ghillies comment....

the design came from the old ghillies worn by the highlanders. kind of a scottish moccasin, ye ken? i think the hard modern ones look terrible, but i wear the old fashioned soft ones most of the time with my kilt. and i wear my kilt to work every day. i also run the laces up my leg to just below my knee. they help keep the sgian in place and for those rare occasions when i wear the great kilt in cold weather they keep leg wrappings in place.

fwiw