How will the market change?

[Alan H]

Gotcha, Tundramaq!! We're good!

Tobus, I never really thought about UK wearers generally trying to match a particular style, just that the particular style in question is different from the US norm. However, I think you have a point. There IS an image ...or several images for "contemporary kilt wearer". I don't think that most of the USA has registered this image, yet, though. Whether they ever will?????

I also agree with Colin's thoughts that if a particular subculture ever adopted contemporary kilts, and then that subculture acquired some sort of high profile, or cult status, then that would broaden the kilt-wearing market.

[tundramanq]

It's worse than that Alan, I have some 60s -70's hip hugger elephant bells also. Appears I was wearing leg kilts a long time ago - Thought they might come back - big bells did but these didn't and now for me it's a moot point. A few more years and they will go from classic to antique making me a relic.
The elephant bells drape and flair directly from the hip/fell line - no taper at the thighs. Just lacks pleats.

[TheOfficialBren]

Great points, Tobus.

[McElmurry]

At the Celtic music festival in Grass Valley, California Utilikilts and their ilk outnumbered wool kilts 20 to 1. I did not see any solid colored wool kilts or any Irish tartans be they national or county. Attendees included locals who enjoy a very active music scene as well as folks who follow the ren fair circuit. For a festival including tremendous Celtic musical talent the crowd was not overtly Celtic. Although there were numerous faires and wood nymphs. It looks like Utilikilts are alive and well among the casual ren fair crowd.

[California Highlander]

I was there and agree on that, although to my eyes it looked more like 8-1 canvas/util to tartan. Also saw a SportKilt with tartan pleat insets. Vendors Utilikilts and Stumptown kilts were both there and lots of guys were dropping their shorts and walking out in canvas kilts. No tartan kilt vendors in attendance, not even with PV or acrylic, much less wool. Probably helped sales that the temperature was in the 90s.

Maybe my eye is just drawn to the tartan kilts...saw quite a few nice ones, including what I am pretty sure was a California tartan. Saw it twice, but neither time was I able to ask the wearer. Another that might have been Gunn, but he wasn't close enough to be sure.

[McElmurry]

I may have exaggerated a bit but if you subtract the guild members wearing great kilts and the athletes it gets closer to my number. I was also there both days and saw a lot of Utilikilts on Sunday although it is hard to know how many were different people because they start to look the same. I could recognize the wool kilts I had seen on Saturday.

Several of the token pipe band members were wearing California modern and I saw one fellow in a California Sportkilt.

[Nile]

As I’ve been reading this thread and especially Colin’s and Tobus’s insightful musings, I have some thoughts regarding the future potential of, not just the UK but the kilt market in general and where it might go.

As has been highlighted in this thread, the utility style kilt and the era of casual kilt wearing and perhaps even the expansion of "traditional" kilt wearing outside of Scotland (and England), is a fairly recent phenomenon (especially here in America). The advent of utility type kilts has actually expanded the utility (duh!) of the garment beyond an events garment and moves it closer to everyday wear. The fact that these kilts are less costly means that people like me can now wear one and may perhaps, own more than one. And, like so many others who have been inspired to wear the kilt, I plan to expand my wardrobe with a fine, wool, tartan kilt but... for now at least, I'm 'kilted'.

Fads aside, I believe that the future of kilt wearing and the utility/casual/traditional market will in part owe it's sustenance and growth to certain "new traditions" (now there's an oxymoron!) being created and inspired by the utility/casual type kilts. Indeed, many of you are the founding fathers of this "new tradition". By wearing our kilts for ourselves where and when we want, we are setting an example and fostering acceptance by our families, friends, acquaintances and even strangers.

Ideally, our children will want to wear a kilt like mom and dad (well, maybe not our teens) and with more women and men wearing them, this 'new' family tradition has a chance to establish itself and continue. Oh yes, there are many families in the USA with a kilt wearing tradition which often continues through generations but, that's not most of us. Add to that the emergence of so many new tartans like the USA tartan, the X Marks tartan, the various military service tartans as well as police and firefighter tartans you have the emergence of (dare I say it) new types of clans and fodder for some ‘new traditions’ of kilt wearing (perhaps, where & when more than how). After all, clansmen aren't all related to one another, are they; they are a family in a broader sense (much as firefighters, marines, etc. see themselves).

The kilt market isn't going away by any stretch and that market can grow without going main stream. Companies need to continue to market to those of us who want to wear a kilt and to those whose inner 'kilt' hasn't come out in them yet (but it will). There are many of us who like the idea that kilt wearing is a unique and special practice and would like to see it remain that way but, that doesn't mean that it shouldn't grow in participation and acceptance. We see it as part of our wardrobe (and it can be done up quite fashionably), but we don't see it as a fashion fad (and indeed, it shouldn't be).

Making it easier to afford a kilt, for those of us who want to wear a kilt, is one thing. Making them cheap and ubiquitous and cramming them down everyone’s throat via marketing is, to me, another thing all together and should be avoided by any kilt maker interested in maintaining the quality of their product and their reputation. However, the gradual creation of new tartans and perhaps 'new traditions' could be what the industry needs to sustain itself and achieve moderate, steady growth.

[TheOfficialBren]

Very well-stated, Nile.

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[RogerWS76]

True observations from the Celtic Music Festival. This particular one has way more of a Renaissance feel than a normal Highland Games but the music is non stop and excellent for two days! For the record, my brother and I were both there in Sport Kilt MacDonald Tartan throwing heavy stuff around. I think it will be slow but I am seeing more tartan as well as Utilikilts in the future. I am pretty much an everyday wearer now. It is just SO much more cool and comfortable!