I'm lucky enough to be self employed, but I still have to be able to get clients. I wear kilts every day and know for a fact that I've actually got business because of it. BUT, I don't know if I've lost business or not, I may well have.

I've had more trouble out of family than anyone else, my Step-Dad in particular ... we're in the same line of work and he stated one time, "You're losing business over the kilt, ya know." I stated back, "Well, I suppose then that my kilt is a test of their character, if they're so damned closed minded as to reject me over my kilt then I really don't want to be doing business with them anyway."

Of course, my Step-Dad is possibly right, but I've got as much business as I can handle anyway, so it doesn't really matter. As for any kind of perceived negative stigma it really is all in the perceiver. At the Chamber of Commerce virtually everybody thinks my kilts are awesome for business and credit the success of my little Waste Management Company to my being the most memorable, for both kilt and character, in the region. Of course, they also universally think I'm best off self-employed, given my non-conformist leanings, and all agree that I'd have a hard time transitioning to the corporate world.

Though kilts are becoming more accepted, particularly accepted beyond its use as a Scottish cultural icon, its still not seen as business attire in many sectors. It's human nature for any given group to have sort of a uniform, particularly any kind of structured group, like a business or profession. If you defy the uniform you must provide enough value to the organization or profession to counter-balance the negative stigma you accrue through being out of uniform. But it only takes one guy to manage this kind of defiance successfully to open the door for others to do it too, without the defiance factor.

It takes intestinal fortitude to be the first one to do anything, it only takes an opportunity for the next person to do it. Every person who has the gaul to be the first will have to contend with the negative stigma of being a non-conformist ... but they will also have the deep but quiet respect of the silent masses. Such a person may well be hated by a few, regarded as a hero by a few more ... but such a person makes a difference, establishes new social mores, and broadens the definition of acceptable apparel in his small part of the world.

There is risk in being the person I've described, such a person could even lose his job. Then again, such a person has always been willing to take a loss, take a ding for making a difference ... such is the heart of that kind of person. Putting on a kilt is not like saving the world or finding a cure of cancer or establishing peace in the middle-east ... it's just a kilt. But the freedom to wear a kilt tastes good to someone who loves freedom ... and no matter how small or seemingly insignificant any particular freedom may be, it's still freedom ... are not even the smallest of diamonds considered precious?

Kilt On.

Chris Webb