WTB: Liverpool Scottish kilt (Forbes tartan, military pattern)

[piper909]

Very interesting stuff, to be sure! Thanks to all contributing -- by way of further detail, I will volunteer what I have experienced. There was a time in the later 70s when I could easily find surplus military kilts in Scottish militaria or outdoors shops. Most commonly Black Watch kilts but sometimes a few other tartans. They had all been issued and usually had the Thomas Gordon manufacturer tag in place, plus often the name of the previous owner in indelible ink. I recall trying on a couple at a shop in Perth and paying 25 pounds for one. They were all of a very heavy wool in a coarser weave, darker colors, and larger sett, plus the apron edge was finished straight (no fringe), the green twill top band and hanging loops were present, and the pleating would be according to regimental custom. I've heard this fabric described as "20 oz, saxony" before but don't know if this is accurate. But it is certainly much heavier than current 16/17 oz. worsted and without as distinctive a weave pattern. These kilts feel like blankets!

In the 1988 I shopped for surplus kilts at a sporting goods store in Inverness and compared two Cameron Highlanders/Queens Own Highlanders Erracht Cameron kilts that fit me; one, which I bought and climbed Ben Nevis in, I now recognize as an OR pattern. It had the box pleats and was noticeably darker in color than the other, which was likely an officer's kilt and more closely resembled what you'd find sold by today's suppliers, a "civilian" look and feel. Brighter colors and lighter weight. I can see these distinctions clearly in parade photographs of the Camerons in the 1950s.

I sold this kilt about fifteen years later to a collector and have since replaced it with one of the modern repros sold by the What Price Glory firm and made in India. It is a close match, but no mistaking it for the genuine article. The material isn't as good of quality, altho' it is very heavy. The green material isn't made of the same stuff, the tartan is darker, the finish rougher, the buckles and straps very tight and stuff. It's a good item for a reenactor but doesn't look or fit as well as the originals.

Sometime in the mid-1990s I had made a kilt by a major supplier who had advertised having a stock of surplus "military tartan," in BW and Gordon tartan only, from official British sources and was making kilts from this at a reduced rate. I ordered a Gordon kilt from this and was surprised when the item arrived and the material was no longer the old, heavy stuff I'd expected. It was slightly heavier than the "civilian" heavyweight, and darker colored and a larger sett, but otherwise hard to distinguish from an ordinary worsted kilt. I assumed that the MOD had changed its preferences over time and no longer required kilts be made of the harder-wearing stuff, what with the kilt being restricted more and more to ceremonial or service dress. That, and different contractors were now supplying kilts to the army.

I currently own a Gordon tartan regimental-style kilt that came from So. Africa and altho' it has no official markings remaining in it, from what the seller told me (a family heirloom) I believe was once issued to a member of the Cape Town Highlanders sometime in the 1940s or 50s, who wore this tartan. In most appearances it is indistinguishable from the older military kilts made by the Thomas Gordon firm.

Royal Regiment of Scotland kilts are about the only military issue garments I routinely see on eBay these days, and usually in the smaller sizes, those less commonly issued.

I have not personally handled a Canadian military kilt from any period altho' I see them coming up for sale from time to time -- all sorts of different tartans! They've always been made locally, I expect, as was most Canadian military kit, yes? And how are the kilted reserve units outfitted today, do members supply their own parade uniforms or are they issued all orders of dress by the government, from an approved contractor? Are some pricier, rarer items owned by the regiment in common and loaned out only as needed? (Dirks, feather bonnets, instruments, etc.)

A related question is, are individuals allowed to keep their uniform or some of their uniform after discharge? Is the source of surplus, secondhand kilts in the shops the result of private sales or does the government reclaim all bits of uniform, reuse or store, then eventually sell the items off to wholesalers/retailers? Are British and Canadian practices different in this regard?