There is more allergen categories to think of than just smoke and cats---dogs or other animals (I know someone who lets ferrets run loose in the house) that shed either hair/fur or significant dander (skin cells), flowers and certain plants, and other fabric materials (wool can be bad enough, but cashmere, angora, etc... can be even worse), even eating a peanut butter sandwich while you are working on a kilt for someone who might be peanut sensitive could cause allergic consequences to the subsequent kiltwearer. You might want to ask if your customer has any specific allergies that your environment might expose them to, so you can know to modify your workshop to accommodate, if possible.

I would also suggest offering your "whole build" prices, where you order and obtain the tartan, build the kilt, and ship it to the buyer, along with maybe a "contact me" number or email if the consumer might wish to provide their own tartan material, where you could in direct communication with them offer a "labor only plus shop materials (buckles, etc...)" charge on a one by one basis, and even discuss with them whether it is worth the consumer's effort to obtain the tartan themselves, considering a kiltmaker's "corporate" discount with the tartan vendors. There will always be a small percentage of the population that wants something modified or different in some way, so be prepared to be accommodating as possible.

One other thing I would suggest is to keep in contact with your customers before and after the sale, before by keeping them aware of their position in your waiting queue, photos of hteir kilt in progress sent by email, notification of completion and tracking info for shipment with expected dates of arrival, following up on reciept of the goods, their level of satisfaction with the goods, and possible need for alterations either in this particular sale to achieve optimum satisfaction, or future possible sales for this particular customer to be kept on file, ask for written feedback and/or reviews on the various kilt forums, maybe even for pictures of the customer wearing the kilt in action that you could include on your website with their permission (a rogue's gallery of satisfied customers), you could even link their comments to their pictures so it puts a more personal touch to the relationship. Also keep a list of all customers, regardless of their degree of satisfaction, and offer up the last ten as references if asked for them, and if those ten customers agree to act as referecnes for you. Anybody can find a couple satisfied customers, even if your work is not that great, but you take out the bias of selecting only satisfied customers and instead use the last ten to give a more accurate assessment of the current level of your most recent work.

just a few thoughts.

jeff