Hose Questons

[Kilted Hiker]

Hello everyone!

I own a Sportkilt Hash House Hunting tartan kilt. I mostly hike and do outdoor activities in this kilt, but I figured it was time to purchase hose and flashes to make it slightly more acceptable for casual day wear. I normally wear my Chaco sandals with this kilts, as they are green and match my kilt.Would wearing hose with sandals be a no no? And secondly, what color hose should I get? I have it narrowed down to white or green.

Many thanks!

[MacLowlife]

What about oatmeal or tan? Sandals and socks is one of those things- either you love it or you hate it- and a kilt above will probably not make much difference. Most of the more vocal people here dislike white socks...

[Tiny]

I would avoid white. Tan would be good or maybe a nice chunkie unbleached pair, something along the lines of untreated Aran style. A dark green or blue might look good as well.

[Cygnus]

Hmm. I have to admit that I seriously dislike socks and sandals in any context, so I feel obliged to vote against that particular option.

As you seem to be a more active chap that probably doesn't want to ruin a $50+ pair of hose in your adventures, you might consider looking at these. Yes, they're almost all shown on female legs, but they'd do the trick quite nicely and at $8 a pair, you could get quite a few without breaking the bank OR being overly concerned about wearing them out. The colours are all quite nice for wear with a kilt as well.

[Riverkilt]

That's a tough tartan to match hose to with so much green and blue...either one of those color hose would put a LOT of that color forward. Even more complicated if your sandals are also green.

I think the tan is a good suggestion - you also might be able to pull off black.

Hardest part about kilt hose for SportKilts is a good pair of kilt hose will look a lot fancier than the SportKilt - which is probably why SportKilt sells soccer sox as kilt hose...and with soccer sox you gotta be careful if you have thick legs - you'll get a lot of show through.

You don't mention what part of the world you live in - if its hot - consider wearing your kilt hose or soccer sox pushed down with the SportKilt.

Or call up SportKilt and ask they what they suggest.

A difficult choice for sure...

[saxandpipes]

Hardest part about kilt hose for SportKilts is a good pair of kilt hose will look a lot fancier than the SportKilt - which is probably why SportKilt sells soccer sox as kilt hose...and with soccer sox you gotta be careful if you have thick legs - you'll get a lot of show through.

You don't mention what part of the world you live in - if its hot - consider wearing your kilt hose or soccer sox pushed down with the SportKilt.

What about typical rugby socks- thick, look good slouched down, or pulled up- bright colours. I don't know where you'd get them (they were in all the department store in NZ...ok, and just did a quick ebay search and there are plenty there- and cheap). Oh, and they are super hard-wearing, so great for outdoors- no stress of ruining beautiful $300 hand-knit kilt-hose.

I think some nice yellow/ red ones would look great... I might get some myself...

Only thing is... if I was going to wear sandals, I'd leave the socks at home- but that's just my own personal fear of the sock/jandal combo.

Cheers,

Michael

[Jock Scot]

Welcome, from Inverness-shire for a start. Your first post touches on several contentious subjects, are you normally so good at starting wars? Only joking, I am sorry. Should things match? Should hose be white? Sandals with the kilt? Hose up or scrunched down? I am sure that after a week or two here you will discover that what you decide is right, will be right for you.

To answer your question from my view, don't worry too much about matching the colours. Wear any colour hose you like other than white. You don't say what part of the world you come from, but a warm to hot climate seems a fair bet, seeing that you wear sandals, so adjustments have to sensibly be made, so wear them over hose pulled up. I might consider in time changing the colour of your sandals from green to brown though.

[Schiehallion]

Agree in the main with Jock Scot (White NO) but being a bit of a colour freak, I like to at least wear a colour in my hose that is in the tartan, or that does not jump out of whatever the kilt colour is, so that the kilt remains the main visual statement.
I like to start off with hose up but in hot weather and hiking mine often scrunch down and flashes removed ...more so when in hiking boots.
But kilted.. enjoy your choice...if you feel comfortable go for it!
I was once told by someone that If a person says "you look good"... then you are ... but if they say... "I like your socks" (or shirt or other choice other than your kilt)... then that is the dominant thing they notice and not YOU... Get the idea?

[saxandpipes]

Agree in the main with Jock Scot (White NO) but being a bit of a colour freak, I like to at least wear a colour in my hose that is in the tartan, or that does not jump out of whatever the kilt colour is, so that the kilt remains the main visual statement.
I was once told by someone that If a person says "you look good"... then you are ... but if they say... "I like your socks" (or shirt or other choice other than your kilt)... then that is the dominant thing they notice and not YOU... Get the idea?

Yes, agreed, not white.

I like the idea of taking the colours from the thin stripes in the kilt and bringing them out- you don't have to use the dominant colour of the kilt

I have green (bottle- fairly standard) hose but actually the colour is not present at all in my kilt- even though it gives the impression that it is. This is because it complements- not matches - the kilt. (not very adventurous, but you see how you could take this further...)



It looks like it matches- but if you check the flashes against the hose, you'll see the contrast.

Anyway, I'm not trying to pass off anything I say as the rule, merely an observation/suggestion.

Good luck!

M

[saxandpipes]

http://www.canterburyofnz.com/accessories/socks.html

15 NZD should be around 8 or 9 US, so not expensive.