heavy army kilt

[PIPER IÑAKI]

Actually, Marton Mills (in the UK) weaves the P/V that respectable kiltmakers in the UK and US are using.

Thanks,I gonna take a look on them..

[TheOfficialBren]

You're welcome.

[OC Richard]

I too live in Southern California. I have three traditional wool kilts, one 13oz and two 16/17oz. There's not much difference how they feel on hot days. (I have no interest in nontraditional kilts, PV kilts, etc.)

I will say that my two heavyweight kilts have different yardages: one has 9 yards in it (why oh why did she do that?) and the other, made to my specification, has only 7 yards.

To me the latter is "the perfect kilt", heavyweight tartan but a bit less than 8 yards so that the back of the kilt doesn't weigh a ton and tend to droop.

About the Army kilts, back 30 years ago when I was young and skinny I used to wear one. It was incredibly heavy, the fabric being more like a horseblanket or travel rug that the kilting cloth we're used to. It was probably 22oz. The back had a very large number of very narrow pleats... loads of fabric in that thing. (Because the tartan these heavy Army kilts are made of has a very large sett, and they're pleated to the stripe, each pleat has a load of fabric in it.)

Thick, bulky, heavy, high-waisted... not my cup of tea anymore.

[Tobus]

I own everything from a 4-yard box pleat to an 8-yard ex-military kilt (with several others in between), and to answer the question, no, I don't find it any harder to move around in a heavy kilt than a light one. As long as the kilt fits properly to your waist, the weight isn't cumbersome. Freedom of movement is fine with any of them, and I actually prefer the feel of a heavy kilt. Lower yardage kilts feel too flimsy to me, and I much prefer the feel of the heavier cloth (16 or 18 oz). I can't speak with any experience on 20 or 22 oz cloth, though.

As for heat (I live in South-Central Texas, so I know about heat!), the part of a kilt that usually makes the difference is above the fell line. The amount of material in the hanging portion of the pleats doesn't bother me in the heat. It's the amount of material behind the lining that starts to get hot and stays sweaty. But since the higher-yardage kilts have material trimmed away to reduce bulk, it's not like an 8-yard kilt is going to have twice the amount of material there as a 4-yard kilt. And let's be honest - even a 4-yard kilt is going to get hot in the waist area when it's hot outside. There's only so much reduction of material that can occur here, so you're stuck with a certain amount of bulk to retain heat and trap in sweat. Personally, I find the difference only marginal between different kilts. So even when it's hot outside, I choose the kilt based on what I want to wear or how I want to look, with the yardage being only a minor concern. But then again, I may be less sensitive than others when it comes to heat. Your body type and sensitivity will have a lot to do with it, as there is no single answer that works for everyone.