How Many Years in the Switch from Box to Knife Pleat?

[slohairt]

I've heard this argument, but I've never really bought it. For one, the amount of cloth saved in pleating to the stripe (vs. to the sett) is nominal, to say the least.

For another, pleating the stripe pre-dates pleating to the sett by a good 100 years or more, so it is not as if pleating to the stripe was introduced as a "low cost, easy alternative" to pleating to the sett.

The earliest tailored kilts that survive to this day are military kilts from the 1790s. They contain about 4 yards of cloth (some less) and are box pleated to the stripe.

Civilian kilts from the same period were pleated to NOTHING -- to no pattern at all. So you cannot really make the argument at this point that the military used pleating to the stripe to save cloth. You can argue that it was done for uniformity, though, as pleating to a regular stripe certainly does lend a more uniform look that the random pleating that was seen in contemporary civilian kilts.

Civilian kilts adopted pleating to the stripe sometime around 1815-20 or thereabouts. And for the remainder of the nineteenth century pleating to the stripe was the norm for civilian and military kilts, whether they be box pleated or knife pleated, four yards, five yards, six yards or what have you.

I would argue that the reason pleating to the stripe was maintained by the military - as well as the older box pleating style - is that the military has a built in tendency to hold fast to tradition, much more so than civilian fashion.

Concerning the original box-pleated military kilts, I would agree that it was done for uniformity and nothing more. I'm suggesting that the military chose not to adopt the later trend of pleating to the sett for both uniformity and economics.

Sure, if a full repeat is used per pleat than the savings are nominal, maybe only 20 inches or so worth of cloth. However, by only using a half repeat per pleat the saving is considerable.

Suppose two kilts are being made. Both are made to the measurements of 33" Waist and 39" Hips" (My own measurements! ) Both are made from 18 oz. cloth in Black Watch which has an approximate repeat of 13 1/2 inches. Both kilts will also have 27 pleats. Assuming one didn't "cheat the pleats", pleating to the sett using a full repeat per pleat would use roughly 12.5 yards. (A ridiculous number to be sure, and anyone would definitely cheat the pleats.) The second kilt, pleated to the stripe, using only half repeats per pleat would only require about 6.5 yards. So, no, in this the case the savings are quite considerable.