I think it's wonderful that you want to get in touch with your heritage; everyone needs to have a sense of who they are, and where they came from. Wearing a kilt, casually, in public, is a great way to jump into the "heritage" thing feet first, It'll be scary at first, kilts are not exactly what you'd call "mainstream" and there will be people that will give you grief, calling it a skirt and questioning your sexuality, but if you carry yourself with a sense of self-confidence, look people in the eye and smile, you'll find many others that a) admire you for having the guts to wear it, and b) think it's cool, and c) will walk up and start talking to you about Scotland and heritage, and how they have one for the games, and "Oh, what tartan is that", and..., and..., - It's a great conversation starter.
If you're interested in wearing the kilt, the first thing I would recommend that you do is go to
www.xmarksthescot.com and get involved with the forums. It's a site devoted specifically to kilt wearing, and it's free to register and participate. The people there will be very helpful with any questions you might have.
As you accumulate info, you'll find that there are two schools of thought about kilt wearing - traditional style and contemporary style. It's an argument that reoccurs on a regular basis, and for the most part, we just agree to respect each other's opinions on the matter and let it drop. You'll have to decide for yourself what style you're comfortable with.
Keep in mind, also, that there is a small segment of the "alternative lifestyle" community called "Freestylers" that considers kilts to be another skirt in their closet, so as you do your own research and start coming across some of their sites, remember to stay focused on why you are interested in the kilt.
Some kilt sites that might help.
www.xmarksthescot.com
www.albanach.org
http://www.kiltmen.com/
Here are some sites where you can get kilts,
but do your research before buying anything. They all make a different product; some are traditional styles, some are slightly different from "traditional" styles - some radically different - some are better than others, and some are more expensive than others.
Oh, and some of them are in Canada and the United Kingdom
These first 5 companies have their own forums on XMarksTheScot.com
http://www.usakilts.com/
http://www.freedomkilts.com/
http://www.unionkilts.com/
http://www.kilts-n-stuff.com/
http://kiltstore.net/ (substantial discount if you link to them from
www.xmarksthescot.com)
http://www.neokilt.com/home.asp
http://www.utilikilts.com/ (these guys have a sub-cult of their own)
http://www.amerikilt.com/
http://www.kinlochanderson.com/ (highly thought of, not cheap)
http://www.21stcenturykilts.co.uk
and his father's traditional business -
http://www.geoffreykilts.co.uk/ (both companies also highly thought of, and not cheap)
http://www.sportkilt.com/
http://www.rkilts.com/
http://www.stillwaterkilts.com/ (their midrange kilts are good "starter" kilts)
Originally Posted by Kilted KT
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