Summer weight kilts

[cavscout]

I had a UK Survival and the thing weighed a ton but was very comfortable heat wise.

I sold that and got a PK Forest MarPat which is the perfect weight in my opinion for a utility kilt. I've worked in the heat in it and stay very comfortable. Since Jeff is not taking orders though, youwill want to go with Freedom Kilts. Steve's design is awesome.

I also have a USA casual which is almost like wearing nothing. Very comfortable in hot and cold.

I've got a Sportkilt also which I wear as PJ's and I have worn it on a dash to the store but I don't like to wear it outside the house. And, if you start adding the sewn down pleats and belt loops and fringed edge, you're now in the same range as a USA which is a much better made kilt.

Summary:
USA kilts for Tartan
Freedom Kilts for Contemporary.

Alternate option
Utilikilts scratch-n-dent list

[The Wizard of BC]

You specified Tartan kilt so I would go with Rocky and Kelly at USA Kilts hands down.

I'm a kiltmaker and I own two Semi-Trad USA kilts in their 11 oz.PV. As far as I'm concerned it is the perfect Tartan for a hot day. All I need now is a hot day here in Victoria, BC.

[Raphael]

4 yard PV

[Freedomlover]

... a PK Forest MarPat which is the perfect weight in my opinion for a utility kilt. I've worked in the heat in it and stay very comfortable.

I'll second that. I've worn my Marpat PK all over the mountains here and it is, by far, the most comfortable kilt I own. (BTW I have several dozen).

I sure hope Jeff gets to where he can take more orders.

[billmcc]

My favorite summer weight kilt is a USA Kilt's Casual. The PV material breathes better than wool and other synthetic materials. Also, the Casual's lower pants-type waist is much cooler than a traditional kilt's higher waist.

[James]

Here it might not be possible to compare like with like, for as I understand it we do not experience the same levels of heat and humidity here in the UK, as in America.

For the British summer the 'Gentlman's Kilts' made by a lady in Sussex are ideal: in essence they are a light coventional wool tartan, but with far less material and only four deep pleats. With a simple velcro fastening to the left, and a nylon strap and buckle to the right.

I have worn them in the hottest of British weather, and been perfectly comfortable. Too unless looked at closely they appear as a regular kilt, so one does not appear out of place when wearing them. Mine are in my own tartan.

As an alternative, I also have a very light traditional kilt, which also is very comfortable in the warmer months-but being light can tend to a certain friskiness on windy days.

James

[James Martin]

James,
please tell us more of this lovely lady that makes kilts in Sussex.

I already have a couple of Scotish-made lightweights, which I like, but think they would be nicer with fewer, deeper pleats. Why must a kilt have 20-something pleats if there are not yards and yards of material to pleat? Just another tradition of doubtful origin? Both my Kinloch Anderson andmy Campbell casual, have very shallow pleats more appropriate to a lady's skirt.

I have made myself kilts with just 4 or 5 pleats and I think they look fine -- but I'm sure they'd look better still if made by a professional.

Martin S,
Grenoble, France.

[James]

Martin,
It was back in 96-and of late they seem to have vanished-possibly they were a bit too soon for the present upsurge in kilt wearing?

In any event the address was:-

Elizabeth Taylor &Co
5 Rother Close,
Storrington,
West Sussex.
RN20 3NX
Great Britain.

The proper name of the garment being The Lightweight Gentleman's Kilt.

Anyway that means I've had them for eight years of regular summer wear-and they are still fine.

By the way I did have pockets added.

The regular light weight kilt I mentioned does have deep pleats-that was from Hector Russell.

I think a problem of today is that with the upsurge in kilt wearing, some firms have leapt on the idea-made cheap options: so have lost the essentials of the traditional kilt. My own view being that it is not so much the number of pleats, rather their depth which enables a kilt to swing. They also allow the buyers to purchase overlong sloppy looking kilts that part or entirely cover the knee. For they lose sight of the fact that the kilt is a very masculine jaunty garment-and needs to be worn as such.

James

[kiltimabar]

Martin,
It was back in 96-and of late they seem to have vanished-possibly they were a bit too soon for the present upsurge in kilt wearing?

In any event the address was:-

Elizabeth Taylor &Co
5 Rother Close,
Storrington,
West Sussex.
RN20 3NX
Great Britain.

The proper name of the garment being The Lightweight Gentleman's Kilt.

Anyway that means I've had them for eight years of regular summer wear-and they are still fine.

By the way I did have pockets added.

The regular light weight kilt I mentioned does have deep pleats-that was from Hector Russell.

I think a problem of today is that with the upsurge in kilt wearing, some firms have leapt on the idea-made cheap options: so have lost the essentials of the traditional kilt. My own view being that it is not so much the number of pleats, rather their depth which enables a kilt to swing. They also allow the buyers to purchase overlong sloppy looking kilts that part or entirely cover the knee. For they lose sight of the fact that the kilt is a very masculine jaunty garment-and needs to be worn as such.

James

Storrington--isn't that Hamish's home town? He must know something of this lady in any case; there doesn't seem to be anything about kilts he doesn't know!

[646guy]

I've only had one bad summer kilt experience and that was in my UK Original but that was because I was also standing behind a refrigerator unit and the heat from the machinery was blowing directly onto my backside...didn't realize this until WAY too late and I was sweating like a pig