Waistband height utility kilt

[OC Richard]

In Scotland I have never seen anyone wearing a Utilikilt so can someone explain to me why do they call it a Utilikilt?

The line is however drawn when a manufacturer changes the fundamental construction.

As was mentioned above, the Utilikilt was invented by a guy in Seattle. His philosophy was in line with yours, I think, because

1) he didn't call his creation a "kilt" due to its completely different construction and purpose, instead inventing the portmanteau word Utilikilt (utility + kilt).

2) he vowed to never make a Utilikilt in tartan, once again to make a clear distinction between his creation and kilts.

How well I remember the first time my bandmates and I saw Utilikilts! Our Pipe Band was competing at a Highland Games here in California, and Utilikilt showed up with a booth. It was surrounded by a mob of people, money in hand, buying Utilikilts as fast as the employees could sell them.

The reaction of the Pipe Band people was the opposite: I heard only disparaging remarks about "wrinkly skirts" etc.

Yet within five years, at our local Games, there were as many Utilikilts as traditional kilts to be seen.

Soon, predictably, dozens of copycat makers appeared to cash in on Utilikilts' success. They're mass produced in Pakistan now.

In spite of the copycats, here on the West Coast USA nearly all the ones I see people wearing are actual Utilikilts. I work at Disneyland where (until the Covid shutdown) I saw tens of thousands of The General Public, and I would see men in Utilikilts nearly every day. Safe to say I see a hundred men in Utilikilts for every man I see in a traditional kilt.

From the beginning Utilikilts had nothing to do with Highland Dress, but had their own unique "fashion culture", usually involving Doc Martens (the higher the better) black t-shirts, lots of hair, and tattoos.

Utilikilts are intended to be worn like jeans, lower around the hips, and generally are worn longer than kilts, from the middle to the bottom of the kneecap.

I do occasionally see Utilikilts worn with kilt hose and sporrans but it doesn't look quite right to me.

Here's a good example of the Utilikilt fashion culture