USA Kilts philabeg/Stillwater standard

[Alan H]

OK, my Ramsay Blue philabeg arrived yesterday and I've had it on all day. Since I know some folks out there need to keep the $$$ to a minimum, and the two kilts I own are potential purchases for them I thought I'd do a side-by-side comparison. My first kilt was a Stillwater Black Watch, standard kilt...not their newer "heavyweight". OK, so here goes.

These two kilts are very different. They're both nice garments, but they are DIFFERENT...bigtime.

The Stillwater is more like a traditional kilt:

I was amazed when I opened the box with my Stillwater in it. The thing was *heavy*. Conversely I was surprised when I opened the box with my USAK philabeg in it, it was so light! The Stillwater material has a very "woolen" feel to it. People are shocked when I tell them that it's acrylic. On the other hand, I've had it for thre months and I've had to shave the pilling off the apron already.

This philabeg is made of the 11 ounce poly-viscose that so many contemporary kiltmakers use. (Rocky uses other materials for philabegs, not just PV, OK?) I e-mailed Rocky and asked him if it was cotton, 'cause I sure thought it was. It's not. AS for closure, the stillwater has a traditional three-buckle closure, the philabeg has velcro.

BTW, my waist is 40, my butt is 44 and the drop is 24.

The Stillwater's black watch sett is small, about 4 inches. This, plus how the thing is constructed allows for oodles of pleats, about 30. They're very deep. The kilt has a great "swing". The philabeg's Ramsay sett is about 6 inches. It has 17 pleats. The pleats are stitched down. The Stillwater pleats aren't.

The Philabeg is lightweight and easy.

In the summer this philabeg is going to be nice, 'cause on a hot day this thing will be a godsend. The Stillwater might be hot. Then again, today was windy around here and the philabeg flew up once to give the world at look at some leg, and I was stressing over it whenever I was outside. So far the Stillwater hasn't "flown" on me, but I've only had it on me one windy day.

The philabeg just LOOKS like something I can wash and touch up and it'll look great. I can tell that if I just slam it in the washing machine and spend ten minutes with an iron, I'll be stylin'. I washed my Stillwater and tried to touch up the pleats with an iron and I won't be doing that again. Next time, the Stillwater goes to the dry cleaner. Yes, the Stillwaters acrylic fabric IS machine washable, but I want crisp pleats and I'll get them from a dry cleaner.

The philabeg is easy.

Velcro. On-off. It takes about fifteen seconds to put on the philabeg. The Stillwater with the three buckles, takes a couple of minutes. I have to *think* with the Stillwater. BTW, the Stillwater "standard" buckles look fine, but they're pretty lighweight. They're fine..no worries, but they're not "nice" hardware.Tthe upgraded "heavyweight"s probably has nicer buckles. The philabeg is a "no brainer".

Upshot...if you want quick and simple and easy and lightweight, get a philabeg. I'm gonna love this thing in the summer.

If you want something more traditional, get a Stillwater.

Alan H

[Manu]

So, which one looks better? Honestly. Which has the better cut? Im thinking the USAK, but let me know.

[Blu (Ontario)]

... The philabeg just LOOKS like something I can wash and touch up and it'll look great. I can tell that if I just slam it in the washing machine and spend ten minutes with an iron, I'll be stylin'. I washed my Stillwater and tried to touch up the pleats with an iron and I won't be doing that again. Next time, the Stillwater goes to the dry cleaner. Yes, the Stillwaters acrylic fabric IS machine washable, but I want crisp pleats and I'll get them from a dry cleaner... Alan H

I can't imagine what you would be doing to your kilts that they would need to be slammed into a washing machine. My heavyweight is almost 5 years old and its been dry cleaned once. After wearing a kilt all day on a hot day, I simply fan it out on the bed for a couple of hours, then hang it up and its ready for the next time. I've found it's just not necessary to clean a kilt as often as a pair of jeans... If I'm doing something in the workshop, I wear something else.

[Dreadbelly]

I dunno...

I notice that my kilt gains a funk after a while. A stinky smelly funk. I fart. A lot. I have a medical condition that causes me to fart like a hippopotamus after a Southern Baptist Baked Bean Dinner.

I can hang my kilt in front of an open window in my apartment and behold... Next day, there is still the dreadful kilt funk.

How does one keep the dreaded kilt funk out of their pleats?

I tried a little Fabreeze, but it ran away wimpering. Tossing my kilts into the washer is the only thing that seems to help.

BTW, don't listen to my wife. Her claims of me blowing out and lifting my own pleats with a powerful blast are utter fabrication.

[Doc Hudson]

Now I usderstand your avatar.

Next new kilt, try Scotchgard before wearing it. I don't know for certain it will help, but it is worth a try.

[Magnus Sporrano]

I have a medical condition that causes me to fart like a hippopotamus after a Southern Baptist Baked Bean Dinner.

I have "the gift" as well. Have had to throw out several chairs in my home office since the smell wouldn't come out. My wife thought that a wooden chair would fix the problem. At least until we had to throw that one out, too.

So if we're talking about USAK Philabegs here, why not just toss it in the laundry?

[Thistle Stop]

I thought Febreeze worked on everything -- but I guess I stand corrected!

There's a product advertised on TV called Zero Odor, which says it will eliminate even skunk odor (they claim scientific proof), by binding to the 'stink' molecules and altering them chemically. I assume they mean it changes the thiols. They advertise Zero Odor for pet odors, but I'm sure your wives would consider you to be their 'pets' (in the most affectionate way, of course!). It's only sold online, at http://www.zeroodorpet.com/. They say it's completely safe and non-toxic. If you try it, let me know how it works! If it's good, I'll recommend it to any of my customers with similar worries.

[Alan H]

"Which one has the better cut?"

That's tough to say. Again, I don't feel that I want to say that one kilt is "better" than the other, but they are certainly different. It's not like one of them is a great product and the one one is a rotten product, you know? They're DIFFERENT.

On a still, hot day in the summer I know I'd for sure rather be wearing the philabeg. If I were going to a function where I wanted a kilt that looked as traditional as I could, I'd wear the Stillwater. If it was windy outside and I was going to spend the day in a breeze, well, the Stillwater is quite a bit heavier.

Both of them have nice pleats, but the Stillwater has 30-plus while the philabeg has 16. Is that a "problem"? No, not at all. The Stillwater Black Watch is a very subtle kilt in terms of its color. The blues and greens are much the same timbre of color, so it's a rather dark and not very colorful kilt with a small sett. The Philabeg is bright blue and black with a big sett. It really stands out. That's fun!

They're both very comfortable to wear. The philabeg is a no-brainer to put on. If I wanted to have something to toss on me **** after a workout or something, the philabeg would be the ticket, with its velcro closures. I feel better about wearing the philabeg out to someplace rowdy where it mght get beer spilled on it, because the fabric is eminently washable.

BTW, I've not washed it yet. I washed the stillwater once and pressed the pleats by hand and now that it's been hanging in the closet, post-pressing for a week the pleats look pretty good. One washing in three months, meaning about 10-12 wearings doesn't seem excessive to me. Since kilts are rather better ventilated than pants, the sweat and general funk bildup is less with them than with trousers, and that's most of the reason I wash pants, anyway.