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Brice,
No doubt if you communicate directly to our kiltmakers, they will give you their current price for building a kilt.
Then I would recommend that you click on the Scotweb ad at at the top of the page, and get really friendly with the Tartan Finder application. It won't require much effort, it's addictive! You can select a tartan, slice and dice what parameters you want (fabric, weight, width) and get all kinds of prices. As Steve points out, the exchange rate is the wild card in the equation.
USAK also has a shiny new tartan display application, you can have hours of fun there, too. You can see what a 5-yard or a Premier kilt would cost for a given tartan.
Check Celtic Croft and the Scottish Tartans Museum shop for their available tartans and current prices. They have lists on line that are easy to find, but most kiltmakers & retailers would probably give you a sample quotation. With STM, USAK you know exactly which mill you're discussing.
On to the deals:
Last year I was looking for fabric, and found on Ebay a kilt length of very good quality fabric (13 oz.) for about $150, delivered. Since it's under the amount an individual can import on any given day, there was no duty payable. Based on what I could get from Scotweb, or from a stateside retailer, I figured that was half price or better.
In a separate deal, I got 5 meters of House of Edgar 13-ounce for about the same price. It's the muted Wallace in my current avatar, and 4 yards of it is now my number-one tank. The remainder of the fabric is deciding whether it wants to be a bias-cut waistcoat. That was perhaps a bit better than half price.
My comfort level with those 2 Ebay suppliers was good, based on feedback from the Xmarks kiltmaking community.
When the exchange rate was pretty good (late 2008) I got 2 yards of Marton Mills 16-ounce Jura from Scotweb, to make a box-pleat. That was nicely affordable, less than $100 delivered IIRC. Even now with the pound near $167, it's running $45+ per yard. Lochcarron Strome is about $74+. So, about $180-300 plus overhead gets a kilt length. You'll probably find that our retailers are competitive with that, and you won't have to hassle with the import part of the process.
Enjoy!
__________________
Ken Sallenger - apprentice kiltmaker, journeyman curmudgeon
Last edited by fluter; 12-09-2009 at 09:11 AM.
Reason: my fingers can't spell worth a hoot
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