Coming Off a Six Month Kilt Binge...The Financial Reality

[Jerry]

Do any of these kilt makers sell stock. I believe with the money that you and others are spending anually, they might be a good place to invest a little cash. Might even be able to make enough to use the profits to purchase kilts. Then, in a way, the manufacturers would be giving me the money with which to purchase their products.

[Magnus Sporrano]

The ones to look out for are the ones that are getting their names recognized by people outside of the kilting community. Utilikilt comes to mind. I don't own any of their stuff but they are masters of getting their names out there. I've had conversations with people about kilts where it inevitably turns to contemporary kilts and imagine my shock when someone who has never worn a kilt blurts out "You mean like Utilikilts?" For crying out loud, you can buy their kilts on Amazon.com. They have inspired volunteers to pimp their warez at all manner of large public gatherings like sci-fi conventions, gay pride events, etc.

There is some serious business savvy at UK. If any of the kiltmakers go bigtime and end up in trendy stores at the shopping malls, my money is on UK.

Still, I'm spoiled by working 1-on-1 directly with the kiltmakers and having them made just the way I want in a way that best fits my body style. If some of our favorite shops got too big, it would be hard to preserve that sort of relationship.

[lrpddrummie]

Ron,

No kilt binge would be complete without a hand sewn kilt from Ann Stewart, Catskill, NY. She is an amazing historian and a more amazing kilt maker. I have one of her kilts, MacMillan Hunting Modern, that I am wearing in my wedding April 2005. I have yet to see a kilt maker that could surpass her talent. However plan on spending a pretty penny, quality like this does not come cheap, but the kilts are worth it.

http://www.kiltshop.com/

[Riverkilt]

Thanks Drummie...Ann's been added to my list. She looks cool. Very happy with my hand sewn from Kathy Lare at www.kathyskilts.com a bit closer to home in Albuquerque.

Mangus, I agree with you too, but fear Utilikilts will self-destruct from inattention to production and final inspection...and website.

For all the money I've spent with them (call me an average kilt junkie) I've had hassles with five of my six purchases. Plus, I PAID IN ADVANCE for the goods.

First kilt, an 11 week wait for my side of the money for goods exchange.

Second kilt, hem comes out of five pleats first washing.

Third kilt, color different than ordered...big thing since we're talking leather here. Best I can figure is the website color selector jumping around because I remember wrestling with that and being sure it was in the right spot. My fault I didn't wrestle well enough. Then, the error could have been fixed with an email confirmation...UK HQ blames me for giving them a wrong email...but all the paperwork shows my correct email.

Fourth Kilt...so far, no problems other than the usual wait...comes in in just four weeks and I'm grateful...?? a black workman's, the same they crank out for Amazon...figure that's why it didn't take the usual 8+ weeks.

Fifth kilt, comes in with a bad snap. Snap just didn't take...pretty easy to check at inspection. But now begins a two week ordeal of calling for replacement snap and buying the equipment to stamp it myself. Three calls to get the snap (the special one for blue denim)...for some reason USPS took 8 days to deliver the stamps from the date on the UK postage meter...or maybe it took a while to get to the post office.

Sixth kilt, skipped stitches at the bottom of a workman's pocket. Easy to fix, but also very visible to someone in the factory if they inspect the kilts before shipping. Need to fix it, bottom of the pocket is an area that will get stress.

Add to this, a difficult to put words to attitude that's a mix of the wonderful work they are trying to do and the pressure of it all coming out sideways to customers. There's also a sort of resistance to having problems pointed out...an aloofness...a "how dare you" air..."you can't be on the team if you point this out" My feelings, maybe I'm just too sensitive of a former cop, former Marine...

I speak as a mature adult who grew up in the cut and sew industry. There's a core requirement for success in clothing. You HAVE to produce quality good for the price you sell at....VALUE. Without that, its all hoopla.

I want UK to succeed. I've emailed the boss about my typical customer experience...except for the bad pocket which came later. I hope they take the time and money to hire a strong willed production manager, or the one they have steps up, and at least institutes a tight inspection process. Some goods are always gonna get through...what I've experienced can't be right.

And, I've emailed with others who have similar experiences, both with the goods and the UK response to problems. The production problems don't seem to be going away in terms of delivery time or quality problems. That's sad. UK could be so good.

What is good is that UKs slow shipping and quality problems have encouraged and allowed other kiltmakers to step in and flourish.

In the time I was jonesing for six UK kilts I bought twelve others from five different kilt houses.

I can't help but wonder what my kilt binge would have been like if UK had shipped me my six kilts in about ten days each and they had been well inspected like every other item of clothing I buy...no problems. I might own only 6 UKs...okay, maybe a few more.

The honesty on this board is what attracted me. Don't know that I could have posted this on the UK board and not taken a bunch of flack from the UK loyalists.

Really do hope UK can assess themselves and make improvements that support the wonderful work they are doing on other fronts.

Ron

[Magnus Sporrano]

You point out some issues that I wasn't aware of (not being a UK customer myself) but you know what, for all their problems, you still kept going back for more. So what incentive do they have to fix their problems?

