Advice on Kilt Rental (for Groomsmen)

**Declan Rowan** · 16th February 09, 08:12 PM

Hey all, Long long time no post (since 11-01-2005 long, according to the clock). So, some things have changed since last I was here - I'm St. Louis based now rather than East Coast, and, as Rocky knows, I'm to be married with the most wonderful woman in the world come July. (Rocky is making my Kilt)

Course, that leaves the 4 other guys who are going to be up there needing kilts. One is on the brink of buying one, but the other three are definitely wanting to rent. Now, they are all across the States, from AR to NJ to NC to TX. So my question is does anyone have any experience with Kilt Renting? Need the full boat - Kilt, Sporran, Jacket. Would prefer high quality (no "read through" paper kilts.) Any help would be great. Thanks!

Cheers,

Declan

**Beertigger** · 16th February 09, 08:22 PM

kiltrental.com did a great job for me - do a quick search hereabouts and you'll find a lot of input!

**Declan Rowan** · 16th February 09, 10:11 PM

Thanks! Has anyone had experience with atlantakilts.com/KiltRent (same company, guess they didn't want people to think they were just Atlanta based.)

**macwilkin** · 17th February 09, 07:19 AM

Check with Thistle & Clover out in St. Charles:

http://www.thistleandclover.com/index.asp

It would certainly be much closer to you then Atlanta!

Regards,

Todd

**Declan Rowan** · 17th February 09, 10:59 AM

Thank's Todd, we're actually going there on Wednesday after a tour guide meeting to look for other wedding things. Can't find any mention of renting on the site, but maybe they have something in the store. Went to O'Malley's in Maplewood, and he had no idea of anyone in the STL Metro area that rented, and possibly one place in KC. Biggest problem is going to be getting measurements from everyone to one location. (thank goodness half of the wedding party is married to people who actually sew and can measure correctly!)

**macwilkin** · 17th February 09, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by Declan Rowan

Thank's Todd, we're actually going there on Wednesday after a tour guide meeting to look for other wedding things. Can't find any mention of renting on the site, but maybe they have something in the store. Went to O'Malley's in Maplewood, and he had no idea of anyone in the STL Metro area that rented, and possibly one place in KC. Biggest problem is going to be getting measurements from everyone to one location. (thank goodness half of the wedding party is married to people who actually sew and can measure correctly!)

Have you been to the Scottish Arms yet?

http://www.thescottisharms.com/

Also, make note on your calendar about the Missouri Tartan Day festivities in St. Charles:

http://www.motartanday.com/

Regards,

Todd

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 17th February 09, 10:54 AM

I can recommend Matt Newsome at the Tartan Museum. Excellent quality coupled with excellent service.

**sathor** · 18th February 09, 04:04 PM

See through paper kilts? now I'm curious.

**Declan Rowan** · 19th February 09, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by sathor

See through paper kilts? now I'm curious.

See Through paper Kilt (n) A kilt of poor quality, most often manufactured by machines in a location where they have never really seen a kilt, out of material so thin you can hold it up to the light and read signage through it, and god forbid if it gets wet, it might come undone like wet paper.

These are the kilts that they sell in low quality "Irish" or "Scottish" shops, the retail equivalent of Bennigan's "Irish" Pub, which are vendors of plastic baubles trying to cash in on the holidays with green beer dyes and Irish Mardi Gras beads. The kilts are usually off to the side with signs that say "Scottish Kilts - $79" but on closer inspection the "Scottish Kilt" has a tag that says "Made in Pakistan"

While I have some understanding about the complexity of the market and that we need international trade, I prefer kilts to be made by someone who knows how the kilt should fall and has worn kilts before, rather than someone shifting the machine's production switch from "Women's Skirts" to "Men's Kilts."

Having briefly owned one RTPKilt that was given to me as a gift, I put it on once for their benefit, said to myself "oh hell no", and quietly returned it, saying that it just wasn't the right size. Been very particular about them since.

**Declan Rowan** · 22nd February 09, 10:04 AM

Update - Kilt rental place has been located - Wearing globally, renting locally from Thistle and Clover, an Irish/Scottish/Welsh shop in St. Charles (20-30 min from St. Louis)

Have the Irish National Tartan for the guys, PC &Vest, Sporran, SD, Belt and Buckle (though most likely will not use these since we have dress sporran, Kilt Pin, Flashes and Hose for $175. Plus, when the gents all come up for the weekend in May, they will all get measured at the store. So no "whoops, I bent down to measure my naval" or "what do you mean I was supposed to measure to my knee on the ground?"

Thanks Todd for the Referral, I also ended up getting two pairs of Hose on sale, a sporran chain, and flashes with Shamrocks on them. Not a bad day, all in all.