Non-wool hose review

**MichiganKyle** · 1st December 20, 08:41 AM

There are tons of options for hose in wool, wool variants, and wool blends. And for good reason - it's a great material. But for those of us who can't wear wool, hose options are much more difficult to find. This is a collection of some of the hose I have, where to get them, and how well they work. And this is as much for you guys as it is for me - as I wear them out, I want to know where to buy replacements! So, without further ado, here's what I've found.

J. Higgins - Pipe Band Style Hose
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Pictured: Khaki Green / Lovat Blue
Link: https://www.jhiggins.net/hose-pipe-band-style/
Current price: $22.00
Size I wear: Large
Material: 90% Acrylic, 7% Nylon, 3% Lycra
Review:
Nicest thing about these is the variety of colors they come in. They are fairly comfortable. Fit is good, length is good. They cuff very nicely, but the cuffs do tend to leave a diamond impression in my calves by the end of the day. Very warm, to the point where they're a little hard to wear in warm weather. I only recently discovered these, so I haven't worn any out yet, but since they appear to be exactly the same as the Sport Kilt Diamond Cuff hose, I expect they will wear out fairly quickly.

Sport Kilt - Diamond Cuff Kilt Hose
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Pictured: Navy / Charcoal / Gray / Forest Green
Link: https://sportkilt.com/product/diamond-cuff-kilt-hose/ and https://sportkilt.com/product/diamon...een-kilt-hose/
Current price: $14.50
Size I wear: Large
Material: Presumably 90% Acrylic, 7% Nylon, 3% Lycra
Review:
They are fairly comfortable. Fit is good, length is good. They cuff very nicely, but the cuffs do tend to leave a diamond impression in my calves by the end of the day. Very warm, to the point where they're a little hard to wear in warm weather. These do not wear particularly well - easy to wear holes in them. The green is as vivid and punchy as it looks in the picture. As far as I can tell, exactly the same as the J. Higgins Pipe Band hose.

Sport Kilt - Comtemporary Natural Kilt Hose
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Pictured: Natural
Link: https://sportkilt.com/product/contem...ral-kilt-hose/
Current price: $14.50
Size I wear: Large
Material: 85% Acrylic, 10% Polyester, 5% Spandex
Review:
They are fairly comfortable. Fit is good, length is a little short but workable. Fairly warm. These do not wear particularly well - they pill up quite easily, they've stretched out quite a bit from new, and the heels are showing wear. They're...okay, I guess. Not the greatest, but you could do worse.

USA Kilts - Cotton Kilt Hose
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Pictured: Oatmeal / Bottle Green
Link: https://www.usakilts.com/cotton-kilt-hose.html
Current price: $19.99
Size I wear: One size fits most
Material: Presumably 100% Cotton
Review:
These are not particularly comfortable, but by golly they wear like iron. Mostly that seems to come down to the coarse knitting, large yarn, highly-raised pattern, and fairly inelastic cotton material. But I have yet to wear out a pair of these and wear them quite frequently. Fit is tight, but length is good. The tight fit makes them a little hard to cuff. Very breathable - good summer hose. These are marketed as "cotton", and I'm guessing they're 100% cotton, because any elasticity in them seems to come from the knitting instead of the yarn stretching. They appear to be nearly identical to The Scottish Trading Company's, with only slight differences. Despite the downsides, these are some of my most frequently worn hose - it's hard to beat the toughness and coolness of these.

The Scottish Trading Company - Cotton Kilt Hose
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Pictured: Scarlet Red
Link: https://www.scottishtradingcompany.c...roducts_id=810
Current price: $13.99
Size I wear: 11-1/2 US
Material: 97% Cotton, 3% Elastic
Review:
Even though at first glance these look exactly the same as the USA Kilts Cotton hose, there are some slight differences. For one thing, they're sized appropriately and are not as tight. The material on them is also far more elastic and stretchy. But that's about it for differences - other than that, they seem to have an identical knit pattern and I expect them to wear very well. I say "expect" because I only recently discovered them and only have the one color. And goodness gracious is it a bright red! It's a nice color, but it's taking me some time to get used to how bright it actually is. The color is as bright as it looks in the picture, but if you look at it closely, it's sort of a marled red/black. These are actually quite comfortable and seem to be very cool - good summer hose. The fit is excellent, as expected for hose you order in your shoe size. If I ever manage to wear out my bottle green USA Kilts hose, I will probably switch over to these, as they come across as sort of a "new-and-improved" nearly-identical version of the USA Kilts ones.

**MichiganKyle** · 1st December 20, 09:00 AM

Sport Kilt - Deluxe Natural Cable Knit Hose
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Pictured: Natural / Black / Home dying experiment
Link: https://sportkilt.com/product/deluxe...nit-kilt-hose/ and https://sportkilt.com/product/deluxe...nit-kilt-hose/
Current price: $18.95
Size I wear: Large
Material: 100% Acrylic blend
Review:
These are some of the most comfortable hose I have. Very plush and fluffy. Fit is a little loose, length is a little long, but cuffs are strange. The cuffs are very loose, the cuff pattern doesn't go down the top of the hose very far, and it looks strange if rolled. So to cuff these like in the picture, you actually have to cuff them in a zigzag pattern of down/up/down/up. And flashes/garters are pretty well necessary because the cuffs are too loose to hold them up. Because of how fluffy they are, they are very warm - excellent for winter. They do wear fairly quickly, and they seem to like to pill up a bit, but mostly just down on the foot parts, so if you wear boots you will probably never see them pill. Because of how comfortable they are, these are the ones I chose to try dying over in this thread.

Golf Knickers - Argyle Socks
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Pictured: Dark Green/Black and Purple/Taupe/White
Link: https://golfknickers.com/argyle-sock...k-green-black/ and https://golfknickers.com/argyle-sock...e-taupe-white/
Current price: $18.95
Size I wear: One size fits all
Material: 75% Cotton, 22% Nylon, 3% Spandex
Review:
Haven't actually worn these out anywhere - the patterns are a little over the top. They are incredibly stretchy, and this is one instance where "one size fits all" is probably accurate. The material is very thin, and I do not expect them to wear well, but as I mentioned I haven't worn them so I do not know for sure. Not tall enough for a good cuff. In fact, they're a little hard to cuff at all due both to the pattern and the fact that they're just too tall to not cuff but yet barely go over my knees. They're an interesting option, and about the only thing I've found in patterned hose I can wear. Oh, and this thread is what pointed me in the direction to try these.

And I think that's about it for what I have right now. I have several other ones I've tried which do not fit, and I've found one bespoke knitter who can knit custom hose in cotton blends (although her color selection was severely limited). But these are the ones I actually own and can give a review on. So hopefully that helps!