When will Kilts sell for the cost of Jeans?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

One of the aspects of all of this that has been an "issue" with me for as long as I can remember, is what I call the "factory mentality" that seems to pervade almost every aspect of modern life--from what we eat and how it is produced and delivered to us, to the entertainment choices that we typically make. And of course, that mentality not only affects kiltmaking...but, in my opinion, tends to undermine every aspect of what we consider "quality."

The over-arching reason for implementing every single process described in Steve's original thesis was to cut costs or replace time consuming and/or hard to master skills. In each case, implementing one led to implementing the next...and the next. And each of these techniques can be seen in...indeed they are almost the hallmark of...common, post WWII, mass-manufactured, commercial products...at almost any price point.

If we purchase products made in this way without any giving any thought to it; or, as kiltmakers (or shoemakers), if we adopt techniques and materials such as these, we, in effect, surrender to the "factory mentality"...because the only valid reasons to do so are the very same ones that motivated the factories themselves--the "bottom line." Time is money; skilled workers command higher wages...get rid of them; money, money, money.

But how can one love techniques or a process that has no history, that has no roots? The very origins of which are in a context (the factory) that demeans not only the final product but the skills and, more importantly, the individuals who are, or were, its heart and soul?

How can one love a process that has been made so mind-numbingly simplistic that, to a large extent, it can be entrusted in its entirety to dumb machines, with little or no human intervention? And when we borrow, or buy into, techniques that, having been adapted to machines (or to the factory context), are stripped of all complexity and all humanity, do we not take on some of the same stolid, immovable, passionless, character of the machine? How do we as individuals...confronting a product that is supposedly unique and individual...not blush with embarrassment when we allow ourselves and our culture to be so shamelessly debased?

So often we inherit our "ideals" from our parents and our peers (and, especially with regard to parents, that may very well be a good thing) but then we go through life without ever examining what lies underneath.

We all want "personal fulfillment," or so we say. But then we actively...and more importantly, unthinkingly...fall in with all the conventions and conveniences that serve to undermine any possibility of fulfillment.

In accepting the principle that 'cheaper is better' (or even 'good enough'); in relegating high quality--kilts, shoes, whatever--to the province of a very sneered upon 'elite', we participate in, and even defend, a system that devalues human worth to the level of the machine. Without recognizing it, we become less and less human and more and more divorced from the very things that connect us one to the other and enrich our lives.

And seen from a certain angle, most of the ills of modern society can be traced not only to this willing and perhaps even active acceptance of the lowest common denominator but to the ennui that inevitably accompanies it.

I could not agree more-- what is chilling is to see this same mentality being applied to the governance of a nation, and to see its ready acceptance by the populace.

[Colonel MacNeal]

It depends on the jeans and depends on the kilt. Some jeans cost more than an 8 yard kilt.

[Dixiecat]

and they wouldn't be as close nor uniformly spaced as Barb's stitches

I've seen kilts produced by a very well-known local kilt-maker and I can tell you that their kilts aren't as well made as what you've just described.

[Bugbear]

I've seen kilts produced by a very well-known local kilt-maker and I can tell you that their kilts aren't as well made as what you've just described.

Oh, well, um, I'm not even going to try to make a kilt. I'm only using those stitches on jacket conversions, or when I need to adjust one of my suits. Really, for me, sewing is very draining because I have to tripple check each stitch at the needle point before I draw the thread through, where most people have a bright light and just look at where they're sticking the needle. I have made a tool with a small "V" notch at the end that lines up the exiting thread and the needle, but the thread has to have a little tinsion on it for everything to work. It's also difficult for me to do any of this and also keep tinsion on the fabric.

[Dixiecat]

Ted, I hope you weren't thinking I was criticizing your work in anyway. I'm very sorry if I gave that impression. I actually was complimenting Barb's stitching. In comparing what's been said about the closeness and evenness of her stitching, with the same from the local well-known and very expensive kilt-maker.

[Bugbear]

Ted, I hope you weren't thinking I was criticizing your work in anyway. I'm very sorry if I gave that impression. I actually was complimenting Barb's stitching. In comparing what's been said about the closeness and evenness of her stitching, with the same from the local well-known and very expensive kilt-maker.

Oh, no; I didn't take it that way.

I am practicing sewing each evening and getting a little better; I've only had limmited training in hand sewing,.

[Alan H]

In fact some jeans DO cost as much as a decent kilt, and they're not custom made. How on earth a mass-produced pair of jeans can cost $200 - $300 is beyond me.

Actually I know why it costs that much. It's because it has a name-designer label on it. The actual garment, instead of having a 100% markup, has about an 800% markup, all based on that little tag.

[CDNSushi]

Thanks for this awesome video. As you know, I teach English at a junior college in Japan...

The narrator speaks slowly and enunciates clearly so I transcribed the script and will be using it as a teaching aid in some of my classes. It'll be great to teach passive voice (...is sewn...) and numbers like "fifteen hundred."

[ali8780]

that was a great clip, thanks for the link. I wish I had one of those fabric cutters in my sewing room!