Getting a Utilikilt! ...and have a question...

**Tobus** · 26th July 10, 06:50 AM

I'm usually a traditional kilt kind of guy, but in all honesty, traditional kilts are fairly limited in their functionality. I spend a lot of time outdoors, working around my homestead doing dirty work. Building/repairing fences, shredding pastures, digging trenches and laying water lines, mucking horse stalls and hauling manure, cutting trees and clearing brush... you get the picture. I'd sure hate to mess up a good traditional kilt doing that stuff. It's dirty, nasty work that's hard on clothing.

So usually I wear jeans. But now that I'm getting closer to 40 years old, I'm finding that I have a harder time with the heat than I used to. And maybe it's just that my body has taken a liking to the freedom of wearing a kilt and it's rebelling against blue jeans. I get so sweaty and sticky in my blue jeans that I feel like I'm stifling and I can't move. I need air and freedom of movement. So I've decided it's time to try a Utilikilt for my work clothes.

Since my birthday is next month, my wife wants to buy me a Utilikilt (bless her heart!). I'm going to go with a Workman model, but unfortunately I will have to special-order it since their standard lengths are for people much taller than me.

Anyway, I was perusing their site and admiring some of the pictures of folks wearing their UKs. I was particularly interested in this one and this one. I had pondered making myself some leg protection like that a while back, but what he is wearing would be perfect for the kind of work I do around my place while wearing a Utilikilt. Does anyone know what those are, where they came from, or who makes such a thing?

**ggibby** · 26th July 10, 08:34 AM

As a full time kilter who strongly favors Utilikilts (4 mockers & 1 Survival in rotation), when it's really hot here on the Gulf Coast, I wear my Mountain Hardwear Elkommando or for rough work, (gulp) shorts/trousers in similar lightweight nylon/polyester blands (sic).
IMHO, Utilikilts are not cooler than trousers, and shorts still win.

The leg protection in the photos seems like a lot of trouble and excess kit if you're willing to don bifurcated bottoms occasionally. They won't address mosquitosticks/chiggers, and if you're in a dusty environment, all the sweaty bits under the kilt will trap all that, too.

Growing up I worked at El Rancho Cima Scout Camp on RR 12 outside San Marcos, so I know the conditions you're working in. I'd be kilted as often as possible, but in the Health & Safety arena, trousers are probably the better choice.

**budd4766** · 26th July 10, 08:40 AM

You sound like a "horse" guy...what about wearing a pair of half-chaps? I always thought that'd look kind of cool with a utilikilt...

**budd4766** · 26th July 10, 08:45 AM

Maybe like some of these...?

http://www.ariat.com/products_listin...1&scid=11&gf=m

**dutchy kilted** · 26th July 10, 10:20 AM

It looks like he might be wearing welding leg protectors like these:

http://www.nautilusweb.com/products.asp?product_id=376

I have worn a workman UK with high socks while clearing bush and other dirty work in West Virginia in the Summer and it is much cooler than pants. Plus, more freedom of movement.

**wildrover** · 26th July 10, 10:27 AM

I've considered it...but at that point, I may as well be wearing Carharrts anyway, since they're loose, and those things are half a pair of pants and look hot besides. It's tempting...but I don't usually have the luxury of standing up while I weld.

Consider this, maybe...snowboarding pants must be able to prevail against the weather over a VERY wide range of conditions. One of the features of a good pair of boarding pants is a range of zippered, mesh-lined vents on the inside of the legs and outside of the thighs, to change the insulating properties as the weather changes through the day.

Maybe a modification like that, to a pair of Carharrts...I've been considering something similar for a while, plus a few strategic pieces of hide for the places that always seem to receive the most heat and/or abrasion.

I agree 100%, "real work" isn't really a good place for a kilt. Wool is durable, but duck cloth is more so, and kilts are comfortable, but pants keep my junk protected in the garage.

**Tobus** · 26th July 10, 01:21 PM

IMHO, Utilikilts are not cooler than trousers, and shorts still win.

Shorts might be a competitor to a UK for coolness, but I'm having a hard time believing that a UK isn't cooler than jeans. Just the airflow alone that a kilt provides should make things much cooler. Evaporation... ya know?

The leg protection in the photos seems like a lot of trouble and excess kit if you're willing to don bifurcated bottoms occasionally. They won't address mosquitosticks/chiggers, and if you're in a dusty environment, all the sweaty bits under the kilt will trap all that, too.

That's a fair point. Mainly what I'm looking for is protection of the lower leg while walking through thorny brush. But when it comes right down to it, jeans aren't much protection against chiggers (which are my main enemy) either. In fact, chiggers just love the tight space between my pants and my skin, and they will eat me up all the way to my waist. When it comes to chiggers, the less tight-fitting clothing, the better.

Certainly a UK won't be a cure-all. There will undoubtedly be some type of work I do where trousers are still the best choice. But if a UK will let me do some of the work more comfortably, well, it's a good excuse for buying one. Amiright?

You sound like a "horse" guy...what about wearing a pair of half-chaps? I always thought that'd look kind of cool with a utilikilt...

*light bulb goes on over Tobus's head*

Duh! I didn't even think of that! The ones you linked to would be perfect! They even seem to be breathable. And yeah, I think they'd look great with a UK.

I can probably manage to make some custom knee-pads to go with them, so that I can get some knee protection when working on the ground too.

**Bugbear** · 26th July 10, 01:42 PM

Back in the day, I tried out gardening in a canvas kilt for a couple of months.
Getting the fire ants off is easier in the kilt than in jeans. And I considered making canvas half chaps, but never got around to it. I have to use knee protection with jeans, anyway. Did not wear the kilt when crawling around in and under the trees.

It can be cooler in a kilt than shorts, but you have to be a little more careful bending down etc. I suggest using a tool belt and pouch.

**ggibby** · 26th July 10, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by Tobus

Shorts might be a competitor to a UK for coolness, but I'm having a hard time believing that a UK isn't cooler than jeans. Just the airflow alone that a kilt provides should make things much cooler. Evaporation... ya know?

I know what you mean, but it has more to do with bulk/insulation/retention inhibiting evaporation. At any point around my waist in a UK, I have three layers of kilt fabric. Then add two layers of pocket material, apron, et cetera and there is possibly seven layers of dead air space between sweat-absorbing poly cotton fabric, versus at most one layer of unders and two layers of denim at the pockets. It's just physics. Makes me wonder what an infra-red camera would show on kilt vs trousers...

This humble opinion acquired after helping a friend move two Sundays in a row this month. First time, the UK Survivor needed a day to dry out, so I switched to the Elkommando, which was much better, but I might do shorts if asked again.

**Red Stag** · 26th July 10, 06:29 PM

I started wearing a UK to work last year because men aren't allowed to wear shorts on the salesfloor. Its cooler when walking since it generates its own breeze but if you're doing something that involves standing in place it can still get hot. I just smashed the clasp off of my kilt pin at work while moving some of the bulk furniture. Everything has its pros and cons...