Trying to get a price idea

**Sardious** · 19th November 07, 07:51 PM

Have 2 kilts on my list of things to buy. One is a leather kilt that I have coming to me. It is customer made and I like the way the kiltmaker makes her leather kilts. Will have the money for it in may and I am promised that if I have the money that she can get it to me in June when she is in town again. So the nice thick quality leather kilt is in the bag so to speak, also last July she told me she'd make me and sell me the leather kilt for $350 so I both got an AMAZING deal and got to see and try on one that would be like mine so I know how they look and feel. The other Kilt I want will be substantially more expensive and harder to get.
I want to get a Traditional wool kilt in my State of Colorado tartan. Right now to get a custom tartan from one of the well knows kiltmakers in Scotland looks like I could run 600 to 800 pounds. Right now that sits me at well over $1,200 USD. I can not afford a kilt that will run me $1200 to $1600 or if the dollar drops more maybe near 2 grand. My most obvious choice is to buy from an American kiltmaker who can get tartan from an American mill. Then the exchange and shipping rate does not kill me.

Just on a guess what you'd estimate (in US dollars) that you need to save to get a real top quality wool kilt in a custom Tartan. I will look to a pipe band that wears the Colorado tartan to see if they can point to a mill that maybe would have some extra. Still just trying to see how many years I will need to save up.
Right now me and the wife give ourselves a monthly spending section of our budget for fun stuff. It adds up to be $600 a year. So assuming that I'll break down and eat out or buy something in the span of a year, I want to see if I can get a guess at how long I'll have to wait for my Colorado Kilt.

**pipesndrumsnun** · 19th November 07, 08:04 PM

If you are able to spend the money, you could always go to Scotland to pick up your new kilt...it will save all of those nasty import/duty taxes!!

**RockyR** · 19th November 07, 08:15 PM

That price sounds a bit higheven for uk kiltmakers. I know that we do custom kilts (like the CO tartan) about $700 and I'm pretty sure other kiltmakers up here (like Matt Newsome) do as well.

**O'Neille** · 19th November 07, 08:20 PM

Prices do go up, but my custom weave from Kathy Lare was about half of your estimate and including flashes and a fly plaid. Is your price estimate for a complete outfit, or just the kilt? My tartan came from D.C. Dalgleish. Kathy took care of sourcing it for me.

**Thunderbolt** · 19th November 07, 09:24 PM

I'm looking at having another kilt made with a special weave tartan and my cost estimates aren't even close to $1200 USD.

The GBP-USD rate sucks right now. That's the reason I haven't been back to the UK lately. I can't afford to give up 50% of my money as soon as I touch down. It's freaking stoopid. Thanks to the artificially inflated GBP and the whole euro crap going on.

Without getting into the politics of the situation, I can't wait for the UK to switch to the euro so our money will be worth something again there....

T.

**McMurdo** · 19th November 07, 09:25 PM

That does seem high, perhaps you should look around at a North American kiltmaker, there are quite a few quality kiltmakers on this side of the pond, you could even get the Lochcarron wool from Scotland, and have someonre over here make up the kilt I've done this before. Is there a tartan shop anywhere near you?

**Riverkilt** · 19th November 07, 11:02 PM

I'd second Kathy Lare...if I remember correctly she's done some Colorado state tartans. She'll run down the cloth for you, nothing for you to worry about. Depending on where you are in Colorado you may even want to run down to Albuquerque and let her measure you and go over exactly what you want.

She just had to raise her prices a few months back...she'd been so busy sewing hadn't kept up with increasing costs. But I think you'd be in the $600 price range depending on your body size/how much cloth you need.

And, last I heard Kathy was still working on a 50% down, balance on delivery system. Makes it easier to pay for the kilt when its a two step process. You can check her out at www.kathyskilts.com and you can search the forum for Lare and get feedback on her work and photos.

I've got eight of her kilts in my gallery if you wanna look there too.

You're much better off price wise dealing direct with a craftsman like Kathy, Barb Tewksbury, Matt Newsome etc than going through a front man. And I think it means something that you know the person doing the sewing.

And hey, there may even be an experience kiltmaker in Colorado somewhere...you never know.

Ron

**Beertigger** · 19th November 07, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Thunderbolt

IThanks to the artificially inflated GBP and the whole euro crap going on.

Without getting into the politics of the situation, I can't wait for the UK to switch to the euro so our money will be worth something again there....

T.

Drifting away from the point... 1 US Dollar = 0.68 Euro.

The pound isn't inflated, the dollar isn't worth beans anywhere. We're even upside down with the Loonie right now!

That's what huge deficits and even bigger bond obligations get ya. We're a bad credit risk right now.

To get back to kilts, I'm holding out a slim measure of hope of finding a second-hand kilt in just the right size when I'm in Scotland next month. After paying the travel bills, there's not much left for a brand-new kilt.

Any suggestions on where to look - in Glasgow, Inverness, or Dumfries? I've heard of Starry Starry Night in Glasgow. They don't seem to have a website, so I can't tell if they'll be open when we're there....

**Sardious** · 20th November 07, 05:08 PM

well some of the scottish sites I had been to all had about 450 fot the kilt but if you had a full 8 yards and it was a custom tartan it seeed to move into about 650 pounds, some sites were 860 for a full kilt with a custom tatran. I was running of the 1 USD for 1 brittish pound so I probably was over estimating since the dollar is not quite as low as half a pound yet. But 600 to 700 USD for a Kilt from an american maker is a good price. One I could go for. Still more than a year of savings but even though at 30 years old I get less birthday or Christmas gifts I still get cash in cards so that'll help out. Kathy is one of the 3 names I was looking at for an american kiltmaker. When I get about $500 saved up I'll drop her a line and see what can be done. Thank you much for all of your assistance.

**Livingston** · 20th November 07, 05:23 PM

One thing you could do is look at a box pleat from our own Matt Newsome. That will run about half the fabric and still be a very nice kilt. He is on my list of makers of my next kilt, IF I can ever get money saved up again.

By the way, what part of CO are you in? We often have a kilt night in Denver but are starting to get enough between Pueblo and Monument to have one in the Springs. Come out and join us for the next one. We will be posting about it later.