Durability of the kilt!

[James]

This subject having come up in various posts, and I've commented on some of them, so I thought it worth a new thread!

That is the idea that a traditional kilt can get spoilt/messed up through rough wear-say walking-backpacking and the like.

In my younger days I did a lot of walking-backpacking and the like wearing the kilt: and despite the rigours of bivouacs-rough camps-and often several days of continuous rain-I never found my traditional kilt coming to any harm. Experience that included waist high river crossing, obstacles be they fallen trees, and dense undergrowth-even the briar patch.

My experience being that the kilt is the ideal garment for such activities.

Of course it would often need a clean and press before appearing in formal guise for functions etc. Too over the years there could be some slight fading, but if anything that appeared to improve the appearance of the kilt.

So I'd be interested to hear of anyone who has actuall had a traditional kilt come to any harm through the use it was designed , or maybe evolved for.

James

[macwilkin]

Too over the years there could be some slight fading, but if anything that appeared to improve the appearance of the kilt.

A lot of people have that same attitude towards the wee rips and patches in a well-used Barbour jacket, James! ;)

Cheers,

Todd

[Freedomlover]

So I'd be interested to hear of anyone who has actuall had a traditional kilt come to any harm through the use it was designed , or maybe evolved for.

James

My oldest kilt, a McGregor that I bought in Scotland in 1969, has seen a lot of really rough use. The only harm that has come to it happened when I stepped through a barb wire fence while hunting and caught the bottom of the inside apron. It made an 'L' shape tear about 1 x 1 1/2 inches. I sewed it up on the spot with supplies from my emergency kit, and the blue thread is still there 27 years later.

No other wool kilt has come to any harm, but I tore a UK all to pieces going through a dense stand of young black locust trees.

[Riverkilt]

Aye James,

Perhaps because so many of us in the Colonies are only used to seeing traditional kilts at Highland Games, formal affairs, and parades we get to thinking they're for important occasions only. We forget what they were born to.

After some agonizing I wore my 16 oz Strome Macdonald of Kingsburgh kilt to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The kilt felt like it was part of the landscape. So very natural outdoors in the grandure of nature.

Ron

[Southern Breeze]

I once viewed kilts as being worn at formal affairs,highland games and so forth. Added to that was the price and having knowledge only of the traditional ones. That all changed when I saw a U.K at a renn. fair and checked out the company online and also found out about the other types of kilts. Now I'm wearing the kilt nearly full time. They are indeed much more durable than people think they are.I wear Stillwaters at work and they seem to be holding up rather well.
As for traditionals, I've worn my 22oz kilts hiking several times and had no problems with them.

[Iolaus]

I wouldn't wear a $400 pair of slacks camping, so I'm not going to wear a $400 kilt either; the almost $200 for the UK workman is bad enough!

[Blu (Ontario)]

While not serious harm, I've had a couple of threads pulled up from the surface of the wool while walking through some thick waist high weeds and thistles. I used a needle and thread to pull the loops back thru and then stretched the puckered threads into place. I've never had a 3 corner tear to deal with... thankfully.

[Archangel]

My oldest kilt, a McGregor that I bought in Scotland in 1969, has seen a lot of really rough use. The only harm that has come to it happened when I stepped through a barb wire fence while hunting and caught the bottom of the inside apron. It made an 'L' shape tear about 1 x 1 1/2 inches. I sewed it up on the spot with supplies from my emergency kit, and the blue thread is still there 27 years later.

No other wool kilt has come to any harm, but I tore a UK all to pieces going through a dense stand of young black locust trees.

Well, you beat me there, I bought my first, a McGregor, in '72, in Scotland.

[GlassMan]

Worst damage any of my kilts has ever endured was when my spouse threw a cigarette out the window of a moving car and flew right back in and landed on my Hector Russel. Thankfully the way I was seated, it actually landed on the inside apron in a spot fully covered by the front apron under normal conditions. So it's got a rather nice scorch mark, but other than that my kilts don't see much rough country.

Now, if they ever make a wheel chair with tank treads instead of those horrible thin wheels, then I'll finally be able to go hiking again.

[Andrew Breecher]

I've been hiking (including bushwhaking and sliding across boulders), and worked in the outdoors in a traditional wool kilt. I have no doubts it would have easily survived my long-distance hiking (though I'm not sorry I've hiked and will continue to long-distance hike in a Bear Kilt). I'm long over the worry of wearing a $400 kilt outdoors. As long as I have one kilt I don't beat around and can wear for formal occasions, then I can wear anything else all the rest of the time.

Andrew.