Economic theory

[Barb T]

A trad kilt made by the traditional method (i.e., all hand sewn, not just hand finished, with all the stabilizing interior construction and pleat shaping that makes a trad kilt different from a machine-made kilt) takes me 20-24 hours of working time to make. It simply takes that long to make a kilt. The only ways to make it more cheaply are to make it in less time by cutting corners on the construction or to make it with less expensive materials or to do it with really cheap labor. All three are currently being done. If you want to cut cost but want top flight fabric with traditional top flight construction, you need to find a kiltmaker who will work for only a few $ an hour. Otherwise, your only choices to cut costs are in materials and construction.

I buy tartan wholesale and, with the dollar as weak as it has been, I've been spending over $200 just on the tartan lately. Do the math. If I were doing this for a retailer who then sold the kilt to a customer who had ordered the kilt, you can see where the final cost comes from. It is cheaper to order a trad kilt directly from the kiltmaker, but it still isn't cheap.

Barb