SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/busine..._retail27.html
Retail Notebook: Manly skirt is not just for Scots anymore
Saturday, January 27, 2007
By CRAIG HARRIS
P-I REPORTER
I'm in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle and for the first time in my 15-year career as a journalist I'm dropping my drawers for an interview.
No, it's not what you might be thinking.
I'm being fitted, with my beige J.C. Penney trousers around my ankles, for a Utilikilt. For the uninformed, which had included me, that's a skirt for men.
An expensive skirt for men.
To know Steven Villegas, a former artist who founded Utilikilts, is to know his product. In fact, the well-built, free-spirited coffee addict would have it no other way.
Had I not slipped on the six-snap, khaki mocker Utilikilt, which retails for $164, Villegas tells me he would have cut short what became a two-hour interview.
You can't write about a Utilikilt if you don't know how one feels, Villegas reasons.
On this day, the feeling is, well, a bit drafty.
Nonetheless, that simple buy-in philosophy has guided Villegas since he designed and began selling kilts in April 2000 at the Fremont Sunday Market.
Since that first year, Utilikilts has gone from selling 750 kilts to more than 15,000 annually, and the company has grown from a handful of workers to a 25-employee business.
Villegas said the company has 6,000 customers on its mailing list and sells all over the globe through Internet and phone sales. Some loyal buyers have traveled from Sacramento, Calif., to get personally fitted.
Four months ago, Utilikilts moved from Interbay to Pioneer Square, where the company has a retail shop at 620 First Ave. Villegas hopes that being located in the historic Seattle business district will elevate the company's stature among tourists and expand its reach.
As we walk about a hundred yards from the store down a nearby alley to the company's headquarters, where about half of the kilts are made, the gawking is a bit unnerving. On the way back, a young blond woman engrossed in her Starbucks drink does a double take and chuckles as two nearly middle-aged men stroll by in kilts.
Villegas, also wearing a ski cap and long black earrings, said he gets a kick out of making people smile.
"They just make people happy," he said of the kilts.
The business, however, is no laughing matter.
He said revenues last year exceeded $2 million. The company also has begun a wholesale business, and next month, Utilikilts will travel to Las Vegas for the MAGIC Marketplace, one of the largest menswear trade shows of the year.
"We know how to get people into kilts, but we have to convince people who want to convince people to get into kilts," Villegas said.
So, who's buying all these kilts?
Someone secure in "his manhood," according to Villegas.
"The common denominator among our customers is they are fearless and they are leaders," said Villegas, who first started wearing a kilt in 1997 because he wanted more comfort. "It's a big deal. The first two weeks everyone is watching you. But once you start, you can't stop."
In the early days, the success of Utilikilts spread by word of mouth. But even today, the company places at least 20 business cards in each kilt so customers can hand them out when they are asked about wearing one.
The company also has changed its marketing philosophy. Two years ago, Utilikilts was at 150 events, such as fairs, to display the goods and find buyers. This year, as Utilikilts hopes to get into other retail stores, the company plans to attend just 25 events.
The kilts come in denim, canvas, leather and poly-cotton twill, and they cost up to $626 each. The "base model," with two cargo pockets in the front and one pocket in the back, sells for $131.
My mocker had sleek lines and "inconspicuous" deep pockets, so no belongings would bulge against the material. I also was fitted with a 2 1/2-inch leather belt, which cost $50.
There are no dressing rooms at Utilikilts, where salesmen -- in kilts, of course -- perform an "honest inch" measurement of your waist. My kilt, 3 inches larger in the waistline than what my pants say, was picked off the rack and circled around my torso like a towel. My slacks then were dropped to the floor and the kilt was snapped shut.
Despite the healthy growth at Utilikilts, it might be a tough sell for kilts to go mainstream, said Patty Edwards, a Seattle-based retail analyst with Wentworth, Hauser and Violich.
"Maybe it becomes the next big thing to do when you go snowboard. It's a bit breezy, but what the heck," Edwards said with a chuckle. "For the younger guys, it's a way to stand out. ... What better way to stand out than to wear a kilt when no one else but your Scottish ancestors wears one. It definitely will get you noticed at bars."
Edwards said the future success of Utilikilts would come from the company's ability to market the kilts, which are mocked on a few Web sites.
"It could work. It will appeal to guys who don't want to look like everyone else."
Or to a reporter who wants an interview.
IF YOU GO
Utilikilts
620 First Ave., Seattle
Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Sunday
206-282-4226
utilikilts.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P-I reporter Craig Harris can be reached at 206-448-8138 or
craigharris@seattlepi.com.
© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Bookmarks