Military Tartan Dress Shirts

[Riverkilt]

Stumbled onto some good looking military tartan shirts from LL Bean, $39.00

They have USAF, USMC, Coast Guard, USN, West Point, and State of Maine tartans available.

Would look good with a solid color contemporary kilt.

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/sto...zrate_10598001


Ron

[Archangel]

Stumbled onto some good looking military tartan shirts from LL Bean, $39.00

They have USAF, USMC, Coast Guard, USN, West Point, and State of Maine tartans available.

Would look good with a solid color contemporary kilt.

http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/sto...zrate_10598001


Ron

thought you were stirring the pot again until I reread it and saw that you were recommending plaid shirt and solid kilt. The upside down thing, that'll fool them.

[Mike n NC]

Good looking shirts. I actually thought of ordering one until I took a closer look at the collar. Nope, not for this guy. I gotta have a real collar or none.

Mike

[Riverkilt]

Got the shirts. Ordered a USMC and West Point tartan. Good quality, light weight summer fabric. Button down collars. All the buttons are very white. Might get them changed to matching colors.

Tartan size is 2 1/2 inches for both, seems like a good size for a shirt.

Think the light weight will work in winter too, under a swearter with the tartan showing.

Ron

[Hamish]

I have been wearing, and advocating, tartan shirts with my plain-coloured kilts for several years. They are perfectly suited to both my Utilikilts and many of my TFCK kilts.

These are certainly handsome tartans and, like Mike, I was at first tempted to send an order to the USA for a couple of them until, again like Mike, I noticed the collar detail. Mike does not tell us what his objections are but, for me, it is the button-down style - I simply cannot bear button-down collars, and have passed on buying many a good-looking shirt as a result.

OK, I could choose not to button those collars, and I could snip off the offending buttons, but I'd still be left with the button-holes visible on the front of the collars!

[Mike n NC]

I have been wearing, and advocating, tartan shirts with my plain-coloured kilts for several years. They are perfectly suited to both my Utilikilts and many of my TFCK kilts.

These are certainly handsome tartans and, like Mike, I was at first tempted to send an order to the USA for a couple of them until, again like Mike, I noticed the collar detail. Mike does not tell us what his objections are but, for me, it is the button-down style - I simply cannot bear button-down collars, and have passed on buying many a good-looking shirt as a result.

OK, I could choose not to button those collars, and I could snip off the offending buttons, but I'd still be left with the button-holes visible on the front of the collars!

Exactly Hamish!! In my opinion there is just nothing that can be done to make the appearance of this type of collar acceptable.

Mike

[Riverkilt]

I took a look at the two I just received and when the collar is unbuttoned the buttonholes don't show much. At least they used buttonhole thread to match the pattern rather than using white thread to match the buttons.

I've also tried using a marker on the white button and it seems to hold the color. Just tried it on the extra buttons on the shirt tail, gotta fashion some cardboard protectors to avoid accidently marking the cloth around the main buttons.

I liked the USMC and West Point tartans well enough I'm back looking at the others.

Ron

[Riverkilt]

Took some index cards, slit them to slide under the white buttons on the L.L.Bean military tartan shirts, then colored the buttons black with a Sharpie marker.

Let them dry over night, washed the shirts this morning, and the black color held. They look a lot less dorky with black buttons than with white buttons.

Yeah, tedious, but not difficult, and worth the effort for the improved look.

Ron

[Verlyn]

I like button-down collars, so these work for me. I have to get the Navy one and get the Marine one for my brother-in-law.

[macwilkin]

I recently ordered the State of Maine tartan shirt, since I am an "L.L. Bean junkie" -- I like it! I don't mind the button down collar on a casual shirt like this (after all, we can thank the great Brooks Brothers for coming up with the button down for polo players!), but never, never, never on a dress shirt.

Cheers,

Todd