Uncovering Victoria’s kiltmaker
Sharon Tiffin/News staff
Steve Ashton folds pleats in his Freedom Kilts store on Gladstone Avenue offering custom contemporary kilts for everyday wear. He has forged a modest retirement business, despite a lack of significant Celtic ancestry.
By Andrea Lavigne
News staff
May 16 2007
Kilts can be year-round clothing
Any man who’s ever donned a kilt has heard “the question.”
But Steve Ashton, owner of Freedom Kilts and a self-confessed “kiltaholic,” has probably heard it more often than most.
“Probably once a week, but when I’m away from my shop, it’s more like twice a day,” he said.
After three years in the business, Ashton has learned a comeback or two.
His favourite? “Why, shoes and socks, of course.”
Ashton, who’s got about as much Scottish blood in him as a mosquito, calls his foray into kiltmaking a “fluke.”
While he’d always wanted a kilt, he didn’t feel his ancestry qualified him to wear a Scottish tartan.
But one day he said “to heck with it” and commandeered his wife’s sewing machine to make his own kilt.
Ashton admits he felt a little apprehensive heading into work that first time. But the response was so enthusiastic that he had three orders by the end of the day.
Freedom Kilts started as a little retirement project in his house and has since grown into a full-time operation with several employees and a shop on Gladstone Avenue.
The secret to Ashton’s success could be his innovative designs. His kilts are made from a polyester/cotton blend (as opposed to the traditional imported wool) and are available in a range of colours and prints, including camouflage. They also have pockets, are washable and are completely custom-made.
Ashton says his kilts have been worn on every continent in the world – including Antarctica.
As for the idea that skirts are for women....
“It’s a big double standard. It’s the only anatomically correct thing a man should wear. In every single culture, men are in unbifurcated garments.”
But more men are forgoing the tyranny of trousers, he added.
“Ninety-nine per cent of the men I meet say, ‘That’s so cool,’” he said.
For more information, go to
www.freedomkilts.com.
The questions
Kiltmaker Steve Ashton’s comebacks to “the question” (that you’d never ask a woman).
1.) Why is nothing is worn under my kilt? Because everything under there is in perfect working order.
2.) If you were a lady, you wouldn’t ask. If you’re not a lady, you’ll find out for yourself.
3.) Lipstick.
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