How often do you see....

**Alan H** · 22nd July 05, 10:34 AM

I'm just curious. Outside of Highland Games or other Celtic or Ren Faire events, how often do you see another guy wearing a kilt "around town" or for daily wear?

I live in the SF Bay Area, and the SF Peninsula.... (I haven't met Rigged fact-to-face yet, we gotta change that) and I have seen another person ONCE, in the past year, wearing a kilt outside of a Games or Festival setting. It was a caramel Utilikilt, and the guy was shopping in Safeway in San Francisco, and DANGIT....I wasn't kilted. I'd just gotten off the boat after an ocean race and was still wearing my foul-weather gear!

I get no flak at all for wearing mine, but I essentially never see anyone else do it.

**davedove** · 22nd July 05, 10:42 AM

The only time I've seen anyone else wearing kilts was at a beer festival, so I don't know if that counts. About 10-12 guys all had on kilts and had a guy playing the pipes as well. As far as seeing anyone just wearing on for daily activities, no.

**arrogcow** · 22nd July 05, 10:46 AM

There are a few guys with UK's in town, and I have heard reports of them out and about, but I have never seen anyone on the street. There is a Scottish pub and both the owner and Matre d' are always kilted, but that is still a Scottish arena. However, I have on a couple of occasions seen kilted guys just going in for dinner or a beer (your first pint is free if you wear your kilt).

Adam

**Rob Wright** · 22nd July 05, 10:49 AM

There was one other who wore a kilt from time to time her in southern New Mexico but he joined the army so i'm the only one. Other pipers at funerals you never see any one wearing a kilt of anytype. People here do not even recognize tartan!

Rob

**arrogcow** · 23rd July 05, 10:43 AM

Originally Posted by arrogcow

There are a few guys with UK's in town, and I have heard reports of them out and about, but I have never seen anyone on the street. There is a Scottish pub and both the owner and Matre d' are always kilted, but that is still a Scottish arena. However, I have on a couple of occasions seen kilted guys just going in for dinner or a beer (your first pint is free if you wear your kilt).

Adam

Of course as soon as I post this, I'm now wrong.

This morning I was going to the premier of a movie I was the camera man on. As I was walking, there was a guy (Bill I think) wearing a traditional kilt, hose, sporran, and a polo shirt. We chatted for a while, and he told me that this was the first time he had worn the kilt out, but was difinitely interested in wearing it to work. He also said that he didn't know much about kilt wearing in general. So I pointed him here, and hopefully he will stop by to say howdy.

he then went on his way. At the theater, a woman told be she had seen someone in a UK yesterday, and I know it wasn't me. So the kilt bug is getting out even in Cincinnati.

Adam

**Alan H** · 23rd July 05, 01:05 PM

Wow, I never expected this thread to take off like it did.

I guess what's happening here is that those of us on the board, at least in the USA now realize that while you trudge around during the day in your kilt, all alone in your world as the "lone kilter" there are other guys all across the country who are also "lone kilters" in their community. So you are not alone, there are others who share the experience.

What is also a common thread here is that many of us know of "some other guys who I heard owned a kilt, but I never see them". so in fact the number of guys wearing kilts out there is probaly 2-3 times what we think it is. Many of those are only very occasional kilt-wearers, but they're out there.

Think about it.

Stack this up with the fact that Utilikilts had about 2 million dollars in sales last fiscal year, and that adds up to roughly (VERY roughly) 12,000 - 13,000 kilts. Let's go with that line of thought....

If it takes Rocky and Kelly a day to make a kilt, each, and they work a normal work-week, they're turning out ten kilts a week, or roughly 500 kilts a year. Bear is probably doing a bit less than that, say 300. Freedom kilts has two girls working in the back, making kilts, plus Steve. I bet they turn out two or three a day, or about 15 a week, making around 600 a year. Jeff at Pittsgurgh Kilts probably turns out 300 a year. Sportkilts probably churns out 500 a year. Stillwater probably sells around 500 a year. That's 2400 kilts a year, just from some of the guys on this Board. How about TFCK and RKilts and King Kilts and all of the Scottish kilts that get imported? How about the large number of smaller one-man/woman traditional kilt shops scattered around the country like Barb and Matt an Kathy's Kilts? I bet any money that AT LEAST 7,500 kilts a year get sold in the USA on top of the kingpin, Utilikilts. Add it together and I'd guess that there are around 20,000 or slightly more, kilts sold in the USA every year for the past two-three years. It could be as high as 30,000 kilts a year.

If the average price, averaged over the imported tanks and the $75 sportkilts works out to about $150, that's an annual USA kilt sales market of 3 million dollars. Honestly, I bet it's more than that, since Utilikilts, alone is 2 million bucks. I bet it's more like four million bucks.

That's a bloody lot of kilts....X Marks members can't buy ALL of them. LOLOL!

We are not alone, we are just *visible*.

Alan

**Hamish** · 23rd July 05, 04:05 PM

Other than fellow dancers at Scottish/Highland dance events, fellow Priders at Pride events, and buskers on the streets of Edinburgh, I believe I can say, with hand on heart, that I have never seen or bumped into a kilted being away from my own home - and I am talking of a period covering the past 40/45 years.

**Jimmy Carbomb** · 22nd July 05, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by Alan H

I'm just curious. Outside of Highland Games or other Celtic or Ren Faire events, how often do you see another guy wearing a kilt "around town" or for daily wear?

All the time.

**chasem** · 22nd July 05, 10:52 AM

I've only seen two others, both my fault

One was my best friend, I got him to go in with me and get our first kilts (sportkilts...)

the other was his brother, who borrowed my father's.

So nothing outside of people that I know personally

**Colin** · 22nd July 05, 11:00 AM

Fairly often actually. Besides kilt nights (haven't been in awhile), there is a guy near me that is a full time kilter. I have seen a few Utilikilts from time to time, as well as a ton of traditionals. Of course when I lived beside the wedding hall, I saw a heck of alot more.