I have been reflecting on the number of kilt maker sites now on the internet. When I first became interested in kilts, one would go to E-bay to try and purchase a good used kilt and hope that it would fit properly. Later other sites Utilikilts, Sportkilts, Stillwater kilts, etc. began to open up shop.

Oh, their kilts are nice, but they are not the same make and quality of a custom made kilt from a Scottish kiltmaker, although - their price is much more in keeping with the average Joe like me.

This was only the beginning of kilt - makers - retailers - etc.

It seems to me, there are quite a number of kilt maker wannabees available, and if price is the only consideration, they are adequate. Yet the durability and quality isn't the same as the Scottish kiltmakers, but they do beat the snot out of them on price.

I have looked at many of the "new" kiltmakers and their products have improved over the years. The price is also increasing. Materials, labor, advertising, other overhead costs and the need to make a fair profit, all add to the increasing costs of kilts. (So enters the cheap labor and overhead from third world nations.) Yet, if there were a way to mass produce "modern" kilts - of good quality - in sufficient volume - I do think that a viable business could be born.

Many of the Kilt Maker Wannabee's could build a that business by sharing talents and resources rather than competing with each other. The question that I submit to the forum is, "Should this be the way they should go, or should we let free enterprise continue and survival of the fittest lead us into the future?"

There! I've done my duty and posted something for the first time in months. I feel so much better now.

PatJ