Making kilts for others

[Piglet]

Thanks Chas - i don't fancy making kilts for any of the big kilt shops, but this was a small run of kilts for a designer shop in England and so not really crossing into my normal territory (eg the material would be their own rather than tartan). I thought it might be useful practice in making kilts out of different fabrics ( just to see what I thought really) but there would definitely be no problem with a contract stopping me from making kilts in my own name as it woukd only be a small run for one season.

But at the same time, maybe I'll just try some in other fabrics off my own back. I've done pink kilts for a breast cancer charity event before but actually was a lot more work in some ways cause of the thickness of the material.

[Barb T]

If it's a designer shop in England, you might be able to get them to put a printed hang tag on the kilt that says something about you. You would have to print up the hang tag yourself (and it would have to be classy), but here in the US, anyway, you could get something like that printed very cheaply. And the shop might be more inclined to actually put it on the kilt if the hang tag had care instructions on the back. And it would help them justify charging more for your kilt if it is obviously hand made by someone who's pic and info are right on the hang tag. And it wouldn't hurt to include one with all of your kilts. Hmmmm - gets me thinking!

Anyway, a place like OvernightPrints in the US will print 100 two-sided glossy 2"x6" heavy stock bookmarks (which would work well for this) from your own artwork for $30 (500 for $50). They do super work, and I presume that there must be similar companies in the UK.

The big down side to making kilts for sale by someone else is that a kiltmaker is typically paid a whole lot less than when taking a custom order directly (although this might not be the case for your designer shop, which would be great). And if you want to build up your business, you don't want to wind up with so much of your time jobbing kilts for others that you don't have time to market yourself as a kiltmaker.

I gave advice to a kiltmaker here in the US a year or so ago - she was making kilts for another kiltmaker, was being paid only $110 for all the labor, and could not talk the other kiltmaker into a raise. I don't know what pay is like for kiltmakers in the UK, but, unless you take significant shortcuts, $110 for all the labor in a properly made kilt is below minimum wage in the US, which, in New York State, is currently $7.25/hour.

[Pleater]

It would be a good idea to sew in a tape somewhere discretely hidden or even embroider directly onto the fabric, to have a permanent serial number or some sort of code for your own records.

That way if you get a rocket over the size or length you can look it up.

It is easy to make a photographic record these days too.

Shops can be cheeky and I have known one manager to complain that the garments they had left at the end of the season were returned because they were the wrong size, just because they ordered too many in a small size.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: