Help me understand utilikilts

[Archangel]

The first time I saw them at Fergus would not encourage me to buy them. I got the impression the vendors there would sell to any newbie and tell them it was a good fit. Probably, neither knew.
I don't want to get embroiled in a brand war, my impression from other posts is that there seems to be two levels: the mail order custom fit and the commission sales at events. The former will get the customer the proper fit, the latter is a gamble.


I'm looking out the window trying to avoid yard work and thinking of doing it in a kilt. For no price difference and a huge improvement in detail and quality I would go with R-kilts' product.


NB. if the wearer meant to have a longer style kilt, that's fine. Who am I to judge that? My evidence is based on that the utilikilt didn't fit well anywhere else either, and not based on ones known to be ordered/custom fitted.

[arrogcow]

Just finished up my earlier post, and had to reply to this (not a flame I promise).

The first time I saw them at Fergus would not encourage me to buy them. I got the impression the vendors there would sell to any newbie and tell them it was a good fit. Probably, neither knew.
I don't want to get embroiled in a brand war, my impression from other posts is that there seems to be two levels: the mail order custom fit and the commission sales at events. The former will get the customer the proper fit, the latter is a gamble.

As an occasional vendor, I do try and measure each customer accurately, so they know their size. The last step in measuring is putting a kilt on them so they can see what they look like. Many times at festivals we have the right waist size, but only one that is too long or too short. When I get them in front of the miror, I show them, and say that I would go with a different length. Many take my advice and then order from the website. Many decide that they don't care and buy what we have on hand.

There is no comission on sales for any of the workers at a festival. It is out place to try and make customers happy. If making them happy measn walking out with one that is off in length (or waist because the guy thinks he is going to lose the weight), should I really say, "Sorry I can't sell that to you because it doesn't fit right. (BTW UK's are designed to fit on the hips lower than the average pant, so that may be while you didn't think feel they fit right - it takes a litle getting used to - or you can cheat like I do and wear them higher and a little tigher than they are meant to be worn).

As for mail order vs festival sizing. I would get sized at a festival rather than do it youself. If you are wrong with mail order, you get the wrong size kilt. At a festival you know exactly what size you should be when you leave (regardless of what you buy). Measuring is an inexact science, wraping one around you will tell you instantly if you measured right or need to adjust (I have several times measured a guy at say 44" only to find that they really need a 46" when trying on, because of gut/tush size.)

I'm looking out the window trying to avoid yard work and thinking of doing it in a kilt. For no price difference and a huge improvement in detail and quality I would go with R-kilts' product.


NB. if the wearer meant to have a longer style kilt, that's fine. Who am I to judge that? My evidence is based on that the utilikilt didn't fit well anywhere else either, and not based on ones known to be ordered/custom fitted.

R-kilts are about $25 more (the non leather ones - leather is cheaper than UK). But I'm not knocking them. I hope to have a denim R-kilt in the near future, just noting that they do cost more.

Adam

[Archangel]

Just finished up my earlier post, and had to reply to this (not a flame I promise).

As an occasional vendor, I do try and measure each customer accurately, so they know their size. The last step in measuring is putting a kilt on them so they can see what they look like. Many times at festivals we have the right waist size, but only one that is too long or too short. When I get them in front of the miror, I show them, and say that I would go with a different length. Many take my advice and then order from the website. Many decide that they don't care and buy what we have on hand.

There is no comission on sales for any of the workers at a festival. It is out place to try and make customers happy. If making them happy measn walking out with one that is off in length (or waist because the guy thinks he is going to lose the weight), should I really say, "Sorry I can't sell that to you because it doesn't fit right. (BTW UK's are designed to fit on the hips lower than the average pant, so that may be while you didn't think feel they fit right - it takes a litle getting used to - or you can cheat like I do and wear them higher and a little tigher than they are meant to be worn).

As for mail order vs festival sizing. I would get sized at a festival rather than do it youself. If you are wrong with mail order, you get the wrong size kilt. At a festival you know exactly what size you should be when you leave (regardless of what you buy). Measuring is an inexact science, wraping one around you will tell you instantly if you measured right or need to adjust (I have several times measured a guy at say 44" only to find that they really need a 46" when trying on, because of gut/tush size.)


R-kilts are about $25 more (the non leather ones - leather is cheaper than UK). But I'm not knocking them. I hope to have a denim R-kilt in the near future, just noting that they do cost more.

Adam

No offense, I tried to make it clear that this was a very limited exposure to utilikilts. I assumed commission, don't really know why. Of course, the customer is right, and a "bad fit" freely chosen is everybody's right.

(not to argue, but here in Canada R-kilts prices work out better, but I'll double check that. Even so, for that price difference I'd go with Robert's but that's me and it doesn't mean everybody has to follow, really.)

[Rigged]

It depends on what you mean by "bad fit".

What's a bad fit for kilt to wear while working on your car, playing in mud, crawling around on a floor teaching CPR, or sitting in a lawn chair in the middle of the desert watching the impending approach of a 90-mph dust storm?

There are times when neatness doesn't count.

[Archangel]

It depends on what you mean by "bad fit".

What's a bad fit for kilt to wear while working on your car, playing in mud, crawling around on a floor teaching CPR, or sitting in a lawn chair in the middle of the desert watching the impending approach of a 90-mph dust storm?

