How to promote Kilts

[munnin]

Let me start by saying I am not a kilt junky like so many on this board. The only reason I am purchasing a kilt as explained here is for a wedding. That said I have worn medieval T tunics before and found them comfortable and my wife likes how I look in them. I can see my self wearing my kilt occasionally and even looking for occasions to wear them. I guess you could say that I will never give up slacks; I would love the option of wearing a kilt without anyone batting an eye.

That’s a lot of lead up for a relatively simple idea. Consider that there are so many occasions one wear a business suit that you never stop and ask your self why some one is in one, they just are. In order to get more people to wear kilts we need to create more occasions for wearing them.

I think the most obvious occasions would be to church on Sunday. No not that church, I am talking about the real Sunday mass, football. Many football fans don’t bat an eye dropping $100 or more on fan gear, and are happy to wear it on game days and after a game. An added bonus is that most teams already have nice color combinations and logo pins accessorize a kilt readily. The NFL is always on the look out for new merchandising opportunities, and I would love to show up to a Steelers bar wearing the official Steeler tartan kilt, black turtle neck for home games and white turtle neck for away games.

So, what do you think? Will it help? Can it be done? What would it take to do it?

[Moose McLennan]

Seems to have worked OK in Scotland with a lot of teams.
Should we be expecting a new branch of the Tartan Army then?

M.

[Kilted KT]

I figure just about any way you can wear the kilt is a good one. To make that happen, you would need to have tartans designed for each team, get with weavers to make them, and find a way to make the kilts for about $100 each. while I would get a Patriot's tartan kilt in a heartbeat, research is definitly needed before heading down that road.

[Panache]

First off I have to admit that the only football I enjoy is flag football (and only when I am playing.) That said there is merit to the idea. A simple way to go is to match solid color kilts & hose with a team jersey. In my mind's eye I can easily see dressing in my grey UK mocker with black socks or my ( black solid wool kilt and gray socks) and a Raider shirt to join with the infamous "Raider Nation" at a game. (According to my Raider obsessed friend: Oddly enough the Raider Nation is pretty outwardly wild and crazy but they are never the cause of any ruckus at the Oakland Raider games. It's other people that perceive Raider games as a free for all and come to join in the "fun". The true members of the Raider Nation dislike these idiots as much as everyone else does.

Interesting Idea

Cheers

[possingk]

I have always thought the same thing, my thought has always been to get together a couple grand (2,000 for PV fabric, 10 USA Casual = 1100) and have fabric woven for a passionate sports city, and see how it went. First I would have to have $3000 laying around that I don't mind losing. Quite frankly I don't have $300 to get a kilt made in the US tartan I have sitting next to me, so it won't happen for me anytime soon. The point of this is to have someone pick up the idea if they like it, just send me a kilt for the idea ;-). I think if it was to be done PV would be the way to go. The teflon would allow for beer spills and stuff you would get on them at a sporting event.

I have actually taken my black stillwater, and sewed a Buffalo Sabres patch on it and got very good responses when I was back in Buffalo a while ago, so it could work. I give credit to Jeff from Pittsburgh Kilts for this idea, he was a true visionary, I still wish I got one of his kilts before he left.

This would be another way to go as well, instead of the tartan find solid color kilts and modify them to your favorite team, with patches and pins and such. Mooshead sells wool kilts in solid colors that would work well for football season. If I had the money I would get a Navy one for my beloved Buffalo Bills, sew a patch on it and have one for each of my home town teams. These would be pretty pricey and you would have to worry about washing them, due to the fact that they are wool, and have to be dry cleaned. I have been at Bills games, it would be quite a challenge to keep it clean enough.

The ultimate team apparel would be either Freedom Kilts , R-Kilts or Union Kilts, again more than $100, but if they have the color of your team, it would be warm and have pockets for you to be able to tailgate. For the Steelers, get one in black, get some MacLeod tartan flases some white sockes and a Steeler's jersey you are all set. With cargo pockets you could probably even carry a few beers around with you.

Good luck in your mission, I hope it works out great.

[Pour1Malt]

they's already plenty o' occasions tae wear a kilt...

see this threid fur the Kilt Wearers Calendar....

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=17529

an they's already plenty o' Scots that wear kilts tae Rugby and Fitba games....

they arr ca'd the Tartan Army!!!

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~scottk01/

[Colin]

The ultimate team apparel would be either Freedom Kilts or R-Kilts, again more than $100, but if they have the color of your team, it would be warm and have pockets for you to be able to tailgate. For the Steelers, get one in black, get some MacLeod tartan flases some white sockes and a Steeler's jersey you are all set. With cargo pockets you could probably even carry a few beers around with you.

I completely agree with those choices. Especially for the American market. It could be called the "Non-tartan army". North American "football" (?) is unique to North America, so the new style North American kilts would look best with those jerseys at those games. Good idea though, I am sure a few Utilikilt guys have done this to date.

Colin
*card carrying member of the tartan army*

[possingk]

It seems that Renegade Kilts has come up with an idea similar to this cut from thier warrior page:

Coming soon: The "Warrior" sports fan kilt. Kilts
designed with your favorite teams colors in the
pleats. E-mail me for your requested colors.
sales@renegadekilts.com

I would be interested in hearing from Alan about what this entails.

[munnin]

Wow a lot of good feed back here. To collect them:

1) This is clearly focused on the USA but as Moose pointed out has been shown to work in other places.
2) Cost for a team tartan is not a minor factor.
3) You could spice up a current tartan with you team color and logos.
4) At least two of use would already like to get colors for our team.

One thing I would like to make clear is that if we only look to current kilt makers to get colors for our teams then we are only talking to each other. We want to get other talking about and to us. Black and gold tartans are common enough that I could easily find a nice one to put a Steelers logo on. Yet even if that met some limited need once you started selling it to others you would be hunted down and shot by the NFL lawyers for creating un-official merchandise.

What I am suggesting is the creation of “official” NFL merchandise that will appear on every team web page. When a fan goes looking for a new hat or terrible towel, they will see an official team tartan. They think about getting it, and then when they go to the local team bar they see one of the fans wearing on and it goes from there.

This would also help with the cost problem since the NFL is a large company and would get a large order and economies of scale would kick in.

[Alan]

possingk, The sports fan kilt would be as follows:

The kilt would be made with the team's main color. The secondary color would be the inside pleats. Cargo pockets could be made with either the main color or the secondary color, depending on what the customer wants. I am currently working on one now (in between working on customers kilts). As soon as it is finnished I will post it on the web site. Hope this answers your question.