Just my thoughts (and some piccies) on the Lewis hose and traditional garter ties available through the Scottish Tartan Museum's gift shop.

And since I survived CAS3 (if you've been there, you'll know), I'll put the bottom line up front - absolutely wonderful!!! Both the hose and the garter ties are very comfortable for a full day's wear - indoors, outdoors, rain, mud, it doesn't seem to matter much. I found the traditional ties to be more comfortable than the elastic hose garters I've used in the past - losing the chance to have a tartan flash is a small price to pay IMHO.


Now for the details.

A composite of the label/wrapper:



And the hose:


In this picture you can see the "pre-wash" and "post-wash" condition/size of the hose. The lovat (top) had been washed (cold water, air dried) and the loden (below) were fresh out of the wrapper. Not a LOT of difference, but after washing the hose were a wee bit smaller in diameter and longer in length through the leg. The foot portion was essentially unchanged in size.


And the garter ties:


In this picture you can see the "worn" and "unworn" condition/size of the garter ties. Both colors had started out the same length, but the ancient red stretched while I was wearing them (for reasons you'll see in the next picture). The original size is about 36" in length.


"Installing" the garter ties:


I don't have huge calves, but they're not exactly pegs either. You can see the ties just make it around the leg twice (and they're snug enough to hold the hose up, although I think the hose would have held themselves up all day anyway). In order to get any kind of useable display of tie ends once I folded the hose top over, I had to stretch the garter ties a bit.

Before you order the garter ties, you might want to take a tape measure around your leg a couple of times and see how close you're going to come to 36". If you have really large legs, these traditional ties might not be an option for you!

Three words for the Lewis hose and traditional garter ties: "I love them!" (Now I just have to save up for more and more colors!)