How many guys are really wearing kilts?

**ckelly327** · 30th June 06, 10:53 AM

I probably wear my kilts 2-3 times per week but they are also all tartans. The most comments I get are "What's the occassion?" or "Are you in a pipe band?"

Either way, in upstate NY I don't see fellow kiltmen outside of "occassions". Many friends wear kilts to festivals and games and AOH meetings/ events but it's just not an everyday siteing.

I often get the question about playing the pipes and just answer that I wear kilts because they are comfortable and represent my heritage. EVERYONE I've ever given that answer to accepts it and passes along.

**Raphael** · 30th June 06, 11:47 AM

Let's not foget the Population in the US is made up with people of different clutural background. Not every man is going to find the appeal of kilts. Mario Lopez wore an UK when he was hosting the now cancelled the Man Show. He told the audience that he will get his asre kicked if he wore one to his family reunion.

Not every man sees the appeal of the kilt. We are just the selected few. Most men are conditioned by the surroundings and never able to think out of the box. Let us be the brave and the unique individuals.

**Barclay** · 30th June 06, 11:51 AM

I guess it's all in where you live...in western North Carolina, it's really very common to see people kilted as everyday, or at least "some days", wear. This area was settled heavily by Scots and Ulsters (it is rumoured to be second only to Nova Scotia in the number of Scots lines that settled here). When in downtown Asheville I get asked what my tartan is way more frequently than why I'm in a kilt. I only wear a kilt a couple of times a week and on weekends though, and seldom at work because of the type of work that I do, save special occassions, of course.

Of course, it helps to have Matt Newsome nearby to help influence the populace at large!

**pbpersson** · 30th June 06, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by Caradoc

Well, you're in the Greater Phoenix Metro Area - Tempe, as I recall. I'm in Scottsdale.

I'm pretty sure that per capita kilt-wearing can be determined by average temperatures.

Forty-five of my years were in Chicago, just the last five in Phoenix.

**pbpersson** · 30th June 06, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by arrogcow

Add to that the fear of family or significant other who condem kilt wearing because of their own feelings, and you have a big obstacle to over come.

At least I don't have to worry about that. My cats really don't care what I wear.

They always love me.

What I would LIKE to do if I have the courage is every weekend go to a different mall here in the city and walk from one side of the mall to the other several times so everyone sees me.

Assuming we have 5 large shopping malls here I could hit each mall maybe 10 times a year and maybe at least get Utilikilts in front of as many eyes as I can.

I wonder if anyone else has undertaken a similar goal? Well.....I would get some good exercise as well.

I could be the Phoenix UK ambassador.

**smaughazard** · 30th June 06, 01:54 PM

I see very few other kilted men locally; a few, but no full-timers. I wear one in my home office daily, and for walking the dog, etc; when I go out to run errands though, I'm usually on a motorcycle, so it's back to jeans. At local games kilts are everywhere, of course. I also see some at concerts…

**Rex_Tremende** · 30th June 06, 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by pbpersson

I have NO Scottish blood, not a drop, zip....nadda...and I am looking for inexpensive kilts so I think non-traditional is the road for me. At least until I get a whole lot more money coming in. I wonder if there is a Swedish tartan I can wear???

I live in Phoenix and I'm hoping to wear my kilt year round.

Maybe there is no Swedish tartan (yet), but there is an Arizona tartan, which I happen to like but have no connection to Arizona other than a vacation once in the distant past. You could get one for those trips back to the Windy City - tell folks it's your new clan tartan.

Regards,
Rex in Cincinnati

**Chris Webb** · 30th June 06, 02:47 PM

I wear them every day, work and play. I have seen other guys in kilts, but only very rarely. I saw one at a Boy Scout Orienteering event, a Utilikilt. Also have seen a few members of a band in Fort Worth. Twice I've been told by the folks at Lowes that there is another guy in town who wears kilts, though I have yet to see him.

I do have to take issue with the notion that wearing kilts every day somehow diminishing them ... that's like saying wearing socks every day diminishes socks. The same goes for shoes, deoderant, wrist watches, trousers, you name it.

Kilts have simply become part of who I am. In the morning I look in the closet, pick out the kilt I want to wear right along with picking out the shirt, socks, boots, belt and, depending on the activity of the day, underwear.

I suppose that if I wore a Tux everyday that it would somehow diminish the uniqueness of wearing a Tux, maybe the same goes for the full traditional Scottish kilt outfit. But then again, I think there are some guys on here who wear that everyday and I certainly don't think they are diminshing kilts in any way.

Anyway, I wear kilts for issues ranging from a deep comitment to Freedom to comfort, to enjoyable attention from men and women alike, to a memorable business persona, even for medical reasons.

Diminishing the uniqueness of the kilt, no, if anything I am enhancing the uniqueness of it by proving daily that it is unique in the world of mens garments .... it doesn't squeeze, pinch or over heat my, well, I don't even have to say it.

Kilt On.

Chris Webb

**MacConnachie** · 30th June 06, 02:57 PM

If one in ten thousand in the U.S. were to wear kilts regularly (and for argument's sake, let's say that was outside of pipe band activities), then a total of about 15,000 men in a country of 300 million persons would be wearing a kilt regularly(more than once a month). That "one in 10,000" is based solely on my local observations, in an area with about 40,000 population. Although, it seems as though there's rising tide of interest amongst certain sectors, so I can only imagine those numbers will increase.

**KiltedKnight** · 30th June 06, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by GTRMAN

I don't understand the logic in the above statement.. Please explain..

What I meant it to mean is just this; wearing the kilt every day would be like wearing a tux everyday, what do you wear when you really want to dress up and FEEL dressed? I'll wear the kilt only for special occasions, for unique occasions-...limited in occurances to a given class, situation or area...(WEBSTERS).

Chris.