Quote Originally Posted by David Thornton
Ugly, I beg to differ. The market is growing exponentially. Both on the custom side and on the off shore side, not to mention the emergance of the modern kilt.
I have on my tank today becasue of a dinner engagement tonight. I'm a buyer, so you know I'm not complaining, just wondering. Again, my understanding would indicate that with growing demand, and a fairly high price for a decent kilt, more competition would come in and prices would drop.
The market is growing, maybe even exponentially. But it's growing from a very small base. We're still well outside the mainstream.

And you're right that a higher demand will mean lower prices. Higher demand will mean that more sheep can be bred and shorn for their wool, lowering material cost. Higher demand would mean that kiltmakers could hire more staff, confident that they won't have idle hands, lowering labor costs. Higher demand would mean that kiltmakers could produce more stock, confident that they could eventually sell most of it.

But we're not there yet. I've said before (based on nothing but a hunch) that there will be a big turnaround sometime around 2010-2012, and kilts will then be a viable alternative to trousers for all men. Until then, costs will stay, relatively, high.

Also, higher demand can manifest itself as scarcity. Case in point: I missed calling Rocky & Kelly before their big weekend, and I now have a nice, long wait until I get my next kilt. I'm not complaining, though. Not a bit. Because I know that the alternative is an even longer wait at a higher price. So, yes, the demand is growing. I say it'll reach critical mass in about 5-7 years.