Kilt Discussion Panel

[David Dalglish]

I think that a lot of men do own kilts, but only wear them for special ocassions, due to the cost. Most men in Scotland like to buy the best kilt they can afford & will not use them on a day to day basis on the chance they will be ruined. The cheap kilts you buy on E-bay are used only for football or Rugby matches, It is not everyone that can afford to buy a selection of kilts

[Scottish Chi]

Panache and Blu seemed to have covered all the bases. I would place cost, insecurity of ones own sexuality (particularly in the US), and lack of popularity as my top guesses.

About six years ago while attending the Games in Antigonish my wife strongly encouraged me to buy a kilt. When we checked the cost it immediately put the brakes on that idea. It wasn't until five years later that I found a relatively inexpensive kilt in my family tartan that I made the leap. Even then it was not part of the budget plan. Now, two more inexpensive kilts later, I'm finally getting a 16 oz 8 yd. kilt made although it's still difficult to make such a large purchase.

Cheers! Bill

[mbhandy]

I would say cost was my big factor but once I got my first Kilt I then started looking about and found this forum and more inexpensive Kilts and got the bug. I had been looking for a Kilt since I was in the Air Force back in the 60's.
5 Kilts later and making More.

MrBill

[RockyR]

I agree with most of what's been said. What I'm adding isn't different, but it's not been specifically mentioned...

1. Fear of "being different" and along with that... being made fun of. Most people I meet are heavily influenced by peer pressure. Think about it... how many times do you hear this EXACT comment from a stranger:

"Man, I wish I had the b@lls to wear that" or "you've got more guts than ME"

2. Cost. Yes, the cost has come down DRASTICALLY since the making of casual kilts in non wool fabric. Yes, you can get a kilt for $75 (or a decent one for $100 or so) now instead of $500, but it's STILL not a pair of $20 jeans.

No matter what anyone says, I don't think there will be any "real looking" kilts in the "under $40 retail price range". There's simply too much fabric and labor involved. The only way that would EVER happen is after YEARS (20+) of kilts being mainstream and even then they would probably end up looking more like skirts than kilts.

[timber]

1. Fear of "being different" and along with that... being made fun of. Most people I meet are heavily influenced by peer pressure. Think about it... how many times do you hear this EXACT comment from a stranger:

"Man, I wish I had the b@lls to wear that" or "you've got more guts than ME"

I hear this sort of thing from friends and coworkers all the time. I keep telling them that most people don't care what you are wearing, and those that do are very positive. The only times I have been made fun of were at family get togethers. Family being what it is, I expect that sort of thing from them and laugh along.

[Colin]

Really good thread, guys. I have enjoyed this read very much. I would love to add something, but Blu really nailed it for me.

[Chris Webb]

Great posts!

Speaking only for myself I think I had to develop a really solid sense of personal confidence before I started wearing kilts. All the reasons mentioned for not wearing kilts most certainly applied to me.

Before kilts become mainstream I think that 'man' kind will have to address the issue of declining personal confidence. We are just fancy animals, mammals to be exact.

Every time I approach my dad's dog he comes up to me with his tail between his legs ... for reasons unknown he just lacks the confidence to come up to me, head high and tail wagging.

A dogs tail is like a man's trousers ... in a difficult world with increasing tensions more and more men, fancy mammals all of them, are inclined to cover themselves with trousers, just like a frightened dog covers his genitals with his tail.

Kilts are awesome. Kilts make sense in an anatomical way. Kilts, when worn, shout confidence. So to increase the number of men wearing kilts, to get them into mainstream society, it will be necessary not so much to eliminate the reasons they are not worn, but to increase the one single reason they are ever worn ... personal confidence.

Of course, I really could be wrong. I only know that it was personal confidence that finally got me past all the doubts and detractors.

Kilt On.

Chris Webb

[auld argonian]

Sounds like finding this forum and discovering that there are less expensive "starter" kilts out there is a common denominator amongst many of us.

If it doesn't become "mainstream" who cares? Hey...I wear 'em, you wear 'em, the other guy doesn't...eh! It's fun...I've never had any issues with them being anything other than a man's garment and if anyone else has issues with that it's too damn bad. I look around me and see what other guys are wearing and figure that THEY had better not start criticizing.

It's not a confidence thing for me...or a vanity thing or a political statement...I just sort of got to a point (and Duncan on Monarch of the Glen was probably my insprtation on this) where I said, "Frick it! I want a kilt!" I looked on the internet, got severe sticker shock and then found Xsmarks and found out about the less financially ruinous alternatives (and was impressed by the wit and knowledge displayed by you guys) and I haven't looked back.

Best

AA

[NewKilt]

A most excellent threat. I think Chris Webb brought up an excellent point about confidence. It takes a certain amount of character and self-confidence to wear a kilt publicly in westernized cultures. You have to be quite confident in who you are. That means tolerating stares, wisecracks, etc.

I've often thought that the reason many women like to see a man in a kilt is because they see a man that is confident, not influenced by peer pressure, not afraid to stand out from the crowd.

Even if price were not an issue, I think the majority of men in western cultures (the US in particular) would have to overcome their insecurites, their need to prove their masculinity, and their years of programming that has defined a skirt-like garment as clothing that is trickly feminine.

I probably repeated a lot of what has already been said, but couldn't help myself.

Darrell

[binx]

Three years and 30+ kilts later, I've decided that most guys think it has to be in your heritage to wear one, so there's not the motivation if not in the genes. Women ask if I'm Irish, guys ask if Scottish, or I play bagpipes, or what's the occasion/special event i.e. where's the games/faire? It happened to culminate today at an eatery, after a day at work in my green AK, when an older doctor guy tells me "nice kilt", and then about William Wallace the lowlander, Robert the Bruce, and how many of his friends play bagpipes and have the entire outfit. The first time a guy asked me if I was truly "traditionally" kilted, even though knowing it was not a tartan kilt. He seemed surprised that there were so many US kiltmakers.

binx