Review: AmeriKilt Kahki

[Mr. MacDougall]

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the AmeriKilt website and chose to purchase the khaki version of their kilt. I had a little bit of trepidation, because, on my monitor, the picture they had for kahki was just a little bit green. None the less, I bought it, and paid via PayPal. $107US, with shipping, which was not bad.

I received the email from PayPal, saying that I'd sent them the money, but nothing from AmeriKilt. A couple of days went by, and still nothing, so I sent them an email, and asked if they'd received the order, and if so, when I could expect it to ship. They replied very quickly, said that it was shipping the next day. (So, considering I ordered on a weekend, this was the third business day after the order -- not too shabby).

I received the kilt, and opened it up. The color portrayed on the website is not accurate, as it's not green at all. (I tried to take some pictures, but the only digital camera I have at the moment is the one on my phone, and they came out quite blurry, and wouldn't tell you anything other than the fact that I have a crappy camera). It is, in fact, the tan color that most of us associate with the word kahki.

The kilt is machine sewn, and the knife edge of the pleats is sewn from top to bottom -- the other edge, the hidden edge inside the pleat, however, is not. The bottom hem was made with a serger (an overlocker, for our friends overseas), using the same thread they used to sew the pleats. It's invisible from more than a couple of feet away, but it's a reasonably open overlock, and I'm concened with it fraying over time.

It comes with a sporran made of the same material as the kilt. There are two d-rings on the front two belt loops, and there are two snap-hooks on the sporran which attach to these loops. I have a minor complaint about this, in that the sporran seems to be made to a single pattern, while the kilts are made in various sizes -- which is to say, I'm a big feller, and the sporran tugs on the apron when I put it together, creating a wrinkle.

After wearing it all day, the pleats in back were really quite wrinkled. I imagine this is a function of the heavy weight cotton material, but I don't really have much experience with kilts to know what to suggest that would be better. There is no tag in the kilt to give care instructions, and the only instruction printed on the invoice was in regards the "aggressive" snap they use, and instructions for not tearing it out of the kilt.

So, grades:
Customer Service: C
Quality of construction: C
Value for the Dollar: B
Overall: B-

[cavscout]

I think as a casual, light weight kilt you will enjoy the AK. In the absence of PK, the AK's are a good alternative at that price point.

I believe your reference to a Hem might be inaccurate. I understand a hem to be where the cloth is actually folded over and stitched onto itself so there is no frayed edge showing. last Time I saw an AK, the bottom edge was a cut edge with the "zig-zag" surge stitch run along the edge.

I questioned AK about this as well and they volunteered to hem it for me.

PS: To relieve the stress on the belt loops, you could get some sporran hangers made with D-rings instead of hooks that would allow you to hang the sporran from your belt rather than the kilt.

[Mr. MacDougall]

I believe your reference to a Hem might be inaccurate. I understand a hem to be where the cloth is actually folded over and stitched onto itself so there is no frayed edge showing. last Time I saw an AK, the bottom edge was a cut edge with the "zig-zag" surge stitch run along the edge.

Sorry if the verbage is a bit confusing. We're both describing the same thing. I'm using the word "hem" to describe a sewn border or margin, rather than a folded-and-sewn edge. So, yes, the AK by default has only the serger / overlock stitching on the bottom edge, and what I got was the default.

Out of curiosity, how much did they charge you extra for a finished hem?

[cavscout]

I don't remember the details that well as I opted against the AK in favor of the PK MarPat. Mike at AK was great to work with.

[Big Mikey]

This is offered as a bit of re-assurance on your purchase. I have had an AK for about a year and find it to be just right in the hot weather. I did not expect it to be the same as an SWK or any other more traditional kilt. It is worn as a knock-around that will take abuse. I wear mine when doing yard work, cleaning the garage or what ever else my wife determines needs to be done on my days off.

As far as care goes, I remove the sporran and throw the kilt in the wash, cold water with whatever else needs done, hang to dry. I DO NOT worry about the pleats so no ironing, just give them a tug while the kilt is hanging and be done with it.

