Hello from Missouri!

[Clan Armstrong]

Hey everyone! I'm a college student down in Southwest Missouri who just recently got into wearing kilts I currently have a really crappy acrylic kilt I got before doing any research and a nice quality utility kilt from UT Kilts. Unfortunately I'm on a pretty tight budget as a college student, and I'm trying to find some decent traditional-style kilts in the lower price range (around $50-$100 ideally). Looking through past form posts it seems like the casual kilt from USAKilts seems to be the gold standard in this price range, but I was wondering if y'all had anymore suggestions.

Thanks guys!!

[Father Bill]

Welcome to the "Great Rabble" and good luck!

[rlloyd]

Fáilte! In my opinion, the Casual from USA Kilts is a great way to build up a collection relatively quickly for someone on a budget. There's a pretty wide variety of tartans available, including many Universal tartans if you're not comfortable wearing tartans "connected" to families you're not affiliated with. They're also rather hardy garments, for lack of a better term: the Poly-Viscose material (a polyester-rayon blend, for us in the States) used by USA Kilts has a stain-resistant coating (think Scotchgard) and they can easily be machine washed if there is some sort of incident - saving the time of properly washing a woolen kilt yourself or the expense of having it cleaned professionally, two commodities very precious to those of us in school. For the combination of price (starting at $99) and quality, I don't think they can be beat!

[Kiltedjohn]

Welcome from a Scotsman living in the English midlands. I made the same mistake of buying before researching. Hope you get good advice.

[Clan Armstrong]

Welcome to the "Great Rabble" and good luck!

Thank you!!

Fáilte! In my opinion, the Casual from USA Kilts is a great way to build up a collection relatively quickly for someone on a budget. There's a pretty wide variety of tartans available, including many Universal tartans if you're not comfortable wearing tartans "connected" to families you're not affiliated with. They're also rather hardy garments, for lack of a better term: the Poly-Viscose material (a polyester-rayon blend, for us in the States) used by USA Kilts has a stain-resistant coating (think Scotchgard) and they can easily be machine washed if there is some sort of incident - saving the time of properly washing a woolen kilt yourself or the expense of having it cleaned professionally, two commodities very precious to those of us in school. For the combination of price (starting at $99) and quality, I don't think they can be beat!

I'm inclined to agree! Having researched some more, it seems like the Casual is going to be my best bet in this range. I've looked around for ex-hires and some comparable wool kilts in the range, but they're usually Pakastani and/or a poor quality wool if they're even wool. Better to go for a good quality PV kilt from a trusted seller than place a bet on a Woolen Wool or Pakastani PV kilt that costs about the same anyway I'm thinking.

Welcome from a Scotsman living in the English midlands. I made the same mistake of buying before researching. Hope you get good advice.

Thank you!! Luckily I bought a very, very cheap one so I didn't end up throwing too much money at it (only about $20) and it'll do fine as a spare/get real dirty kilt. I'm happy with my UT kilt purchase too.

[KennethSime]

I'm inclined to agree! Having researched some more, it seems like the Casual is going to be my best bet in this range. I've looked around for ex-hires and some comparable wool kilts in the range, but they're usually Pakastani and/or a poor quality wool if they're even wool. Better to go for a good quality PV kilt from a trusted seller than place a bet on a Woolen Wool or Pakastani PV kilt that costs about the same anyway I'm thinking.

I'd echo the comment on the USAK Casual. It's a fantastic kilt, the pleats are great, the material is very nice, and the velcro works a treat. Hands-down, best kilt for $100.

[Liam]

Welcome to the forum from Western Canada!

[Tomak]

I agree, my son loves his USAK casual.

[imbrius]

Welcome, cousin! I'll second the USAK casual. I haven't owned one myself but I've seen them worn and they look great.

[MichiganKyle]

Welcome from Michigan!

I'm up to four USA Kilts casuals now. I love them, wear them more often than anything else, and my next planned purchase is another USA Kilts casual. They're darn near indestructible. The material's great. The pleats stay nicely pleated no matter how badly you abuse them. And the velcro waistband is very comfortable and adjustable for when the scale says local gravity's a little different than you expected.

However, if this is your first kilt in a custom size, MAKE SURE YOU MEASURE PROPERLY. You'll be much happier with the result if you do it right. It's critically important for the fit to work. My first kilt was a Sport Kilt, and although I followed their directions to measure, it came out completely wrong mostly because I had no one around me who wore a kilt and didn't know how a kilt was best worn. When I received it, I had to have it tailored to even sort of fit. USA Kilts casuals are custom made to your measurements, so you shouldn't have that problem if you measure correctly. But you have to know where and how to measure. For me, it's most comfortable to wear a kilt at my anatomical waist, which is surprisingly high if you're not used to it - it varies from person to person, but for me it's above my bellybutton and covers a few of my lower (false) ribs. It's the point where my abdomen is the narrowest, and it's much more comfortable there than lower down. Once you know where you want to wear it, if you follow their directions, you should be okay. I've found I get a better fit if I drop the waist measurement by about 0.5-1" and add about 1" to the hip measurement, but that's just me. When in doubt, call them - they're easy to get ahold of, and their customer service is excellent.