Unkilted in Lanzarote

[Jimmy]

Just returned from 2 weeks in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, the weather was really great, going in to the high seventies at times.
One afternoon while lying in the sun enjoying its heat, I got thinking about some of the X-Markers who stay in constantly warm climes and they seem to wear the kilt a lot. I know that these kilts are surely lightweight and not a traditional heavy kilt but I wondered if I would want to wear a kilt of any description in very warm temperatures.

I have seen the pictures of many X-Markers in their kilts from many warm countries throughout the world and they all look quite cool and smart in kilts but are shorts not much more preferable in this type of temperature.
Of course, coming from a cold country with sometimes cold summers, I can appreciate how warm and comfortable a kilt can be in cold weather despite non-kilt wearers thinking that I am freezing in my kilt.

Certainly it would be great to wear the kilt in all types of weather so can some members from these warm countries tell me of their experiences kilted in hot weather

[Ayin McFye]

Well I'm from Phoenix, Arizona in the heart of the dry and hot. During the summer time here it will easily get between 115 and 120 degrees for a while. You don't really want to be outside for long no matter what, BUT if i am going to be outside, the ventilation that a kilt offers is much betters than that of pants.

Like you said though, I'm not wearing a 16oz heavyweight kilt either during the summer. We only really have two seasons here in the valley. Hot, and not so hot.

There are a lot of X Markers that either live here in Arizona, or used to that i'm sure will comment as well.

[cavscout]

Here in the humid South of the USA I've found that if I start to get too warm in a kilt, I just walk around for a bit and the swish of the kilt will vent any warm air from the kilt. All in all, I stay very comfortable in a kilt whether my wool Stillwater or my PV USAK or my cotton MarPat PK. No doubt the lighter PV and MarPat are cooler and lighter than the wool, but I'd rather be warm in a kilt than sweating in pants or shorts.

[Jimmy]

Well I'm from Phoenix, Arizona in the heart of the dry and hot. During the summer time here it will easily get between 115 and 120 degrees for a while. You don't really want to be outside for long no matter what, BUT if i am going to be outside, the ventilation that a kilt offers is much betters than that of pants.

Like you said though, I'm not wearing a 16oz heavyweight kilt either during the summer. We only really have two seasons here in the valley. Hot, and not so hot.

There are a lot of X Markers that either live here in Arizona, or used to that i'm sure will comment as well.

I can understand what you mean by the ventilation that the kilt gives you as shorts certainly does not offer this type of ventilation.
The kilt certainly would not contribute to a heat rash as shorts do

[RobertParker]

Living in Tennessee, I also had my share of kilt wearing in hot summers. I alluded to this in a post earlier, but to my estimation it's not just the weight of the fabric that matters, but how dark the colors are also. The bottom line is that dark colors soak up more heat. That's why people in desert climates wear a lot of tan and white. So I don't often wear my darkest kilt in that heat unless I know I'll be moving around (creating ventilation) or in the shade a lot.

[Bugbear]

I live in the low, hot desert over here in Arizona. I don't have too many problems with the kilt being too hot. Part of this is metabolism, but the only issue seems to be with the shirt thickness and the overlapping part of the kilt on my waist holding in a little too much heat. there's other X Markers living out here that do have problems with the weight of their kilts, though. It's just different for each person I guess.

[PiobBear]

No matter what, in Florida it's hot. Nothing quite like standing in a cemetery in August in Florida waiting for the cortege to arrive, dressed in a wool kilt, Argyll and glen. Cheap, thin kilt hose, a tropical weight uniform shirt, and uncovering all help, but it's still hot.

[Retro Red]

Another denizen of the desert here. Like Ayin & Ted I live in the Valley of the Sun - Phoenix, Arizona - one of the hottest metropolises in the world!

Just to establish our credentials as a "hot" place to live...

Last summer we set a new heat record - 31 days of blast furnace heat of 110°+F (43.3°+C) - yeah, a month's worth of temps of at least 110°F & often more! And thanks to our delightful heat island effect (to which we can thank our civic "leaders" for a complete lack of far-sighted development planning), there's no respite from the heat - on days like that it'll still be around 100°F (37.8°C) or more at midnight!!! And then there was that time not too long ago when we hit 122°F (50°C)...

We try to delude ourselves & others into believing this kind of soul-searing heat is tolerable by repeating the mantra of "...but it's a dry heat."

Sure, the low humidity helps, but let's face it, when it's 110°+F it's just hot, FRIGGIN' H-O-T!!!

When you've gotta use oven mittens to hold on to your car's steering wheel - it's hot!

There's 2 sure signs of the impending Season of Sizzle here in Phoenix -
1) the snowbirds start packin' up & leavin' for cooler climes &
2) at shopping malls, people don't hunt for parking spaces closest to an entrance, they're searching for a shaded parking spot!

So, back to your question, how do I go about wearing a kilt full-time living next door to H-E-double-hockey-sticks? By most of the time wearing a modern casual type kilt, like a Utilikilt or a Cargo Model Freedom Kilt. Something in cloth that's lighter weight than 16-oz wool & in breathable, easy-to-wash-and-get-the-sweat-stains-out-of cotton. Plus, like most folks here in the Valley, I spend as little time out in the sun as possible - we scurry from our air-conditioned homes into our air-conditioned cars into air-conditioned offices or stores. There's a reason why most desert creatures are nocturnal! That sun is brutal! And if we aren't in some heavily air-conditioned environment, then we're immersed in a body of water - either a backyard pool (do a Google Earth scan of Phoenix & notice how many homes have pools!), or tubing down the Salt, or we're out at one of the area's man-made lakes, or the several local water parks (where you can even "surf" in the desert).

If I do wear a traditional kilt during our burning season, I choose one of my 13-oz box-pleat kilts because they use about half as much material as a full knife-pleat "tank" & the lighter weight wool helps, too. I don't EVEN try wearing my full tanks during the summer here, they are just wa-a-ay too hot even with air-conditioning.

Because a kilt provides vastly superior ventilation compared with pants or even shorts, I'm definitely more comfortable wearing a kilt in this hot climate. My standard attire for about 8 months of the year here is a casual cotton kilt, a cotton or cotton/hemp shirt & sandals. And I guarantee that I'm more comfortable than my bifurcated breeches-wearin' bretheren!
.

[gilmore]

Here in the humid South of the USA ...

The South is humid? I didn't know. I always thought everywhere else is overly arid.

[Nighthawk]

Here are my most interesting experiences:

1- The Colorado Rennaissance Festival. Hot as the blazes of... somewhere hot. I wore my Amerikilt. It was great. It was nice and comfortable.

2- The Highlands Ranch Highland festival. I made the mistake of wearing a 13 oz wool kilt. Being a Scottish fest, I thought it more appropriate. Temperatures got to over 100f. We had to leave early because I was rapidly dehydrating. I'll wear my Sport Kilt next year.

So- Amerikilt and Sport Kilts in hot weather= good, wool kilts in hot weather= not good.