IMHO, this kilt serves its purpose well, in the heat "the boys" are comfy and I am happy and I don't worry about beer or BBQ sauce spills.

[Ozman1944]

I have two AK and seem to have trouble with the pleats curling. Washing, pressing etc. seems to not help at all. Apart from stitching up the inside of each pleat (I'm no sewing buff) are there any helpful hints I don't know about, or is that what AK are supposed to do? I wore a black on to a restaurant & later when I stood up, did not look terribly smart.

[Riverkilt]

Don't know if this pic is still the same "khaki" as AmeriKilts offers today. They used to call it "putty" and its the same color as was called "khaki" back in WWII days.



I wore my AKs more for office wear, even a funeral, since they seemed dressy/preppy to me. Went well with vests and sweaters. Using the past tense since I outgrew them.

Also bought an extra cloth sporran from Mike so I could mix and match. Forest sporran on Khaki, Khaki sporran on Black, etc. I liked the two color look.

There was a time when I thought it would help the AK pleats to sew the inside down too, but Jimmy Carbomb replied not to do it, in fact, he suggested taking the inside seams out of my Utilikilt pleats to help the UKs hang better. No clue where that thread is today.

But, the point is, the lack of sewn down seams on the inner pleats is a good thing in some folks opinions.

Z-Coil shoes even put a photo of me hiking in Z-Coil hikers and my Black AmeriKilt in one of their marketing brochurers.

Don't see a lot about Mike and AmeriKilts on this board yet he makes a product of value that can be a lot more than a knock around kilt. Its a great dress up kilt too.

Ron

[Alan H]

There's a little trick to getting a sewn-down outer pleat to lie falt and it depends on the nature of the fabric. When I was making the prototype X-Kilts, I discovered that the cotton duck-canvas kilts lay pretty flat at the pleats, it was the cotton/poly twill that curled. The way I discovered (totally by accident) to help with that was to put the sewn edge under a little bit of tension when it's being sewn. In other words, pull it through the presser foot/feed dogs while you're sewing it. Somehow that little bit of tension...not a lot, just a little, helped with getting the pleat edges to lie flatter.

Why it does that, I have no idea.

[Mael Coluim]

I purchased this tiger stripe camo from Amerikilt four years, ago and have been really happy with it. As stated in this thread, its a breeze to clean. With a 25 pound weight loss this year, I'm not able to wear it now. Not sure if it can be altered or I should look to offer it for sale.

[Gryphon noir]

I haven't seen any additions to this thread recently, so I'll add my two cents' worth. I purchased an Amerikilt some months ago, but have yet to wear it outside the house.
Why not? First of all, it arrived in a very wrinkled state--and no, it wasn't opened by Customs. It took me awhile to figure out how to steam out all the wrinkles, but not being formal garb, that didn't bother me too much. When I put it on, I thought it was a rather sloppy fit. I went back to my original order and checked the instructions and my measurements. No problem there. I had followed the instructions exactly, and the label confirmed that it was the right size.
Next I added a kilt belt, and that helped somewhat, but I still had to tuck in about an inch and a half of material. It didn't help that the velcro is a very small patch, poorly located and too fine to hold the amount of material or adjust the waistband.
Design flaws? The lack of a reverse pleat makes the apron pull to the right; without any stitching on the inside of the pleat--I believe it's called a 'barrel pleat'--the material puffs out and the bottom of each pleat flips up and out.
Also, the proportion of the waist band to the hip measurement seems to assume a beer gut--but that would create a bigger wrinkle across the the top of the apron.
Solutions? I'm working on it. So far, I have managed to shrink about an inch off the waistband which has improved the fit considerably. How much will it shrink? No idea.
Conclusion? I'll wear this thing when I'm out gardening, or building a cob house....
Design: C
Fit: C
Workmanship: B+
Price: B
Recommendation: look elsewhere