Sporran Straps: Leather vs Chain?

[RockyR]

I have been wearing kilts daily to work for 11 years. In those 11 years, I have only worn chain straps. NONE of my kilts show signs of wear on the apron (either PV kilts OR Wool kilts), aside from the odd coffee stain.

I have seen good quality flat link chains (with tight links whose 'welds' are on the ends of where the links meet) and bad quality chains (with little burrs). GENERALLY speaking, if you get a quality sporran, it should come with a quality flat link chain and there should be no burrs to snag the kilt.

I've seen good quality leather straps and bad quality ones. Ones made by a mass producer of sporrans (who shall remain nameless) use a reasonably stiff leather and allow the edges on the leather strap to remain at a CRISP 90* cut instead of beveling the edges. To me, the rubbing of stiff leather on a crisp edge cut would wear at the front apron (and sides and back) of the kilt much more than a smooth quality (well welded) chain would.

Also, if the sporran chains ripping up the front aprons of a kilt were a major issue, I would think / hope that customers would complain to the company where they bought the sporran chain that it ruined their kilt!


The ONLY * I will put on my comments above - The kilts I own are either wool or PV (with "Anti Pill Technology"). If you have an ACRYLIC kilt or a POLY COTTON kilt, odds are you will get pills on the front apron where the sporran and / or sporran chain rub. This is due to the nature of the fabric itself, NOT the fact that your sporran or chain have a burr or are "too rough".

Take the above for what it's worth... just my $.02