There are times when neatness doesn't count.

that's why I put it in quotation marks, there's fit for fashion and fit for personal taste.
Today I'm wearing the kilt with the Stones' flaming tongue shirt and sandals, probably upsetting somebody. Outside the supermarket, I went to lift my grandson up and his toe got caught under my kilt. Felt a draft and stopped but not sure how bad it was to anybody else. That kind of thing could happen in any "kilt', nobody guided me for that event.

[Graham]

Thanks Steve for that explanation, that's really what I'm looking for, to understand and know what makes them popular.

My problem, as you point out, is that I approach the UK with traditional thinking.
I'm still in the early stages of accepting plain kilts, I tried a Victory kilt and didn't like it, my next USA kilt will be plain, but traditional.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud UK and anyone else who is getting kilts on bums - that's what it's all about.
I may even buy one, one day, for the same reasons as Dreadbelly.

[Hamish]

Graham,

My first casual, non-traditional, non-tartan kilt was a Utilikilt. Actually, it was a Workman's model in the now discontinued 'Standard' style, pleated all around and with a zipper fly (a style I liked so much that I bought three more of them before the axe fell!). Currently, I have eleven Utilikilts and love them - at least the nine that I can still get into! Being Utilikilts there is no means of making those minor adjustments at the waist necessary at certain times in one's life!

When those kilts were still new to me, I'd press them after every wearing because I did not like the crumpled look. Now, I let them go until I can no longer bear to appear looking such a 'casual' mess. As others have stated, Utilikilts are not designed for a smart look, they are work clothes and great to wear when one might otherwise be concerned for the cleanliness of a traditional kilt. My most recent Utilikilt, a Caramel Workman's, is reserved solely for gardening and car-washing - I wouldn't dream of wearing it away from the house/garden although it is newish.

As for the length: yes, there is the matter of them being off the peg and therefore coming in a fixed range of lengths, and there is the matter of camera angles. However, over the past six or seven years, I have become very much aware that many American 'newbies' to kilt wearing, especially those opting for the casual kilt (such as Utilikilts), select the below-the-knee length. This is very evident in so many of the photos we have seen, and I noticed it on my American travels in 2003. Whether this has any connection with the ghastly so-called shorts that people wear nowadays, or whether it is some sort of attempt at modesty, I have no idea. I do know, however, that that length of kilt has a distinctly 'skirty' look to it - you would not catch me wearing one of such a length!

[arrogcow]

No offense, I tried to make it clear that this was a very limited exposure to utilikilts. I assumed commission, don't really know why. Of course, the customer is right, and a "bad fit" freely chosen is everybody's right.

(not to argue, but here in Canada R-kilts prices work out better, but I'll double check that. Even so, for that price difference I'd go with Robert's but that's me and it doesn't mean everybody has to follow, really.)

Definitely no offense. I wasn't trying to get into a shouting match, just clarifying some points.

Didn't know you were in Canada (if peope would put their location in their profile I would know ;) .

But at current exchange rate a UK workmans is still $25 cheaper (I just checked $225 in C Dollars and I used the calculator on R Kilts site) in Canada before any import costs (don't know what they are). However, I do understand wanting an R Kilt. As I said I intend to buy one mostly because I want denim, and UK doesn't make a denim workmans, only duc cloth.

Adam

[PaulS]

My first kilt was a Utilikilt. I had several friends who had one or two, and they like them a great deal. So, I got one, and tried it out.

Turns out, I really, really liked the freedom that a kilt provided. So, I started buying others. I got a Sportkilt (in Black Watch tartan) next, then a Lindsay Tartan Sportkilt (Lindsay is a common middle or first name in my family, due to the amount of Lindsays married into my family, my great-great grandmother was a Lindsay, and it was my great-grandfather's middle name, many of my cousins have it as a first or middle name, and it is my son's first name), and, due to the number of people who had Stillwater kilts on this site and others, a Nightstalker tartan SWK.

Of all of them, I like the Stillwater kilt the best. It's a more traditional kilt cut, although made from alternative materials, and I've found that I like that type of kilt the best (I live in GA, and wool is hot). But I still wear all of my kilts, including my Utilikilt. I'm really grateful to the people I know who had Utilikilts and recommended I get one, because that's what started me on my kilt-wearing journey. But, that's not where it's ended, I'm looking to get a few more Stillwater Kilts right now, and after that, I'll probably save up and get a kilt in MacKinnon Red from a major wool kilt manufacturer, as my grandmother is a MacKinnon (my great-grandfather's name was Angus MacKinnon, you can't get much more Scottish than that).

The point of my ramble is this: if I had never gotten a Utilikilt, I might never have been exposed to how comfortable and awesome kilts are, might not be wearing a kilt right now and planning on replacing most of my casual and formal lower-body wear with kilts, as I am now. There may be other companies out there that offer a more traditional product in solid colors than the Utilikilt people do, but Utilikilts is certainly getting the word out.

[Iolaus]

My first kilt was a Utilikilt...
...The point of my ramble is this: if I had never gotten a Utilikilt, I might never have been exposed to how comfortable and awesome kilts are, might not be wearing a kilt right now and planning on replacing most of my casual and formal lower-body wear with kilts, as I am now....

So...you're saying UKs are like a gateway drug? ;)