would still be competitive. Nothing out there comes easy folks.

The upshot is that the needs of a small group probably shouldn't dictate the business decisions of a kilt manufacturer unless that group is willing to step up and pay for the service. But then there are already plenty of kilt makers out there prepared to fill that niche after all, aren't there?

Just my thoughts. Thanks for listening.

Regards,
Scott Gilmore