Kilt Discussion Panel

[bubba]

Looking good Zardoz, but the guy next to ya is gonna break his own kneecaps if he even TRIES to run.

[Scottish Chi]

Add a WOW for that gentleman's sporran. Would that be refered to as Scottish Bling?

Cheers! Bill

[Cawdorian]

You are looking good there, definitely the best of the bunch. That is the first time I've ever seen a sporran with a hub cap on it. It must be rough on his knees.

[davedove]

I rather liked the Four Redheads of the Apocalypse, great group name.

[Rex_Tremende]

Hub cap, saddle bag, big guy... It's all about proportion, you see. Like me, he must get his leathers from the tack shop.

So, Zardoz, how did that panel discussion actually go, and what conclusions were made?

Regards,
Rex in Cincinnati

[Zardoz]

The Kilt panel went pretty well, all the panelists were kilted in UKs except me in my USA and one guy in pants! Ok, tights, he was in pirate garb. We had a good turnout too, about 40 or 45 people in the audience, almost a full house! Several guys in kilts in that crowd too, but our audience was about 70% female! In the end we concluded that based in part on the crowd at the con, kilts must be making headway, but apparently mostly UKs! Most of the UK owners present got their first one at celtic or rennie festivals or even other Sci-Fi conventions, and most owned at least a couple, one fellow had 10. I gotta hand it to UK, they are marketing outside the box, and it shows. If they had a booth at our deal, their sales would have been worth the trip! I bet any store with off the rack tradional style kilts would do well too. These Sci-Fi crowds range from 7 to 70, and they have money, we had an art auction were folks bid up to a couple hundred bucks for original works.

There was so much UK talk, I sort of went into salesman mode for USA and Stillwater! Quite a few of the kilted folk at the panel were unaware of reasonably priced 'traditional' kilts, they are now! I handed out a bunch of fliers I made with info and some links to various online kilt sources. I think I may have got Rocky at least a couple of customers. So while I still think there is a long way to go, I left the con feeling pretty good about the future of kilt wearing!

[GlassMan]

I don't think that's a hubcap on his sporran, I believe that's actually an entire shield!

[Zardoz]

That fellow, I forgot his name, was from Canada. And he was kilted all weekend, I'll give him props for that. But he was mostly as you see him, not exactly the best fitting kilt, (it most likely used to fit) no belt, giant 'sporran' and white cotton sock with sandals.

He was in the audiance for the panel, and had a lot to say when the subject of cost came up, how he only paid like $300 CDN for his kilt and only had to give one measurement! (I'm not sure which one) . And how hard it was to get a sporran that would hold all his stuff! I hope it did.

The one sort of uncomfortable moment in the panel came when a girl asked us "do you think anyone can look good in a kilt?" and lots of folks looked at this guy! I got up and said that yes, I thought anyone can, as long as it fits right and is properly accessorized etc., which might be true, but didn't really help that situation!

I kept thinking about how questionable I looked when I started wearing kilts, and how greatful I am to have found this forum, it's taught me so much!

And I repeated my kilt mantra; What Would Hamish Do? :mrgreen:

[Panache]

I don't think that's a hubcap on his sporran, I believe that's actually an entire shield!

...and now you know where a Scot stores his targe when it's not in use...

[pbpersson]

A most excellent threat. I think Chris Webb brought up an excellent point about confidence. It takes a certain amount of character and self-confidence to wear a kilt publicly in westernized cultures. You have to be quite confident in who you are. That means tolerating stares, wisecracks, etc.

I don't really know how confident I am. I mean, what does that really mean? I'm 50 years old and I don't know.....I'm just at the point where I'm thinking I'm not perfect, I have issues, no one is perfect, everyone has issues....who cares? I'm okay, you're okay, you think I'm strange, why should I care?

You get to a certain point in life when you just realize that life is not the serious thing you make it out to be. I'm almost looking forward to when someone sees me in a kilt and asks if I'm Scottish and I say no, I'm Swedish and then just look at the confused look on their face. :confused: