Kilt Blog

Like many blogs, Kilt Blog receives traffic from google searches. Mostly these are straight forward searches for terms like “Utilikilt Review”, as one would expect. But some are more interesting. Here are a few recent searches which caught my eye.

“photo of a grass skirt with a sporan” - Ok, but wouldn’t the sporran strap tear up a grass skirt?

“please find a sentences for kilt” - I wasn’t aware anyone had been sentenced for wearing the kilt since proscription ended.

“under the kilt pics” - Up-Kilts, the newest internet porn craze.

“bathroom business while wearing a scottish kilt” - Some people lift the rear pleats and fold them against their backs, holding them in place with the back of the forearm. I prefer to take mine off, or just to lift my kilt if I am urinating.

“wearing kilts on a windy day” - see the next item down…

“public up kilt photos” - enough with the up kilt photos already, ok?

“kilt length for 6 foot one person” - same as for any other person, middle of the knee cap to just above the top of the knee cap when standing

“kilt store texas” - you might need to mail order for that…

“best price for ladies tartan kilt towel” - and here I thought those kilt towels were unisex

“leather utility kilt seattle” - give Utilikilts a call, they do have a few in their store

“boyfriend wears kilt” -good for him

“pants under kilts” - sort of misses the point, doesn’t it…

“milan punks” -suddenly I feel so fashionable

My better half and I recently spent a few days in Santa Fe on a working vacation. We lived in Santa Fe for 6 weeks a few years ago while she studied hypnotherapy, and we know the town. But, often when you live someplace, you do not play tourist. It was really nice to go to O’keefe Museum and bum around downtown.

Everyone who commented loved the kilt. I wore a UK Workmans and my black Denim as well. In Whole Foods (for whom I have no love as a company) I was astounded at the response. In 10 minutes I had no less than 7 people comment on it, one person shook my hand. I missed it, but my wife overheard a man tell his young son, “Yes, he’s wearing a kilt. Just like yours and just like mine back at home.”

Wonderful, though I suppose I would get tired of the attention everyday. In Taos its more laid back, but I did have a nice cute lass shake my hand at the local bar on St. Paddy’s Day.

Santa Fe is so beautiful, I just love this picture.

While surfing for kilt news I saw a typical newspaper article about a kilt night. “Thats nice,” I thought, but then paused as I noticed some of the towns names and they really stood out. OMFG, a kilt wearer in my wife’s home town!?!?! She’s from a small Indiana farm town, the sort of place where “da boys” wear overalls to the feed store. She was startled too, and said she never saw a man in the kilt growing up. They had 17 men in attendance, which is nice, and the newspaper did a decent job with the story too. Times have changed, and for the better in this case.

Much belated due to my lovely wife’s lack of note-taking skills, “Oh, I’ll take notes dear!”, turned out to be a sum total of 12 words… Sigh, 100 years ago I could have given her “the rod” for that. Well, at least I should get past the writers block and share the kilt pictures.

While in Seattle we met fellow blogger Kilted Eric, who also has a quasi-faded podcast about the kilt. Eric is the Production Coordinator for Utilikilts and took us on a wonderful tour of their warehouse, located only a couple hundred yards from their store on Pioneer Square main store.

Pioneer square is part of the old downtown of Seattle, the part with the underground where the original settlement burnt down and was rebuilt. When the town was being rebuilt, due to the sloping ground of the mudflats it was built upon, it was decided to build it a story above the current ground level. But many merchants were not content to wait while the area was filled in, and rebuilt immediately upon the current level. After the fill was added in, there were eventually two sets of sidewalks, one at the old ground level, and one at the new. After a while seedier elements moved into the underground level, then due to an epidemic of rats, the underground was closed (though the seedy elements remained). This is relevant because the utilikilts warehouse is partly in the Seattle underground, which I found incredibly cool.

While on the tour, we saw patterns, a room with giant snap setting and riveting machines, and a room with over a dozen industrial sewing machines. We got to see a custom order kilt being sewn, and most amazingly got to see the over 3,000 Utilikilts stocked in the warehouse. We did observe one shame-filled male employee in trousers , but have kindly left that photo off of the blog since he did at least show us his kilt sitting nearby.

Just a quick update for today.

The abruptness of the Seattle trip was insane. One minute we were heading there, then we were there, then we were leaving. I think we spent as much time packing and getting to and from the airport, which is hours from home and meant staying at hotels, as we did in Seattle.

Upon getting back home I did find my Blaklader work “kilt” at the post office. I’ll review it soon, including how much VAT (I thought mail order sales from the UK to the USA are not normally charged VAT?) and extra shipping I paid on it. I have not worn it yet, only tried it on. So far I can say that the pleats are very shallow, its more of a work skirt… but there are lots of pockets which I am sure will be nice when working on the cabin.

I also got a new computer, and have spent the past couple of days setting it up. I will use that as my excuse for not having blogged enough recently

On short notice, my wife and I ended up in Seattle on business. Of course, I had to drop in on the Utilikilts store and warehouse. Kilted Eric was nice enough to give the grand tour, which will be blogged in the very near future. My wife was nice enough to buy me another Workman Utilikilt, which is great because my current one is seeing heavy use while building the cabin.

I also learned of another kilt blog from Eric, who mentioned that kiltme.com had a Blaklader review. Not only is it great to see another kilt blog out there, but its especially interesting since I have a Blaklader inbound myself.

