New Kiltmaker?

[Alan H]

All right, so sez I, I'm going to make handsewn custom tartan kilts! Allrighty-then!

Do the very, very basic math...

Making 6-8 yard kilts takes 3-4 yards of material. That material, "to the trade" is going to cost me around $40-$50 a yard. Let's go with the 8 yarder. OK, so that takes 4 yards of 60-inch wide tartan, or $160-$200 worth of material.

Let's say that I can turn out a custom product in 30 hours. Barb and Matt Newsome can do it quicker apparently, but I have my doubts, personally, so I'm sticking with 30 hours. If I pay myself $10 an hour, then that's $300.

In other words, DROP DEAD minimum, this kilt is going to cost $460-$500. Why should someone buy a $500 kilt from me when they can get one from Scotland for the same price? And remember since I'm paying myself $10 an hour to stay competetive, I'm still only making $20K a year.

Let's say I know that I need to make $40,000 a year to "make a living". That's pretty darned tight here in the San Franciso Bay Area, but you can live on it. What would my kilts cost if I had to make 40 grand a year?

40,000 a year translates to about $20 an hour, plus or minus a few dollars and assuming three weeks of vacation. Well, they'll still take me 30 hours to stitch up, right? The cost for the material is still the same. 30 hours times $20 an hour is $600. Add on the $180 for the material and my custom-sewn kilts are going to cost $780.

.........and nobody will buy them.

Upshot is, I have no freaking idea how on earth our kiltmakers are making a living at this. The numbers are really sobering.

[Southern Breeze]

Upshot is, I have no freaking idea how on earth our kiltmakers are making a living at this. The numbers are really sobering.

They hire Santa's elves during the off-season.

[David Thornton]

Like I said, know your costs. Just don't forget to pay yourself what you need. If you can't, back off and do it as a hobby.

Moosehead may not need to make another $40K a year. Maybe creating something has value in his life. I have a friend who moved to Argentina. Found a knife maker producing an incredible knife, easily $300 in the States. I asked his daughter if I could buy one, told her to make sure the family made enough money. Cost me $17 USD.

Moosehead, every two weeks someone is on here looking for that perfect summer kilt...that's a market. Or a custom length on something else...another market. Bottom line, figure out what you want to do, survey for market appeal at the cost you will have to get, and go for it if it makes you happy.

I for one truely enjoy seeing entrepreneural spirtit.

PM me if you are serious.

David

[Barb T]

My advice is to stick to one or maybe two things and do them really really well. That way, people will want what you have to offer.

And be realistic about pricing. Personally, I think it's crucial not to undervalue what you sell. Getting a lot of orders is meaningless if you have to kill yourself to fill them and still aren't making any money at it.

If you are making a really high quality traditional kilt, charge what it costs to order a top notch kilt from Scotland, and don't try to match the cheap kilts from Scotland. You can't compete with online cheap from Scotland, and you'll kill yourself trying to.

Charging $250-300 for labor plus the cost of the tartan for a hand made traditional kilt is roughly the cost of ordering a good kilt from Scotland and is probably what the trad kiltmakers are charging in your area. But, if you charge that much, you have to have a really nice product. That might mean practicing a lot until you can make something that's indistinguishable from one of those high quality trads that someone would order from Scotland.

I actually do make a trad kilt in about 20 hours unless it's really big. But, it did take me 40 hours the first time I made one. So, don't underestimate how much time you would have to spend on each kilt if you wanted to make a high quality trad kilt.

What about offering a kilt that takes less time to make? If you start down the road of doing more and more machine work and making it less and less of a hand-sewn traditional, people will expect it to cost less and less. And you might ask Steve Ashton some day how long it takes for him to make a Freedom Kilt. It's a lot longer than you think, and he can charge what he does because offers a beautifully-made, well-engineered, and distinctive product. You guys probably don't know it, but Steve has a scientist's curiosity about what makes a garment work and an engineer's persistence in analyzing how to make a garment better. He has arrived at his current kilt design by persistence, experimentation, and a relentless attention to detail and perfection. So, moral of this story I think is that people pay for quality, and aiming for quality, rather than quantity, is not only personally satisfying but also good business in the long run.

