Outfitting a pipe band

[OC Richard]

So our fledgling band is at the point where we need to start uniform shopping.

My advice is more about what sort of uniform you might consider wearing.

I've been in several bands over the last 35 years and I really pay attention to what bands are wearing here and especially what top bands are wearing at the World Pipe Band Championships each year.

If you're going to be a competion band it behooves you to follow the current style, a style set by the world's top Grade One bands. It's what the judges think of as looking sharp and professional and a band which looks like a serious competition band makes a good first impression on the judges.

At the 2010 Worlds Grade One Qualifiers and Finals every single band was wearing vests, save one. None wore jackets. Most of the vests were black, though a few were charcoal grey or navy.

I really like the vests from Higgins. They have the same Barathea front and back. The trouble with vests with silky backs is that with much wear the back becomes faded and discoloured. Also, Higgins vests are available in different lengths. Be sure that your members get vests the right length! It looks awful when a vest is too short which combined with kilts worn too low gives a gap of the shirt showing in between.

All top pipe bands wear black Glengarries. Beware! Glengarries come in both navy and black and nearly every band on earth has a combination of the two. I think it looks far more professional if everyone wears matching Glens. Black Glens come with either red touries or black touries and once again nearly every band has a mix of the two.

About cap badges, beware that the traditional Clan Crest cap badges come in two sizes, a smaller one intended for Balmorals and a larger one intended for Glengarries. Many bands mix the two, or have all wearing the small ones on their Glens. It looks far better when everyone has matching badges of the larger Glengarry size on their Glens.

Bands are nowadays abandoning their pure white hose, so universally popular in the 1990s. Black is the new white! Anything but white. Bands are nowadays wearing black, navy blue, ancient blue, Lovat blue, charcoal grey, Lovat green, etc etc. Avoid white or especially cream (which screams "seventies" to pipe band folk).

Just as in hose, bands are avoiding white shirts nowadays, preferring blue or grey.

For sporrans, most bands wear black leather Pipe Band sporrans nowadays. They're the old Hunting sporran, but in black, with a chrome Evening cantle stuck on. They're sharp looking and have no tassels to fall off and get lost.

In general, black is great for bands, for vests, Glens, bagcovers, and cords because 1) many people already have them and 2) black is always easy to match later.

Here's SFU, a great example of many of the points I made above. Ancient Blue hose, blue shirts, black or navy bagcovers and cords, Pipe Band sporrans, black Glengarries with large badges, etc etc. Here they are wearing jackets but at the Worlds they wore vests.



Here's Edmonton:



and Triumph Street, with a very clear view of the Pipe Band sporrans:



Alberta Caledonia:



and the Los Angeles Scottish



all photos taken in 2010 or 2011. Note that no white hose or shirts are to be seen here.