Seattle has been odd almost to the point of being surreal. Today I also happened to meet a model from one of the Utilikilt videos, she was the barkeep where I went to kill time while my wife did her biz. Those were two very strong soda and scotches she made, btw. And a moment ago, in the hotel lobby, I met a neighbor of utilikilt’s founder. Its a big city, and yet the unbifurcated world seems so small.

Except at Utilikilts itself I haven’t seen any other kilted blokes. Surprisingly though, I have gotten a number of rude comments on the street. A young Asian woman said “Oh, what a darling skirt”, but while I am not certain that one was intended to be rude, it sure was awkward. The rest were yelled from out car windows, or across the street, with the trouser wearing sissies unwilling to even look me in the eye afterwards. This is not something I see often in New Mexico. I suppose here they must be upset knowing that kilted men get flirted with so much more often than they do.

I know that many readers will shudder at the outfit, but for the world of “high fashion” I like this rendition of Highland Dress. Not only the kilt, but the hose, jacket, cap and shoes. The t-shirt and necklace I just don’t get. I’m not saying it is practical, but it is interesting and I hope will help unstick the kilt from the relative rut of special occasion.
This outfit was shown on stage in Milan, as part of “Queen of Punk” Vivienne Westwood’s Autumn/Winter 2008/09 collection.

YES! A Swedish kilt! I love it!

As strange as it may seem, a workman’s kilt by the Swedish company Blaklader Workwear, has become a huge hit in Sweden and Europe selling over 5,000 kilts. It was even named product of the year by the Swedish Textile and Clothing Association. The kilt has been such a hit that the company is now introducing it in the UK. It is availible from online retailer Active Workwear , who appear to deliver worldwide, contact them via email to order outside of the UK mainland.

According to The Sunday Mail, the kilt was designed by Gothenburg university student Marcus Jahnke. It features two nail pockets, a hammer loop, and various utility pockets. It is made from 100% cotton and retails for £44.75, about $87.00 US, which is less than half the price of the Utilikilts Workman Kilt.

It looks a little odd, with pockets at the top of the apron, but I simply must get one. Just “to review it” for my blog, of course

Yesterday I was in the local grocery store. It is a busy store in a fairly small town and it is not unusual to say hello to people you know. Even strangers are generally friendly and talkative. Every now and then someone, almost always a woman, does comment upon my kilt. But, this was different.

I was standing in the health-food aisle and a young woman exclaims loudly, “Oh my god! Is that a Utilikilt?!?”. “Yes it is,” I answered, and added that it was very comfortable and I really like them. “That’s great, I am so glad you are wearing it,” she said. So far, a little more animated than most, but nothing too loud, not yet making a scene. Then she says, very loudly so that people can hear aisles away, “There is nothing sexier than a man in a skirt!”

I thanked her, and I think perhaps even blushed a little bit. I didn’t berate her for calling it a skirt.  I was quite flattered, really. I am not usually someone unknown young women call sexy in front of dozens of strangers.

It has been too long since I have reviewed anything, so here is a sporran review. I bought this Buzz Kidder Celtic Knot Day Sporran with my Ramsey Casual from USA - Kilts last year. I have since worn it a couple dozen times. I previously blogged about the bloody chain that came with it damaging a cheap acrylic kilt.

Unlike that chain, however, this sporran is well made, works well, and is a good value. I paid $55, which is fair enough for a quality leather day sporran. It is ample in size, and closes with a strong magnetic clasp. I can easily fit more in this sporran than in a pair of trouser pockets, it will hold my phone, wallet, keys and even a few additional essentials that I occasionally need to carry.

The leather is heavy enough that it should last a lifetime, however it was a little stiff when new. The pewter celtic knot adds a stylish touch. The sporran hangs well, and is comfortable to wear. One minor disappointment, however, is that I must use two hands to close it, one to lift the front edge of the sporran and the other to move the flap down in to place. The magnet holds closed with a small post that actually carries a significant amount of the weight, this I presume, is the reason I need to lift and align the sporran part of the closure.

Overall: A-

Quality: A

Comfort: A-

Value:A-

Include Chain: Avoid using it

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Utilikilts were recently featured on boingboing.net because of their unique and humorous “license agreement” for customer submitted photos and emails. We all know these “agreements” which go almost universally unread. Utilikilts made theirs funny enough to want to read. It says, in part:

I grant the Utilikilts Company LLC full rights to use the entire contents of this email for any purpose whatsoever, until the end of the universe. I understand that the Utilikilts Company LLC might use the text and images enclosed in this email on their web site, in printed or online marketing materials, or as a target on the dartboard in the executive bathroom, and I am fine with that.

Boing Boing is an extremely popular blog, and has twice won the Bloggies as ‘Weblog of the Year’. The author of the post, science fiction author Cory Doctorow, also revealed that he owns and sometimes wears a Utilikilt.

Why, a flaming hot wicker basket of course!

This 156 foot tall inflatable Scotsman balloon has a kilted volume of 120,000 cubic feet. With Mont Blanc in the background it flew over an estimated 20,000 Swiss gathered at the International Balloon Festival in the Swiss village of Chateau d’Oex.

The giant kilted balloon was the brain child of Muir Moffat, 69, who has been ballooning for 21 years. “And being 110 per cent Scottish, I thought it would be fun to have a balloon like this. It’s meant to look like me. What do you think?”, he said.