New terminology related to MUG wearing?

[couyalair]

I quite agrée, Peter,. Skirt is the best word, but why do You call yours à 'dinkum'?

Martin

[Grok]

I quite agrée, Peter,. Skirt is the best word, but why do You call yours à 'dinkum'?

Martin

"Dinkum" sounds like a brand name. To make the product memorable, and therefore marketable.

[janrok]

"DimSum" would make it even more memorable and adds some flavor to it.
Jan.

[Grok]

"DimSum" would make it even more memorable and adds some flavor to it.
Jan.

[Sinned]

Apparently, to get back to the sex and gender theme, on Facebloke now ( at least in America but coming to a version near you soon ) you can choose between 50 ways in which to express your gender. Choosing from such delights as Agender, Bigender, Cisgender, Gender fluid, Intersex, Neither, Nonbinary, Pangender, Transgender and Twospirit. Having not seen the full list ( maybe one of you from across the pond could enlighten us Brits on what we can expect here ) I think I would choose gender fluid for me. Covers all bases in my tops, skirts and so on.

[MrUtopia]

I quite agrée, Peter,. Skirt is the best word, but why do You call yours à 'dinkum'?

Martin

"Dinkum" sounds like a brand name. To make the product memorable, and therefore marketable.

Correct. The Dinkum is a brand name for a skirt for men.

Thanks
Peter

[skirtingtoday]

Peter,

I have looked at the prices of the Dinkum - are they really 45 Aus Dollars? (about £25 UK sterling) That's the sort of price they should be!

Good luck with your venture and I wish you all success in converting the locals!

Ross

[MrUtopia]

Peter,

I have looked at the prices of the Dinkum - are they really 45 Aus Dollars? (about £25 UK sterling) That's the sort of price they should be!

Good luck with your venture and I wish you all success in converting the locals!

Ross

Ross, I do not remember putting a price on the Dinkum but maybe I did say it somewhere. I am currently in discussions with a manufacturer and fabric wholesaler to work out what they will cost to produce and what I would need to sell them for. Results to follow but I am getting close to a final decision.

I have now received 2 requests from locals since the article went into the local paper. Considering the circulation of the local paper and the conservative nature of the area, I am impressed by the response. Costs are my biggest challenge..

Regards
Peter

[crfriend]

I have now received 2 requests from locals since the article went into the local paper. Considering the circulation of the local paper and the conservative nature of the area, I am impressed by the response.

That is quite impressive, especially as there wasn't any mention of the garment actually being under formal manufacture yet. There must be a few forward thinkers in the area.

On the topic of "conservative" (and also "liberal") it's worth noting that both of those terms have been overloaded by politicians, idealogues, and zealots over the past 30 years to the point where, at least in the USA, they've almost become slurs -- so, one needs to be careful in using them. In this vein, however, I take "conservative" to mean somebody who is naturally inclined to resist "change for change's sake", however who is also willing to embrace change if there is a perceived need to do so or an advantage in it.

Costs are my biggest challenge..

That will likely remain the case until large production-runs are required, at which point the unit cost will come down. Until that "tipping-point", though, cost will be a dominating constraint to sales and general acceptance on the part of the male public.

If one goes through the older posts, we had Dan Richardson (if memory serves) who ran "City Skirt" until having to shut it down, and he commented on the problems very cogently.

If the garment can be manufactured so as to compete in the price-range of a mid-range pair of jeans it should do OK, albeit initially to a niche market. If it comes in high, folks are likely to question whether they'd actually wear it very often; the odds of it coming in low, sadly, approach zero.

[Grok]

We keep coming back to the chicken or egg conundrum Insufficient demand results in high unit costs, which discourages customers. And Trousers Tyranny suppresses demand in the first place, making this conundrum almost inevitable.

[Caultron]

If the garment can be manufactured so as to compete in the price-range of a mid-range pair of jeans it should do OK, albeit initially to a niche market. If it comes in high, folks are likely to question whether they'd actually wear it very often; the odds of it coming in low, sadly, approach zero.

Agreed, if kilts were cheaper and, perhaps even more importantly, locally available, more men might think about buying one. Having to pay hundreds of dollars for a custom-made, non-returnable garment that might take months to deliver and then not fit is quite a deterrent. But if you could just go to your local big box or jean store and try one on, that would remove at least one major barrier.

But there'd still need to be some catalyzing force of suggestion, such as rock stars, pro athletes, or other trend-setters going kilted on a more-or-less permanent basis.

[Grok]

I think that traditional kilts will survive because of the Heritage thing. As for nontraditional kilts, there seems to be just sufficient demand for a handful of small companies. Kilting may be...just barely...on the commercially viable side of the conundrum.

[Caultron]

The eternal question seems to be what will produce more demand. Better supply would seem to help but certainly isn't the entire answer.

But when you look at some of the bizarre fashion trends of, say, the last 50 years, you have to believe anything is possible.

[Grok]

Could high unit costs be avoided by using fairly simple designs? Kilts, for example, tend to be fairly complex/elaborate. Compare that to a sarong.

[Caultron]

Better supply? Other than DIY projects, I can think of two possibilities:

1. Importing traditional garments from other countries. This gets around a potential problem-insufficient demand to justify the manufacturing process. But then there is the expense of shipping

Global shipping is apparently dirt cheap. And virtually all traditional make garments are made overseas already.

2. Unisex garments. (For example, see the Madrass kilt). Would female customers help to raise demand sufficiently...to justify the manufacturing process? And help keep down unit costs?

Whatever keeps men from buying in the ladies department today will probably remain in force. I suppose you could swap out the size labels and tags, and not sell the same item in both departments in the same store, though.