Wool Kilts and Rain

[Larry124]

How much rain can a wool kilt withstand before it becomes wet enough to shrink?

[James MacMillan]

Total inundation! I mean rain of Noah proportions! Wool has natural oils (lanilin?) that protect the fibers. The fishermen in the North Atlantic use wool for this reason. As I understand it isn’t the wet that bothers the wool, it’s the way that we dry it. A couple of my wool kilts have been under water! I still wear them!

Never, but NEVER put a wool garment in the dryer! Heat will shrink the wool. Don’t dry your kilt with a hair dryer either, don’t drape it over a radiator neither. Roll it in towels several times to wick out as much water as possible and then let it dry for a while as flat as possible. There are special screens sold to dry sweaters that might work if you can find one large enough. After the kilt has reached a merely damp stage, it can be hung, taking care to support the kilt as much as possible. Use many, many clothes pins.

Wool is a very durable fabric!

[McGurk]

Wool is my second favorite material for being in the rain in. First is leather, but wool is second and I'll take it over any synthetic material.

Best thing to remember is what wool is for, which is keeping sheep warm. Now, sheep generaly dont have houses to go into when it rains, so they get wet. Their wool must keep them warm, even when soaked, and it does this well. Thats why kilts are made of wool, and why fishermen wear wooly jumpers. As James said, its the way you dry it that makes it shrink.

If you have a wool kilt, you can confidently wear it no matter how hard it rains, and even when wet, it will keep you warm!

[Larry124]

Thank you.

I haven’t been kilted long enough be rained on yet, but for the type of outdoor recreational activities that I enjoy I know that I will be. The thought of a cotton blend or lightweight acrylic kilt in a cloudburst (other than in high Summer) leaves me cold. Literally.

[Tartan Hiker]

Not only does drying impact wool, but you never want to wash it with agitation. That also causes the fibers to draw up (=shrink).

Sheep certainly do get rained on, but they are rarely agitated.

[auld argonian]

I've actually been hoping to get caught in the rain while wearing my one wool kilt...after I got soaked in the other one, it sort of softened up and fit a bit better...mind you, I wore it until it dried.

All the talk of wool and warmth reminds me of a book on camping that I read a few years ago wherein the author, who we refer to as crabby-old-know-it-all-guy-from-Minnesota, proclaims blue jeans as "The Trousers Of Death" and tells you that if you're not wearing wool pants out there in the outback, you will most certainly freeze to death and die of exposure. Of course, this old coot is still wearing the first pair of woolen trousers that he got after his return from the Great War (the first one, most likely) and, dammit, they're still as good today as they were back then (and women knew their place back then, too...and the young people were respectful...and a beer was a nickel). Please, nobody tell this guy about polar-tech or gortex...

This is why I KNEW that kilts were going to be a step up in the staying warm category. Just dry it naturally as Mr. MacMillan recommended up above.

Best

AA

[James MacMillan]

Not only does drying impact wool, but you never want to wash it with agitation. That also causes the fibers to draw up (=shrink).

Sheep certainly do get rained on, but they are rarely agitated.

Well - other than by angry Scottsmen, then the sheep tend to shrink away!

[Andrew Breecher]

...the author...proclaims blue jeans as "The Trousers Of Death" and tells you that if you're not wearing wool pants out there in the outback, you will most certainly freeze to death and die of exposure.

The hiking community always says, "cotton kills," though if it's the middle of summer and you're not on top of a mountain you'll just be miserable, not dead. Modern fabrics like polypro wick moisture away from your skin, and keep you warm even when they're wet - just as wool does. The advantage to modern materials is that they dry extremely quickly. If I wear my poly/viscose kilt through a thunderstorm (or ford a waist-deep river in it, which I've done many times) it will be dry an hour after the rain ends, just from wearing it. Even when wet it keeps me warm. I'm sure wool would do the same, though I've never been caught out in a downpour while wearing a wool kilt.

Remember that it rains a little bit in Scotland, and the old Scots thought the kilt was a fine garment to wear every day.

Andrew.

[Thunderbolt]

A few years ago, the lightbulb went off in my head.

I was in Scotland, on the isle of Mull doing some hiking. Not in a kilt. When I got back to the B&B, I was soaked from the head down from the rain, and from the feet up from the heather and dew. It was obvious as to why the kilt was made the way it was and that I needed one.

A few years after that, my wife and I were at an opening ceremony in the Pacific Northwest. It was cold, rainy and windy. I choose to wear my great kilt, for whatever reason. Glad I did. After about an hour, most everyone had left. I had the top part of my kilt wrapped around me and my wife, all snug!

I've spent a lot of time in the wet with a kilt. Being a piper, many times moving out of the rain isn't an option.

Most of the time, I get home, lay the kilt out flat, such as a spare bed with towels under it or along an ironing board, and let it dry overnight. It's always been just fine.

YMMV, but this is what I do.

T.

[Robert Lamb]

I am a Lamb and I have never had a shrinking problem from being rained upon, neither have my cousins the sheep, so wear the wool kilt in the rain and be happy.
Robert "the kilted" Lamb