Recommendations for polyviscose kilt

[Steve Ashton]

Purgy,

Yes, it is perfectly fine to give names and quote prices readily available to the public,

With that said - When looking at any item offered for sale take a few things into account

1) The cost of the raw materials - In the case of a kilt this includes the fabric, the stabilizer and interfacing, the straps and buckles and the thread.
The wholesale cost of 4 meters of Marton Mills P/V fabric (enough for an 8 yd kilt) is £50.00-£54.00.

2) The labor - Kilt making is a skilled labor job. You do not just produce a quality garment on the first go.
A machine stitched kilt can be made quicker than a hand stitched one but it still takes more than a couple of hours to do a respectable job.
Then use your local minimum wage. (Do you work for minimum wage?) The minimum wage in the UK in 2020 is £8.72per hour, $11.06cdn in Canada and $7.25usd to $15.00in the US .

3) The shop overhead - This is such things as paying the electric bill to keep the lights on, Mortgage or rent on your space, and all the little things like toilet paper, a cash register, and display shelving. Then there is shipping, taxes and duty.
All of these added to the wholesale cost of material and labor result in the retail costs to the customer.

Then take these into consideration when looking at the retail cost of a kilt and ask yourself - If the kilt is listed at £40.00, how much of that is for the fabric, how much for the labor, how much for the overhead?
Honestly, the only way to offer a kilt for £40.00 is to use inexpensive fabrics and hire labor at significantly lower rates than minimum wage.
Heck, the wholesale cost for 4 meters of Marton Mills fabric alone is more than £40.00.
4.5 hours of labor in the UK is £40.00. (the average amount of time it took me to machine stitch a kilt was 8.5 to 10.5 hours. That is a minimum of $199.00cdn in my fabric and labor costs without the overhead.)(Most hand stitched kilt makers charge between $350.00usd and $450.00usd for their labor alone. That works out to right about minimum wage.)

If what you are looking for is a Pub Kilt that you can spill a beer on, or trash playing paint ball, then maybe a £40.00 kilt is what you need.

If you want a kilt to go to dinner with your wife, or for more formal occasions like a wedding, then perhaps a £40.00 would not be the best choice.

Oh, and as an aside, just because a kilt is made in, or sold in, Scotland is no guarantee of a quality garment. Just walk down the Royal Mile of Edinburgh to see that fact. Many of the most skilled kilt makers are in N. America.

[MichiganKyle]

What I can tell you from my experience in the USA is that I absolutely love my USA Kilts casual kilts, which are known to use actual honest-to-goodness P/V. I also have Sport Kilts which say they're made from P/V but are a completely different material which I suspect to be mislabelled acrylic.

There are a couple ways I've seen to be able to distinguish what a kiltmaker uses without first buying one.

For one, check if it says it's Teflon-coated. AFAIK, the only time I've seen this is if the tartan is from Marton Mills. This isn't a guarantee that you're getting MM fabric, and the lack of saying it's Teflon-coated doesn't mean it isn't MM, but it's one indicator.

Another way is by looking at the tartans they offer. Marton Mills only offers P/V in a limited range of tartans unless you have them do a custom weave (USA Kilts has several custom weaves from them). But if the bulk of the tartans are on Marton Mills's Balmoral line list, it's a decent indicator. That's part of the reason I suspect Sport Kilt to be mislabelled acrylic - they offer the St. Patrick's tartan, which is one of my favorites but I've only ever found woven in acrylic or wool.

But if you can get a first-hand recommendation from someone on here, all the better. Unfortunately the only recommendation I've got for what it sounds like you're looking for would be either a USA Kilts casual kilt or a semi-traditional. But as mentioned by others here, there are other reputable folks who might be closer. I just love my USA Kilts casuals and keep buying them.

[KennethSime]

What I can tell you from my experience in the USA is that I absolutely love my USA Kilts casual kilts, which are known to use actual honest-to-goodness P/V. I also have Sport Kilts which say they're made from P/V but are a completely different material which I suspect to be mislabelled acrylic.

You know, I thought from the similarity in tartans between the two companies the PV fabric would be the same, but more & more I think you're right. I'd love to hear if you get an answer out of Sport Kilt.

At any rate, I think the workmanship on the USA Kilts looks a whole lot better, especially comparing pictures of the USAK Semi-Trad model to my Sport Kilt Works model. Just can't compare those pleats!

[Steve Ashton]

You know, I thought from the similarity in tartans between the two companies the PV fabric would be the same, but more & more I think you're right. I'd love to hear if you get an answer out of Sport Kilt.

At any rate, I think the workmanship on the USA Kilts looks a whole lot better, especially comparing pictures of the USAK Semi-Trad model to my Sport Kilt Works model. Just can't compare those pleats!

Sport Kilts fabrics while a poly blend, are not P/V.

[KennethSime]

Sport Kilts fabrics while a poly blend, are not P/V.

Thanks Steve! Good to know.

I'm pretty happy with mine for daily wear, but definitely doesn't hold a pleat anywhere near as well as wool.

Guess I'll have to try out a USA Kilts Casual or Semi-Trad soon!

[Steve Ashton]

Thanks Steve! Good to know.

I'm pretty happy with mine for daily wear, but definitely doesn't hold a pleat anywhere near as well as wool.

Guess I'll have to try out a USA Kilts Casual or Semi-Trad soon!

Marton Mills P/V, when pressed at the correct temperature, will have pleats that are virtually permanent. It is also amazingly wrinkle resistant and the teflon coating allows staining liquids like coffee to bead up and roll right off.

I use Marton Mills P/V for my rental kilts simply because it truly is a miracle fabric. It will take anything a drunken wedding reception can throw at it and come out looking great.

[KennethSime]

(Most hand stitched kilt makers charge between $350.00usd and $450.00usd for their labor alone. That works out to right about minimum wage.)

Steve, thank for doing such a great job with your thorough explanation!

I wanted to reach out and comment that I always figured the $400 or so would afford the kilt maker something more like $100/hour, which is pretty much what a good skilled mechanic makes in my part of the world. My, how I was mistaken!

Just goes to show how much time and energy goes into a well-made kilt, and how dedicated our wonderful kilt makers are.

[Steve Ashton]

Purgy,

Most of us in the kilt business are pretty proud of the fabrics we make out kilts from. Many of us spent quite a bit of time and money developing relationships with the mills that weaver our fabrics.

Most of us will tell you proudly, right up front, the exact mill who wove our fabric, the actual fiber content, the weight and anything else our customers have questions about.

So, yes, contact the sellers. If they do not answer, or in some case may not even know, then move on and look for one who will tell you.


Some things to ask -

Where was the kilt made? Not where was the kilt designed but actually stitched.
By whom? The name of the person doing the stitching or the shop that person works in.
Is the kilt stitched by machine or by hand?
Is there full floating interfacing built into the kilt?
Is there stabilizer built into the kilt?
Where was the fabric woven? The country.
By what weaving mill?
What is the exact fiber content of the fabric?
What is the actual weight in oz per linear yard?
Is that weight at single or double-width?
Exactly how much fabric, in yards, will be in the kilt?

Any kiltmaker worth their money should be willing to give you this information about their product.


And if it will help to understand that a kilt is not just a pair of blue jeans without legs, may I offer two threads I did explaining a bit of what goes into a kilt and how to tell a quality product.

Perhaps these will also illustrate that making a kilt is not a 4 hour project.

Here is a thread about what was sold as a first quality traditional kilt.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=95523


And here is a thread about a kilt that was Scottish made, and again, sold as first quality.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=70205