[The Wizard of BC]

Contemporary Style Kilts

In 1991 a new style of kilt was developed by Howie Nicklesby of 21st Century Kilts in Edinburgh. His idea was to create a more fashionable alternative to a Traditional Kilt. Once the rules were broken with kilts made from Camouflage, Leather, and Denim a flood of new companies began developing kilts that a few years before would have been looked on with raised eyebrows.
This new style of kilt, known as a Contemporary Style Kilt attempts to retain the spirit of the Traditional Kilt in that it is built in much the traditional way, and retains the hallmarks of the Traditional styling. But where they diverge is in the addition of pockets and the use of solid coloured, machine washable fabrics.
Why no one before thought to put pockets in kilts is a mystery to me. Perhaps it is tradition. I personally dislike a sporran. It seems that my keys always get tangled up with my cell phone and I never seem to be able to find my money without digging around and finally end up dumping everything out.
A Contemporary Style Kilt will almost always have Traditional style pleats, be they knife, or box. The aprons are near full width and tapered just as on a Traditional. But some makers have begun to experiment with alternate fastening systems. There are now fasteners of Velcro, buttons, plastic quick-disconnect buckles and many others.
To a Contemporary Kiltmaker there is no hard and fast rule that kilts must be made from Wool or Tartan? Kilts have always had a military history, so you can now find kilts made from Camouflage. Fabrics of Polyester/Cotton blends like those found in men’s slacks offer machine washability and they can be treated with Teflon to resist soil and stains. They also resist wrinkles well.
For day-to-day wear in the office and for hikes in the woods the Contemporary Style Kilt is changing the entire world of kilts and dragging it kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.
Today, a man’s garment without pockets is unheard of. Most of us would be lost without pockets. Why should kilts be any different? Today the Contemporary Kilt can have a wide array of pockets. There are side pockets like those found in trousers. There are Cargo Pockets, hidden pockets to keep your passport safe and special pockets for tools, and pocket watches.
If properly made and custom fit to the wearer a Contemporary Style Kilt can have pleat swish which rivals a Traditional. Most Contemporary Kilts are also made of just as much fabric. However most fabrics in a Contemporary cost a fraction of what Tartan Wool costs. So you would think they would cost far less than a Traditional. It’s true that a Contemporary Kilt will normally cost about half of what you would spend on a Traditional, but what you save in fabric costs is lost in the labour costs to design and sew a Contemporary that looks good and has pleats that lay straight without curling. Even though a Contemporary is machine sewn it takes just as long to make one as it does to hand sew a Traditional. This is due partly to the added time to make the pockets and partly due to the added time to top stitch the edges of each pleat crease.
Cotton and Poly/Cotton fabrics will not hold a crease as well or as long as Wool because repeated machine washing stresses the fabric and the creases are soon lost. Very soon you would need to baste the pleats back into position and press the creases back in, so most Contemporary kiltmakers top stitch the pleats. These fabrics also do not have the clean selvedge edge that Tartan Wool does so a turned-over hem is almost always needed.
Cottons and Poly/Cottons are stiffer and less malleable fabrics than Wool. Where in a Traditional you can create curved lines and form the fabric into shape with steam, in Contemporary kilts the shape must be built into the kilt with the stitching. I make Contemporary Style Kilts for a living so I’m rather biased but I’m also an Engineer so I believe that if care is taken in the design and pride taken in the construction, a Contemporary Kilt can have the classic lines of a “real” kilt, can have almost as nice a swish, and can provide the wearer with a garment that can be worn every day, at the office or in the bush.
It’s in this day-to-day wear that the Contemporary Kilts really make sense. What if you have no Scottish Heritage? What if you can’t afford the Traditional Kilt with all the accessories that go with it? What if you want to wear your kilt in conditions which would destroy your expensive Wool kilt? The answers to these questions are what the Contemporary kiltmakers are trying to provide.
Robert Pell of R-Kilts, located in Ontario, Canada, Amerikilt, from PA, and myself at Freedom Kilts are some of the Contemporary kiltmakers who have begun to provide our customers with this next, natural development of the kilt.

[Kid Cossack]

Huzzah!

[Canuck]

Great stuff Steve. One typo. for economy my last name has one L.
Cheers
Robert Pel

[The Wizard of BC]

Of course it does Robert. I am not the best speller, As anyone who reads my post can attest. The actual article has the correct spelling. Not sure how it got messed up when converting to here.

[Canuck]

Originally Posted by The Wizard of BC

Of course it does Robert. I am not the best speller, As anyone who reads my post can attest. The actual article has the correct spelling. Not sure how it got messed up when converting to here.

There always has to be some mystery and intrigue.
What mag is this going into?

[pbpersson]

That article pretty well sums up why I like the contemporary kilts:

1. Cost
2. Machine washable
3. Solid color (no tartan, so not "really" Scottish)
4. Pockets

Now, of those I would say numbers 2 and 4 are the most important.

If someone made a machine washable tartan kilt with pockets I think I might jump on board but that sounds a little weird.

.....or does someone make that already?


Phil

[The Wizard of BC]

WEEEELLLLLL----- actually I do. I do not step on Rocky and Kelly's toes by competing with my friends but an FK Dress Model with pockets in a P/V Tartan is becoming one of my best sellers. There are limited tartan available in P/V but that may change in the very near future. There may also be P/V in a full 13-14 oz. range very soon.