Quote Originally Posted by furrycelt
It is this very reason (camping and hiking) that I want to buy a "Survival" UtiliKilt. One thing I love to have outdoors is pockets, and lots of 'em. This UtiliKilt would be pefect. And when it gets all dirty and smelly from a weekend in the woods, I can throw it in the washer when I get home.
Warning: the Survival Utilikilt is made of a cotton twill material (according to their web page). When cotton gets wet it stays wet. It has no insulative properties at all. When cotton is wet and cold, it leaches your body heat from you and releases it into the air. You could easily catch hypothermia. There's a saying among hikers: "Cotton kills."

Both wool and poly/viscose retain heat even when wet. You can wear a wet woolen kilt in the winter time and your legs will still be warm. They'll be warm and wet, but they'll be warm.

You can throw a poly/viscose kilt in the wash, and in the dryer. If you wash a woolen kilt (and especially if you dry it) you're going to end up with a shrunken kilt. Wool needs to be specially cleaned.

If you know it's going to be dry out for the whole weekend, by all means wear a cotton kilt. But if it's going to rain, please don't put yourself in danger by doing so. You'll be miserable, and you could end up in trouble.

Andrew.