Luckily for you, you're in Canada and don't have to pay duty on tartan ordered from Scotland, so that will save you some $$. You're also lucky that you don't have to pay income tax!

Well, enough ruminating. I have to go teach class. Topic today is climate change on Mars. Fun stuff!

Barb

[Moosehead]

Great replies, keep 'em coming. I'll comment a little later after digesting it all.

As mentioned in first post, solids would be a prime (if not the prime) product. My reasoning? Most of the current Irish Clans (associations, societies etc.) have decided on solid colour kilts.

Now, if I can get the College of Piping in Summerside to appoint me as their kiltmaker, I'd be set. . For kilts at their shop, they have them made in Scotland. I'll be signing up as a volunteer with them shortly, and will always wear a kilt when there. Free advertising.

[Colin]

Moosehead, If you head out and work the Lobster season, want to send a couple of those freash babies out to BC?

[Kilted KT]

Great replies, keep 'em coming. I'll comment a little later after digesting it all.

As mentioned in first post, solids would be a prime (if not the prime) product. My reasoning? Most of the current Irish Clans (associations, societies etc.) have decided on solid colour kilts.

Now, if I can get the College of Piping in Summerside to appoint me as their kiltmaker, I'd be set. . For kilts at their shop, they have them made in Scotland. I'll be signing up as a volunteer with them shortly, and will always wear a kilt when there. Free advertising.

Very smart move. People apt to wear kilts to work ( Pipers ) are definitly more apt to purchase kilts. Great way to create a captive market.

[Pleater]

I have been making various types of clothing and accessories for a very long time - about 35 years - but it seems longer.

I would say that there is nothing which will spoil the enjoyment of doing anything faster than having to work to deadlines or under pressure to turn out quantity.

If the kilt making can be kept to a passtime level then maybe it will remain a pleasure, but if/when it gets stressful it can spoil the doing of it entirely.

However - to make kilts for others is a high calling - and it means that you get to look for, select and handle good fabrics and use them to create a garment with status.

There is little investment required other than the purchase of the cloth, and your time, so you are not going to have to factor for machinery, other than a good iron and maybe a sewing machine. Even if you are doing the construction ot the pleats by hand you will most likely want to make up linings and waist bands etc with a sewing machine.

If you do decide to go ahead I wish you good luck.

[Wompet]

My advice is to stick to one or maybe two things and do them really really well. That way, people will want what you have to offer.

Now, I'm looking at only making hand-sewn, traditionally-cut, wool kilts and kilted skirts. Especially solid colours, although tartans would be part of it. Hand sewn sporrans and garter ties (fingerwoven). Possibly jackets. Handknit hose.

It looks in your initial choice of products, you'ld be following Barb's advice. I just did a quick surf through the Canadian listings of the North American Kiltmakers Directory, and I didn't see any solid/unpatterned wool kilts. Or handsewn sporrans, fingerwoven garter ties, or handknit hose, for that matter . Of the members here, the Wizard and RKilt make non-traditionals and Bear and MacHummel work with non-woolen fabrics. We (your target market) have expressed interest in handknit hose and garter ties, and everyone knows you can't have too many sporrans.

Sure, go for it. One piece of advice I can think of is to not take too many orders at once, and be realistic about completion times. If you overestimate the time and get a product done early, customers are pleasantly surprised. If you underestimate they will become frustrated.

Overestimation - also known as the Scotty factor:

"How long to re-fit?"
"Eight weeks. But you don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for you in two."
"Do you always multiply your repair estimates by a factor of four?"
"How else to maintain my reputation as a miracle worker?"

Kirk and Scotty in Star Trek III

Good luck with your decision. And if you decide to go ahead, the line forms behind the kilted dog.

[bangkok kilt]

Moosehead,

My support would be that I think many members of the forum would be looking to buy from within the ranks as opposed to going to some large anonymous company for a kilt. I would love to be able to have a kilt made from someone on the forum.