Footwear in a daily setting with the kilt

[Commander Toasty]

Greetings all. I will be traveling to The Gathering this summer, and wearing one of my tartan kilts daily as I roam around Scotland for three weeks. Now, here in the US I typically wear a tartan kilt on certain occasions, and a Utilikilt for daily wear, and when I wear a tartan kilt I wear full hose and flashes, but with the Utilikilt I wear almost anything but normally short hiking boots and appropriate socks.

But three weeks of daily wear I am not going to wear full height hose and flashes all the time, too formal for one thing, and the shoes are not what I want to travel with.

What would be appropriate to wear for daily use? Can I get away with the same hiking boots and socks I would wear with the Utilikilts? My kilt I'm bringing is the family dress tartan and so the boots are certainly casual in the application...but practical!

[Riverkilt]

Z-COILS!!

www.zcoil.com

If you don't believe me ask Gman.

Ain't nothin' better for comfort other than barefoot.

Ron

[Chas]

Hi Commander and welcome to XMarks.

If the Gathering is half as successful as it is hoped to be, there will be tens of thousands of kilted people wandering round Scotland at that time. I doubt anybody will notice or for that matter care, what you are wearing on your feet. There are numerous retail clothing chains in the UK (Matalan - comes to mind) that sell Oxford toecap shoes for well under £30. It might be cheaper to buy a pair there and after the 3 weeks just leave them behind.

What ever you do have fun - Oh and take pictures, lots of pictures.

Regards

Chas

[Jack Daw]

Any casual shoe or appropriate boot. I wouldn't wear riding boots, IOW. I happen to like wearing hiking boots with the kilt during the day.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

I'd consider a compromise: hiking boots with full hose. You can always scrunch down the hose, but you can't pull up your socks. You are going to be in Scotland, home of the kilt and kilt wearing, so you might want to look a tad more "traditional" than you do roaming the streets of San Francisco. I'm sure the native Scots would appreciate your efforts.

[Commander Toasty]

Aye I could wear the Oxford's but I don't care for the look of normal height socks under a kilt, and with Oxford's I would certainly have to wear conventional socks. They look fine with full height hose, but that is what I'm trying to avoid except for proper occasions. I do like to wear sandels with normal socks ( a real no in fashion terms!) and that looks OK, but Scotland weather even in July doesn't make a good sandel environment.

And wearing the full hose, scrunched down or not, makes for a problem because of luggage capacity and cleaning. There is a very limited amount of space available to haul all that I need, and cleaning facilities will be few.

Logistics...always logistics

[McMurdo]

Any kilted occaision is the right time to be wearing proper kilt hose, another thing you may need to consider is the climate. Even in July it can be considerably cooler in Scotland than in San Francisco. You can wear the hiking boots with kilt hose up or down, and yes you can wear Oxfords with kilt hose.

[Twa_Corbies]

A couple of traditional alternatives to the ghillie brogue which are well suited to wearing with the kilt:

The wing-tip balmoral is always a good look with the kilt and has been worn with it for decades



The kiltie style wingtip is another time honored favorite for casual day wear

[Colonel MacNeal]

Pair of Mocs or Deck Shoes should be OK. But make sure you've got arch support. Ouch - I've made that mistake before!

[Snowbear]

I usually go with black shoes with kils hose when I'm travelling in my kilt.
I've never heard any negative remarks about wearing jogging shoes with kilt&hose. I prefer black since they are a bit more discrete, compared to red or other shiny shoes. Keep in mind that walking around for 3 weeks in leather shoes might not be a very comfortable solution, unless you wear it all the time at home.