Non-tartan Timeline.......

[bubba]

Personall, I think the casual tartan kilts are a product of a desire for a nice kilt but lack of a budget for one. It's simply an affordable alternative for most of us, especially those who want more than one

[Dakotan]

I agree Bubba. I really wanted a tartan kilt, but as you mentioned was totally caught off guard when I found out what they cost.
Enter SportKilt! Over the course of the next year I had purchased 4 of them, and thought they were great.
However, since I got my "traditional" kilts from Stillwater, one of my SportKilts (which I never got around to wearing) has already been "eBayed" away.
I guess I personally still wanted a more "genuine" article, and at their price I'm not afraid to wear them, so my Stillwater Kilts now will see more use than the SportKilts, but I suspect I'm in a minority... or ?????.

-Dakotan

[aikinut]

I believe the first commercially available non-tartan kilts were made by Howie Nicholsby of 21st Century kilts. Theirs tended to be dressier and more expensive, although they are the first to market a camouflage kilt. I'm reasonably certain that the first utilitarian kilt, that is, a kilt designed primarly as an affordable garment for daily wear, was the Utilikilt. It's certainly the most well-known.