Military Surplus Kilts

[Singlemalt]

I am new to the forum so I apologize in advance if I bring up something long ago discussed. However, I wonder what ever happened to army surplus kilts.

In the mid 70's I was a student at the University of Toronto and a group of buddies (all of Scottish background) and I took to wearing kilts to social functions, especially all the formal and semi-formal dances and parties but also for Pub crawls and crazy student activities.

None of us had any money so we all bought army surplus kilts. I remember a store on Yonge Street about Dundas, I think it was called Hercules, which would have piles of them stacked on the floor. You had to root through to try and find your size in a tartan you liked. They were moth eaten and musty but cost all of $10-20 CDN (maybe two cases of beer at the time). I recall at one time I had three that all fit me, a Black Watch, 48th Highlanders of Canada, and a Toronto Scottish (very nice solid Kacki). They were so cheap I guess we considered them disposable. I have no idea what happened to mine. If I root through old pictures I know I have some of us all decked out.

What has happend to military surplus kilts? I have not seen one for sale in decades.

[xman]

Q:

What has happend to military surplus kilts? I have not seen one for sale in decades.

A:

... we all bought army surplus kilts.

There are, however some great reproductions if you like true HEAVY weight.

http://onlinemilitaria.net/shopdispl...ch=Yes&sppp=75

[Nick the DSM]

I have one from the 90's the waist fits me but its very tall for my height.

[T-Bone]

I am guessing they were all bought up over the last 30+ years, especially around the mid-1990's when Braveheart came out. I imagine many have also succumb to deterioration.

[madmacs]

They still crop up on the UK market... especially after the amalgamation of the scottish regiments happened

[Biathlonman]

We'd be about the same age, and I was a student at Univ. of Toronto then too. I remember kilts in surplus stores, and they were very heavyweight military ones. One guess is that as the Black Watch had been struck from the regular army list and was made a reserve unit, DND offloaded some kilts. Or, some of those kilts could have hung around since the 50's until DND finally cleaned out a warehouse of them. Certainly my friends in the 48th at that time had a hard time of it then - the military was not fashionable. Anyone serving as a Canadian Forces reservist in the seventies had to deal with an indifferent Liberal government and a public that didn't appreciate them - one young 48th officer walking to the armoury was asked by a passer-by "if he was in a band" or something. My best guess is that regimental quartermasters went though the most beat-up of their stock of kilts and sent them out to surplussers - so as to have some cash to preserve the rest of the kilts, bonnets and tunics which were always owned by the regiment itself. Some of the ceremonial uniforms you see on Canadian highlanders are very old, but well-taken care of.

[Singlemalt]

I certainly wish I had taken better care of the couple I had. They were old and a little ratty but had been very well made of quality material. They would have been worth some TLC but I was young and they were cheap and I treated them as disposable.

Another in the long list of things life wastes on the young!