Kilt wearing in the summer

[prattw]

How do you stand the heat? I'd melt away entirely! 8-)

It's largely a matter of acclimazation. A very few never do adjust, but 'most anyone with normal physiology can adapt over the course of a year. That's not to say that you feel COOL, mind, just that you find the heat tolerable, at least in the shade. The saying among local field biologists goes that when you go out the door and feel like you are gradually melting, that's warm. HOT is when you step out the door and it feels like someone hit you in the pit of the stomach, all over. HOT is hard to take, just warm (say up to 110 or so) you adjust to.

Will Pratt

[UmAnOnion]

in regards to the heat question: would a trad kilt of 100% linen stray too far from the norm? Linen - albeit very prone to wrinling, is a nice light & breathable fabric and woudl give good swish when walking. in a good suit weight & solid color might not be a bad idea...

[cavscout]

I've endured Soutuhern Humidity all my life and I would rather deal with it in a kilt than shorts or pants. Currently I only have a USA Casual which is great in Georgia. I feel you are going to be better off simply for wearing the kilt. The best advise though is Body Glide.

http://www.ultrafit-endurance.com/bodyglide.html

This is the best price I've found.

[GlassMan]

I grew up in South Texas where it is over 100 degrees and almost 100% humidity much of the summer. I never got used to it because the two together are just a knockout punch.

Now I'm in DC where it gets hot and humid but nowhere near as bad as South Texas. I have several SportKilts that I wore last summer when I was going to have to be outside for any length of time. Since I can't exactly move quickly on foot, and spend much of my time in a chair, ventilation in a heavy kilt was definitely an issue for me. When I'm in that wheelchair, I'm soaked on the entire backside of my kilt as well as along the rise if it's not something really light.

[prattw]

in regards to the heat question: would a trad kilt of 100% linen stray too far from the norm? Linen - albeit very prone to wrinling, is a nice light & breathable fabric and woudl give good swish when walking. in a good suit weight & solid color might not be a bad idea...

It seems to me that maintaining the pleats would be, uh, a pain where a pill won't reach (as my old Granny used to say.) One great advantage of acrylic and pv kilts is that they're wash and hang dry and require little maintenance of the pleats. With linen you'd have to press the pleats every time you washed it.

Will Pratt

[macwilkin]

Coming from a reenacting background, I suppose I have a different view of this topic; A wool traditional kilt isn't necessarily the problem in the heat, but you wear with it. Remember that the Highland Regiments of the British Army wore the kilt in some very "hot" places, like India, Afganistan, the South African Veldt, Palestine, etc. Yes, wool can be "hot" -- but in my own experience of 10 years doing military living history with the National Park Service, wool garments are more durable and do "breathe" better than man-made ones. Also, I am usually hotter in a synthetic t-shirt and shorts with more skin exposed to the direct rays of the sun than I am in wool with skin covered.

I also blame climate-controls and air conditioning for a lot of this. Ask anyone who lived in Arizona before the Second World War and you'll see what I mean! ;)

BUT, I don't like heat anyway -- and Missouri in the summertime can be a bear -- I would much prefer cooler climes myself.

Cheers,

Todd

[prattw]

Cajunscot,

The problem with wool in the summer, in truely hot climates, isn't that the wool wears hotter than other fabrics of the same weight - it doesn't. It's that the rise of your kilt is going to be sweatsoaked, regardless of fabric. Acrylic you chuck in the washer and hang dry. Wool has to be dry cleaned, and that's both a pain and a major expense at far too much per pleat. My wool kilts are reserved for indoor wear only in summer. Of course, my summer is apt to be a lot hotter than yours.

Will Pratt

[macwilkin]

Cajunscot,

The problem with wool in the summer, in truely hot climates, isn't that the wool wears hotter than other fabrics of the same weight - it doesn't. It's that the rise of your kilt is going to be sweatsoaked, regardless of fabric. Acrylic you chuck in the washer and hang dry. Wool has to be dry cleaned, and that's both a pain and a major expense at far too much per pleat. My wool kilts are reserved for indoor wear only in summer. Of course, my summer is apt to be a lot hotter than yours.

Will Pratt

True, but as we used to say in AZ, "but's it's a DRY heat!" ;)

My experience has always been that man-made stuff is far more uncomfortable than wool, but my experience is a little different than most -- and point taken about the dry-cleaning, since most CW reenactors do NOT take their uniforms into dry-clean -- much more "authentic" if you don't! :mrgreen:

T.

[UmAnOnion]

True, but as we used to say in AZ, "but's it's a DRY heat!" ;)

My experience has always been that man-made stuff is far more uncomfortable than wool, but my experience is a little different than most -- and point taken about the dry-cleaning, since most CW reenactors do NOT take their uniforms into dry-clean -- much more "authentic" if you don't! :mrgreen:

T.

having grown up in a far more tropical climate than the one in which i currentyly reside (where businessmen wear blazers & shorts to work - put that hint together with my username & you might just figure out where) worsted wool can be far cooler than man made fibers, if of tropical weight. Would be neat & crisp & surprisingly durable and not too hot for your more formal kilting occasions.

[UmAnOnion]

It seems to me that maintaining the pleats would be, uh, a pain where a pill won't reach (as my old Granny used to say.) One great advantage of acrylic and pv kilts is that they're wash and hang dry and require little maintenance of the pleats. With linen you'd have to press the pleats every time you washed it.

Will Pratt

thats why i love my firendly neighborhood drycleaner... her eyes almost fell out the first time i took dropped my kilts off for laundering - she couldnt figure out how to enter them in thier computer system, but they came back nice, neat, clean & very well pressed....