Skye Highland Outfitters hose review

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Today is April 6, Tartan Day here in the USA, and mine began with a great start. I came into work at the museum to find a package from Skye Highland Outfitters had arrived for me over the weekend. Not one, but two pair of custom kilt hose from Josh that I had been waiting for!

A package like this means only one thing -- pictures and review on X Marks!

To begin with, I want to just say that I did not purchase these hose. I hope Josh won't mind me disclosing that I traded for them. Josh has designed his own tartan, which I have had woven for him; I will be making a kilt for him from this tartan. In exchange for partial payment on the kilt, he offered these hose. I make this known because I think it is an important point in general, what with all the recent discussion these past several weeks on the cost of kilts & accessories, and the importance of investing in high quality goods. Most of the nicest items I have in my Highland Dress wardrobe were not purchased at their standard retail price, but were either bought on sale, acquired second-hand, or traded for, as in the case of these hose. Opportunities like these don't come up every day, but if you keep your eyes open, over time you can acquire quite a nice collection.

Now, on to the review and pictures. I'll write a few words about each of the hose individually, then follow up with a reveiw of them both together.

Ready... Set... Go!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

The first pair of hose are custom made diced hose, in colors to match my reproduction colors MacQuarrie tartan kilt.




I am absolutely 100% thrilled with the way these hose turned out. The colors could not be a better match with my tartan.

A bit of background on these hose, to illustrate how thrilled I am. I first got this kilt for my wedding back in 2000. I had some cloth left over from it, and eventually had a matching waistcoat made. Ever since I saw the kilt and waistcoat together, I knew that a pair of diced hose in those two colors would complete the outfit.

I even went so far as to contact J. Higgins about getting a pair. At the time, they were offering custom made diced hose, in colors to match your kilt, at a very affordable price. This was before their quality reputation started to go south. I sent them a swatch of the material, and they sent it back with a note saying it was impossible to match the colors. I was dissapointed, and pushed the idea of a custom pair of diced hose to match this kilt to the far back burner.

That is, until I had the opportunity to work with Josh. When I tried these hose on with the above outfit, I really felt like this kilt finally had everything it needed to be complete. I love these hose, and I feel great wearing them with the ensemble you see above. What more can I say?

For those of you glancing at the other elements of the outfit, the jacket is an Argyle jacket, made by Lochcarron, in their "weathered green" Reiver cloth. The sporran is a Ferguson Britt Duin Uasail made from Mahogany deerskin. The tie is one of the solid kilt ties we sell, also made by Lochcarron.

[McMurdo]

Wow Matt those are excellent, I love the entire outfit, the Argyll is really nice as well, congratulations.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

This pair of hose were Josh's suggestion. He thougt a pair of custom castellated to Argyle hose would look amazing with my Carolina tartan kilt and plaid. I thought that was a splendid idea!





I am generally very pleased with these, as well. I don't think the colors quite match the tartan as exactly as my diced hose seem to match my MacQuarrie kilt. The red, I think, is a tad bright, and the blue is a bit on the light side. The green is spot on. But I'm not terribly picky, so long as the outfit as a whole looks good together, and I belive this does.

This is my first pair of castellated top hose. I will have to get a set of longer garter ties so that I can tie a more decorative knot that these hose require. (I'm just wearing a pair of standard length ones in this photo, tied as best I could). I may get my wife to knit me a set, in fact.

By the way, in keeping with the theme, the shoes I am wearing were also traded for (thanks, DW!), and the hair sporran was acquired for a steal second-hand.

[JolyStNicholas]

"absolutely GRAND" Those Hose coulodn't be better!

[Cynthia]

Those are wonderful -- I LOVE the castellated hose. And those shoes are spectacular, too.

[Mael Coluim]

This is not the same man pictured earlier today, trousered.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

If I look happy in the above photographs, it's because I am!

Josh was a pleasure to deal with during this process, and very communicative. He supplied a measurement chart of what he needed for those hose. I do have to say that both pair fit absolutely perfectly. Could not be better.

I supplied tartan swatches for both kilts I wanted to match. I am 110% happy with the colors of the diced hose, which turned out even better than I expected. I am 90% happy with the colors of the Argyle hose. All in all, that's two pairs of hose adding up to 200%, so not too shabby. :-)

Now, it is rather unusual that I have the opportunity to review a product here on the forum. This is because most of my kilts and accessories I supply to myself and it's a bit odd to review your own products! So in reviewing these hose from Skye Highland Outfitters, I could not help but compare them to other hose I have experience with.

As you know, we also sell diced and Argyle hose at the Scottish Tartans Museum gift shop. These are made in Hawick, Scotland, and are very high quality. Many years ago I also used to own a pair of inexpensive nylon diced hose from J. Higgins.

If I were to make a scale with the Higgins hose as 0 and the Hawick hose as 10, I'd have to say that these hose from Skye Highland Outfitters rank a solid 7 or 8. Is the quality as high as what we are importing from Hawick? No, not quite. The wool feels courser, and the hose are a bit thinner. But none of this is to say that these socks are bad quality. Far from it. They appear to me to be rather good quality, in fact. Granted, I have only worn them for the above photos, so we will have to see how they wear over time. I'll probably be wearing the diced hose a lot more often than the Argyle, which I will likely reserve for more formal events. But at this point I am very happy with the quality of both of them.

But while they are not the same quality as the Hawick hose, they also don't come with the same price tag. We sell the diced and Argyle hose at our museum shop for $140. This is if you want one of the two standard colors for diced, or four standard designs for Argyle. Custom colors will cost you $250, which is in keeping with the price you will pay for custom Argyle hose from most Scottish suppliers.

Josh sells these completely custom made hose for between $115 and $140. He's even able to offer further customization for requests like castellated tops. I don't know how he does it.

So, all in all, you are getting pretty good quality, completely customizable hose, at a very competitive price. And Josh is great to deal with, to boot.

Would I love for you to buy all your diced and Argyle hose from the museum? Sure I would!

Could I blame you for buying diced and Argyle hose from Josh? Not on your life. If you are thinking about buying a pair of these for your formal (or not-so-formal) kit, and need to be conservative in your spending, you'd be silly not to consider Skye Highland Outfitters. Tell Josh I sent ya!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

This is not the same man pictured earlier today, trousered.

I must have a doppleganger....

[BEEDEE]

Great review and outstanding hose.

Brian