Sooner or later someone is going to come up with some great designs, and partner with an inexpensive but high quality offshore sweatshop for mass production to cover the more popular sizes. No they won't be as perfect as some of the custom kilts the guys here are sporting but when you can get a nice kilt for $50 with a rapid turnaround time (about a week between order and delivery by post) it's going to fill a huge gap and make people consider kilts that would have rejected them before due to the cost of entry.

[Riverkilt]

Ahhh grasshopper, you are a very astute young man. I have no incentive to go back...my UK juice dried up waiting and fixing.

I have purchased what I wanted from them...good quality over all, fixes were relativly easy, even fell in love with the brown leather. But they no longer have what I want in product...the emotional toll is too great...kinda why I don't go back to work in prison, despite the lucrative offerings...

My wish list now is in non-UK areas...me? Them? A combination?

As my Navajo brothers say, "That's just the way it is."

I suspect it will be a while before I feel the need for another UK.

Would it have been different if all six kilts arrived in short order and perfect condition? I don't know.

And, I have to admit I probably have a lurking resentment that there always seem to be plenty of kilts for their marketing department at shows, while I wait and jones out here in the hinterlands.

Ron

[macwilkin]

There's something to be said for traditional craftsmanship. I would much rather pay more for a well-crafted Tank or a kilt from Bear (which is equal to a Tank!) because I know the qualtity is outstanding and I am getting my money's worth in a product that will be an heirloom to pass on to the kids.

My grandmother used to say that the Scots definition of being frugal was owning a small amount of possessions, but they were the best possessions money can buy, and that they would last a lifetime.

Cheers,

T.

[Magnus Sporrano]

With just a short time googling I found a gaggle of companies who specialize in managing global sourcing of textiles. One of them is right in my backyard.

I'd have to think that at some point one of the big kilt makers is going to have to do something like this and that's the point at which me might start seeing $50 contemporary kilts at Abercrombie & Fitch stores at the mall.

It seems like all of the contemporary kiltmakers out there have at least some backlog, and just about all of them are charging in excess of $100 each for a kilt. The demand is out there, even at these prices. I wonder what sort of demand would be out there if turnaround time was just a few days and cost was 60% of current levels. I think that's the point at which you start seeing other people out and about wearing their kilts outside of our organized Xmarks gatherings.

[Magnus Sporrano]

There's something to be said for traditional craftsmanship. I would much rather pay more for a well-crafted Tank or a kilt from Bear, because I know the qualtity is outstanding and I am getting my money's worth in a product that will be an heirloom to pass on to the kids.

I think we're talking about two different things, though. I'm not suggesting mass production of tanks or filabegs. I'm very satisfied with the current offerings there.

What I'm talking about is modern style kilts, in solid colors, with pockets and metal snaps (on some anyway) and all that. Stuff like the UK's. Turnaround time on them sounds terrible, and yet they are starting to get name recognition with regular people outside of the kilt community. They are on the verge of becoming somewhat mainstream. But who wants to wait 8+ weeks for a garment especially after paying in excess of $150? The materials are a fraction of this cost. Labor is probably the single biggest slice.

Offshoring production of UK's (or a similar contemporary kilt product) would drive the labor costs for the garment into the ground. And I suspect turnaround time would improve dramatically.

[arrogcow]

I wouldn't expect to see UK's at teh mall anytime soon, but Hot Topic stores were selling a similar camo kilt for a while.

However to counter some of Riverkilt's posts, I would like to offer the following. I have 8 UK's, and I have never had a problem with any of them other than the Survival. My problem with the Survival model happened before the recall (and in fact I think I was one of the ones that lead to the recall). When I sent an e-mail discussing the failures of the Survival, I had a return call from Uncle Otto that day. I have spoked to them several times since then, and they are always helpful. Additionally, I have never waited longer than 4 weeks for a kilt from them.

Now I'm not saying that Ron hasn't had problems, but based on my experience, I think that he is just having some weird karmic thing going on.

Some of it is a problem with the UK company though. The one thing that makes them a truely great American company is also their biggest hinderance. They have made a corporate decision to organically grow the company (ie. grow the company as demand grows rather than expand production greatly and hope demand catches up), and not to go to foreign sweat shops in order to reduce the price of labor. This does cause some backlog and delays in shipping after ordering (again I've never waited more than 4 weeks, but I know others have). UK is quite possibly the largest kilt company in the world at the moment, and they are always trying to keep up with production.

I actually suspect that some of Ron's problems are probably due to the fact that about the same time that he started ordering, UK had just started using a new sewing co, and maybe their quality controll was not yet up to UK standards. I don't know, and I don't work for UK (for the record) other than I have worked a booth at a Celtic Fair for them (and had a ball doing so).

Finally, everyone charges you before they make a kilt. I just ordered a wonderful kilt from Jeff at Pittsburgh Kilts, and paid at the time I ordered. It took about 4 weeks to arrive as well.

Adam