Quote Originally Posted by Tobus View Post
Hmm, I'm not so sure they're over. Waning, maybe, but not over. About half the pipe bands I see down here in Texas are still wearing white popcorn-top hose.
I suppose by the "white hose era" I mean the period when it was nearly unthinkable to wear anything else.

I have videos of the Worlds from the 90s where every single band in Grade One wore white. (Pure white popcorn top, not cream.)

Now, at many major competitions, less than half of the bands are wearing white, and I've seen competitions where not a single band was wearing white.

Black seems to be all the rage in Scotland, while here in the USA many bands have gone grey.

But, like any other fashion trend, there are places in the Pipe Band world that are slower to cast off their white hose. Few bands here in California still wear white hose, but back at the West Virginia Highland Games I think all of the bands did.

Heck, there's a band here that up until quite recently still wore typical c1980 band dress, Prince Charlies, Balmoral bonnets, huge bow ties, and heavy handknit Aran cream hose.