Hello All,
TL;DR: If you want a Debian kilt, and price is not a concern, mail me.
2027 will be the 20th anniversary of the creation of Debian Tartan, so
it would be nice if people could get hold of some if they wanted to.
https://wiki.debian.org/Tartan
The problem is that it is not immediately obvious that if one wants a
kilt, the first thing to do is gather 7+ like-minded people so that
together you can get sufficient tartan woven to make economic sense.
My theory is that if we were to arrange for there to be a stock of the
cloth, people would then be able to buy some whenever they felt like it,
and the sales would be sufficient to justify keeping it in stock.
This mail is an attempt to test that theory by seeing how many people
are willing to say they'd buy some tartan, if it were to be available.
Warning: Tartan and Kilts are expensive.
The tailor[1]'s headline price for a kilt is: £950.00
Note that you'll probably end up spending even more than that, since one
also needs e.g. a Sporran, and the tailors might talk you into a jacket
if you are planning on going to weddings or formal events in your kilt.
Please don't put yourself in financial hardship to get a kilt.
I'd rather have a short list of "definites" than a long list of "maybes"
at this stage, because if you are going to struggle to pay for it, then
hopefully you'll come to your senses at some point and realise that
being able eat is rather more important than being well dressed.
Having said all that, kilts are awesome, so if you're tempted, and can
afford one, I would say it's well worth the money.
This is not only about kilts. The tailor provided this price list:
8 Yard hand sewn kilt + flashes £950 [2] (less £100 machine sewn)
Neck tie - £35
Bow tie - £50
Self tie bow tie - £50
Ladies 4 yard kilted skirt - £500
Ladies Hand sewn kilt 5 yard - £750
Ladies sash - £90
You can also buy the cloth to make things for yourself: £55/m [3]
Those prices are all based on an order of at least 55m of cloth (which
equates to about eight 8-yard kilts) -- ordering less makes the tartan
more expensive per meter, because there are fixed setup costs.
Assuming there's enough interest to justify continuing with this, I
would want to request that Debian fund some cloth beyond the length
needed to satisfy the initial batch of customers.
That way, when news gets out that there is going to be some cloth
available, and people ask if they can have some, the answer can be "Yes"
(whereas in the past it was sadly mostly "NO", because almost all the
cloth was already allocated to customers).
Once the excess production is sold, the money from the sales of that
cloth will be sufficient to fund another weaving run, so it will make
economic sense to keep on producing it.
BTW When I mentioned that the funds may be coming from a 501(c)(3)
non-profit organisation, the tailors said they'd be happy to donate 5%
of the sales price of Debian Tartan items sold, which seems decent of them.
If you read all the way to here, you clearly want to buy something, so
send me a mail and I'll add you to the list :-)
Cheers, Phil.
[1] GEOFFREY Tailor & Kilt Maker -- https://geoffreykilts.co.uk/
They (or at least the previous generation of the family firm) made
the previous batches of kilts, and did a great job. Perhaps some
other firm would do as good a job for less money, but I don't see
how I could discover that reliably so I went with the people I know.
Feel free to do your own research. You are welcome to use the "sett"
for the tartan, so another tailor/weaver could be instructed.
[2] There is £100 per yard surcharge for larger sizes for gents kilt.
[3] The cloth will be Single Width and Medium Weight, which means that
it's about 30 inches wide, and weighs 13oz per square yard.
It's worsted wool fabric, so despite the fact that's wool, don't
expect to make a cuddly blanket from it.
If you're wondering about the weird mix of Imperial and Metric
units, apparently the weavers nowadays all sell things in metric,
whereas the tailors quote their dimensions in Imperial (I guess
there's a 9.3% profit involved if you can sell yards of cloth at
per-meter prices ;-) )
--
Philip Hands -- https://hands.com/~phil
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