Greetings from Croatia!

[Purgy]

Hi! You may have heard of my country, but it was certainly not tied to kilts My personal and only connection to Scotland was a short visit, a few years ago, and it was my long-held wish.
I don’t know how and why I was attracted to the kilt, but I knew I had to try it out. Traveling to Scotland I was thinking how and where to do it, I don’t know anyone in Scotland,
and it seemed very inappropriate to go into a store and ask: Excuse me, can I try a kilt, but I wouldn’t actually buy it?
I can’t describe my happiness when I found a place where I could try a kilt and get a photo of that special occasion
Since my budget was pretty limited, I figured the rehearsal alone wouldn't cost more than £ 10, (in Croatia you can get more photos for under 3 £) when I actually found out it was 20 £ the image of the smiling people in front of me cut deep and there was no more retreat. They took a quick 5-6 pictures, looked for happy look, an imaginary look into the distance... and finally printed out 1 picture.
The conversation continued concise: Ok, but what about the other 5 pictures? You can get them on CD. All right, give me the CD. Of course, please pay another 10 (15) £.
The pleasure I felt with about 30 pounds less in my wallet, but with the CD on which I was in the kilt ... shortly after led to the decision that I had to get my kilt.
Today I am a proud owner of a kilt, which I adore, but it is too sacred for me to wear every day, so I got another (utility) kilt, and I am currently waiting for the third one to arrive.
If I continue at this pace, I will soon have more kilts than pants in my wardrobe. But that’s not all, I’m currently working on making my own family tartan and during one of the many researches, I came across this place and immediately recognized the possibility of further learning about kilts.
So much for now, and thanks for all the help and answers I expect to find here ...

[MichiganKyle]

Nice story!

Welcome from Michigan, USA!

You may want to look into a casual kilt made from polyviscose (P/V). They are nearly indestructible and work very well as a kilt to wear every day. There are many places that say they sell P/V kilts, but not all of them are actually P/V, and it does make a difference. Unfortunately, I don't know a good source near Croatia to point you to, but others on here will probably know. Most of my kilts are made from P/V, and it works really well.

[KennethSime]

Greetings, from California!

I agree with Kyle, a PV kilt is a very nice way to go if you don't want to wear your wool every day.

[Kiltedjohn]

Welcome from a Scotsman living in the English midlands. Happy kilt-wearing!

[Purgy]

For a start thank you all for the welcome.

I hope it's ok to reply to 2 messages at once ... since the topic is the same.
Regarding materials, I definitely prefer natural materials over artificial ones.
So, 2 subsequently ordered kilts are of cotton.
I haven’t thought about P/V so far, but I’m strongly against acrylics (correct me if I’m wrong).
You swayed me a bit with P/V, so now I’m looking at the offer.
What is your opinion, order a 5 or 8 yard casual kilt? Given the compromise in materials, can a length replace a part of the original quality?

[Tomak]

Hello and welcome from Southern California. I also think you should give PV a chance. The 5 yard Semi-Trad from USA Kilt is a good looking, durable kilt, well worth the money.

[KiltedDixon]

Welcome from North Texas.

[Father Bill]

Welcome to the "Great Rabble"!

[MichiganKyle]

I hope it's ok to reply to 2 messages at once ... since the topic is the same.

That's pretty normal.

Regarding materials, I definitely prefer natural materials over artificial ones.
So, 2 subsequently ordered kilts are of cotton.
I haven’t thought about P/V so far, but I’m strongly against acrylics (correct me if I’m wrong).

Acrylic is generally considered to be quite bad. Cotton is generally one of my favorite materials as well, but I like P/V better for a kilt. I have a cotton utility kilt, and it is very different than my P/V kilts. For one, the pleats on the P/V kilts are much nicer than my cotton kilt. With P/V, the pleats are set into the material itself, so you don't have to worry as much about re-pleating like you do with cotton. Unless you iron it differently with heat, the pleats are just going to pretty much stay where they are. P/V also wrinkles far less than cotton. Both cotton and P/V are very durable, but I have to say my P/V kilts seem to show less wear than my cotton kilt does. They also hold their colors better than cotton, which seems to fade as it's washed many times.

You swayed me a bit with P/V, so now I’m looking at the offer.
What is your opinion, order a 5 or 8 yard casual kilt? Given the compromise in materials, can a length replace a part of the original quality?

I've got several good casual kilts from USA Kilts (same as Tomak's suggestion) which are made from a good quality P/V. I believe the amount of material varies depending on waist size instead of ordering by the yardage and having the pleats change to match like you'd typically do with a wool kilt. My understanding is that they're usually 5-7 yards. Whatever it is, I've been very happy with the ones I have. They're built a little bit differently than a wool kilt - they don't have a stabilizer or really anything structural inside like a wool kilt, but with P/V it doesn't seem to really be necessary - P/V is fairly dimensionally stable by itself. But if you went with USA Kilts I don't know how bad shipping would be. Might be less expensive to find a good P/V kilt maker in Scotland.

It might be worth asking about other casual kilt makers closer to Croatia, maybe posting it in the General Kilt Talk section. I'm sure someone who's closer to you would have some good pointers.

[Macman]

Purgy, welcome to XMTS from Canada! My wife and I visited Dalmatia a couple of years ago and really loved it!