Stillwater Kilts

[Scott Gilmore]

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

[Riverkilt]

Good points Scott,

Anyone who looks around can see that people come in different sizes. I stand 6' even but back when I wore pants my inseam was 30" - so I'm weird, but Levis and Wrangler and Dockers made pants to fit that inseam.

Utilikilts offers varying kilt lengths from 27" to 20" That's their choice of who they want to market to (Yes yes yes I know that UKs are worn lower...the numbers aren't the point, the range of sizes is).

Its Jerry's business and its his choice of who he wants to market to. By making the decision to limit his offering of kilt lengths he's also making a decision to limit the size of his market. His choice and I respect that.

Ron

[Alan H]

Guys, I gotta tell ya. Hemming a kilt is just NOT that hard.

I mean, you take the kilt and put it on the ironing board. You fold up the amount you want to hem...oh about a foot of it and press it down with the iron. You work your way all 'round and iron it up. Then you sit down with a needle and thread and go 'round the kilt, catching just a few threads at each pass so a big hem-line doesn't show on the outside. Four-Five hours later, you're done.

You don't need a sewing machine. You need:

An Ironing board
an iron
distilled water
a sewing needle
a spool of thread that matches the predominant color of the tartan
4-5 hours of time.

.....and next to no talent. Stillwater kilts material is *easy* to sew in. It's loose acrylic, it takes NO effort.

If you don't WANT to do this, then that's fine. No problem if you don't WANT to do this. Hey maybe you don't have TIME to do this. OK, I'll buy that....

But to say that you CAN'T do this because you have no skill at it is just absurd. If you can use a hand saw to cut a moderately straight line in a piece of plywood, if you can slice up vegetables to make a salad, if you can draw a straight line in a drafting document....then you can hem a flippin' kilt.

[Riverkilt]

Alan, Alan, Alan...

You left out the hard part for us olde guys.....threading the dang needle!!

Ron

[mudd]

Thread? Needle? Iron?

You guys are way over my head here.

[keepoffgrass]

Thread? Needle? Iron?

You guys are way over my head here.

Where do you find these things?

[gilmore]

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.


Regards,
Scott Gilmore

Many thousands of dollars? I think not. Their kilts are made in Pakistan. At most "many hundreds," probably "many dozens....of rupees."

[turpin]

Personally, I would rather Jerry spend his efforts getting that line of leather Nightstalker sporrans on the shelves.

[GTRMAN]

Does ANYONE have a clue as to when they are expecting to get a new shipment/stock of wool kilts?

[Scott Gilmore]

Many thousands of dollars? I think not. Their kilts are made in Pakistan. At most "many hundreds," probably "many dozens....of rupees."

As a rule, change to a business model generally fosters greater expenditure than the cost of product/raw materials; certainly in the short term, anyway. This is true even if StillWater is just acting essentially as the importer. And of course, there's the risk.

In actuality, assuming what you say is correct -- and I don't doubt you -- the fact that StillWater lacks direct control over the manufacturing process complicates the effort to make a change to an established (and ostensibly successful) business model.

Think again, cousin.

Regards,
Scott Gilmore