Kilt belt loops?

**Carlo** · 29th May 13, 04:02 PM

I could see a reason for them with a tank that wasn't made for you. The weight in the back might try to slip under the belt.

**MacMillans son** · 29th May 13, 04:49 PM

For the most part, they are BELT loops NOT sporran loops. Whether you choose to use them or not is entirely up to you. I order them on my kilts for my BELT. I don't like having to adjust my belt during the day getting up and down from a chair or in and out of a car tends to make the belt, my belt at least, slide up and down on my kilt as it rubs against the back of the chair or car seat. Belt loops keep the belt mostly in place so as not to have to deal with that. I have had kilt makers who would not put them on a kilt except at gun point, and another kilt maker who would not leave them off without the same level of encouragement.

I know that someone has posted a photo of a kilt distorted around the belt loops before, I am not sure how that happened as a well fitting kilt is not held up by the belt but by the straps on the kilt. There should not be any weight on the belt loops to make them distort.

If you find them useful, then order your kilt with them on (actually, they will likely come on your kilt unless you specifically order them without), if not, feel free, as others have said, to not use them, take them off, or ask that they not be put on at all.

There is no wrong answer, just your preference.

**Tobus** · 29th May 13, 06:58 PM

Plus one to what Brooke said. I use the belt loops on my kilt when I'm wearing a belt. Not to hold my kilt up, but to keep my belt in place. I much prefer that to cinching my belt overly tight to stay put. Without the loops, my belt is constantly riding up in the back when I bend over or sit down. The loops are sized for a kilt belt, not just a sporran strap, so that's what I use them for.

**DyerStraits** · 29th May 13, 08:36 PM

I agree that on a properly fitting feilidh-beag (i.e. firmly but comfortably snug at the waist), using the loops for either a belt or a sporran is optional and I personally have recently taken to not using the loops depending on how I'm kilting up at the time, and sometimes not even wearing a belt. Of course both the original feilidh-beag and feileadh Mhor had no loops, so there you have it. To each his own.

**Nathan** · 29th May 13, 08:37 PM

Interestingly, I put my vintage military box pleat kilt into a kiltmaker for some alterations and it came back with belt loops even though it didn't have them when it went in and I didn't ask for them.

I don't use them for my belt because I was taught that was a tell tale sign of someone who didn't know what they were doing. I found that view odd, but still didn't want to look like I didn't know what I was doing so have never used them...

**MacMillans son** · 29th May 13, 08:53 PM

Now that is an interesting perspective Nathan, I would think that wearing a belt on the outside of the belt loops would be more indicative of someone who didn't know what they were doing. We wouldn't do that with a pair of trousers would we? If I were to see someone wearing their belt on top of their belt loops I would assume 1. They were drunk when they got dressed or 2. Were from a culture not familiar with belt loops and their intended use

Funny thing perspective.

**Nathan** · 29th May 13, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by MacMillans son

Now that is an interesting perspective Nathan, I would think that wearing a belt on the outside of the belt loops would be more indicative of someone who didn't know what they were doing. We wouldn't do that with a pair of trousers would we? If I were to see someone wearing their belt on top of their belt loops I would assume 1. They were drunk when they got dressed or 2. Were from a culture not familiar with belt loops and their intended use

Funny thing perspective.

Perspective is indeed a funny thing and your deductions make sense. You just can't deduce tradition, you either know it or you don't. So your statement about how "we wouldn't do that with a pair of trousers" kind of illustrates the point. You're looking at a kilt like a pair of trousers which it isn't. I do put my sporran strap or chain through those loops as I was taught that's what they were designed for and not my belt. If one didn't want to look like someone from a culture that wasn't familiar with sporran strap loops and confused them with the falsely analogous belt loops they were used to on trousers... well, you get the idea.

**MacMillans son** · 29th May 13, 09:11 PM

OOOOO nicely played Nathan !

It has been my understanding that sporran loops were/are smaller loops (more in scale to a sporran strap) and that the larger loops that we see on most kilts are that size in order to allow for a kilt belt. However, as hard as it may be to believe, I have been wrong before.

Just to be clear, my point about seeing people wearing belts on top of loops was in reference to trousers, not kilts, but your counter point was still well taken.

**revbook** · 30th May 13, 05:04 AM

Originally Posted by Nathan

Perspective is indeed a funny thing and your deductions make sense. You just can't deduce tradition, you either know it or you don't. So your statement about how "we wouldn't do that with a pair of trousers" kind of illustrates the point. You're looking at a kilt like a pair of trousers which it isn't. I do put my sporran strap or chain through those loops as I was taught that's what they were designed for and not my belt. If one didn't want to look like someone from a culture that wasn't familiar with sporran strap loops and confused them with the falsely analogous belt loops they were used to on trousers... well, you get the idea.

Nathan...Great reply, I couldn't have said it better myself!

**Elf** · 31st May 13, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by MacMillans son

Now that is an interesting perspective Nathan, I would think that wearing a belt on the outside of the belt loops would be more indicative of someone who didn't know what they were doing. We wouldn't do that with a pair of trousers would we? If I were to see someone wearing their belt on top of their belt loops I would assume 1. They were drunk when they got dressed or 2. Were from a culture not familiar with belt loops and their intended use

Funny thing perspective.

Well, I do wear the belt on the outside of the loops with tr@^#ers when I use it for the origianal purpose: holding my knife, rather than to hold up the garment. It aids in quick changes.

However to really start the fireworks going: We go round and round about the two little loops at the back of the kilt. If one really needs (or fears they need) the belt to keep the kilt up, then should we put belt loops all the way around like a utility kilt? I may have jumped the unfathomable chasm here. As of yet, I only use the two loops for sporran strap even though I feel the proportions of the kilt need curtailment by the belt for my body shape when without waistcoat. (time to duck and cover!)