In light of Splash_4 recently posting about his unfortunate accident where his kilt pin created a tear in his kilt, I was wondering the consensus on kilt pins.

I personally do not own a single kilt pin. I have on occasion used a my Clan crest badge (an antique hallmarked silver Mackay crest) as a kilt pin on a few occasions, but I generally never saw the necessity of putting holes in a $400 piece of clothing.

I know that there are reasons to wear a kilt pin, such as if you have a light fabric kilt and need the weight to keep the apron down in 'windy' conditions, but I have honestly never had a problem with that situation happening to me. And I do have a question about that logic. I noticed that the 'traditional military' kilt pins were basically oversize safety pins that did not seem to have much weight to them. So what was the use?

So, my questions are, 1) Do you see a need for a kilt pin, 2) What is the origin of the kilt pin as we know it today?, and 3) If you use a kilt pin, do you take it off and on, or leave it where it is so as to not damage the fabric?