On the ground floor of something big?

[cessna152towser]

Yes, I believe kilts are set to become mainstream mens wear within the next few years. Now that most women have taken to wearing trousers, skirt like garments for men such as non-traditional kilts are no longer perceived as effeminate. There will still be traditional wool tartan kilts, maybe more common than at present, but I think the big growth area will be in the likes of Utilikilts and single colour lightweight polycotton kilts.

[The Supreme Canuck]

I'm going to be a downer and say no. While there is tremendous growth, even if the kilt-wearing population tripled, not many would notice. Maybe in a few decades.

[Alan H]

It's happening, but it's nowhere near commonplace. I can count on one hand..in fact I only need four fingers, to count the times I've seen a guy wearing a kilt around the San Francisco Bay Area except at X Mafks gatherings or Highland Games. So it's not ready to burst into mainstream *quite* yet.

[Retro Red]

I see kilts for men about where pants for women were in the 40s - still generally uncommon & not always accepted. It was until the 60s that women wearing pants became commonplace in the general populace & it wasn't until the 70s that institutions like schools & businesses began to allow women to wear pants. Since trends do seem to be more accelerated these days, I guess that in 10 years or so (at best) we may see kilts as a fairly common site in American society. Maybe...

If kilts never become commonplace, well, it's their loss & I'll still be wearin' mine!
.

[GMan]

Mainstream probably not. More of an acceptance factor seems to me to be the trend.

[pdcorlis]

I don't know much about ground floors and movements - I'm just a hick from north Idaho... I suspect contemporary kilts will gain larger acceptance as time goes by. My experience with tartan kilts tells me that many folks already understand on some level that they connect us to our heritage.

[pbpersson]

. Since trends do seem to be more accelerated these days, I guess that in 10 years or so (at best) we may see kilts as a fairly common site in American society.
.

Things are much more accelerated today between instant satellite communications and the web.

Richard Hatch wore his UK on Survivor for the entire world to see, Sting wore a jet black kilt at the Grammy awards for the entire world to see.....the idea of non-Scottish kilts for every ocassion is out there. The "cat is out of the bag" so to speak and there is no way to put the genie back into the bottle now.

However, I was also going to post some news articles about how Sting's choice of clothing didn't cause any ripples. After doing a Google search on this and finding some articles I decided I didn't want to post any links after all.

Yes.....I might take some time.....however I will do my part as a kilted ambassador to get out there and answer any questions people might have to help along the process.

[Raphael]

T
Richard Hatch wore his UK on Survivor for the entire world to see, Sting wore a jet black kilt at the Grammy awards for the entire world to see.....the idea of non-Scottish kilts for every ocassion is out there. The "cat is out of the bag" so to speak and there is no way to put the genie back into the bottle now.

Aside from us, Do you think any John Q public remember what they wore in front of the cameras? As far as they concern, those are stage clothes worn by celebrities. They cannot relate to the kilt as day to day clothings.

[bubba]

I doubt that kilts will ever become close to mainstream. For that to happen the public will have to grow up and become much less sheeplike and I don't see that happening any time soon.

[Tim Walker]

I see kilts for men about where pants for women were in the 40s - still generally uncommon & not always accepted. It was until the 60s that women wearing pants became commonplace in the general populace & it wasn't until the 70s that institutions like schools & businesses began to allow women to wear pants. Since trends do seem to be more accelerated these days, I guess that in 10 years or so (at best) we may see kilts as a fairly common site in American society. Maybe...

If kilts never become commonplace, well, it's their loss & I'll still be wearin' mine!
.

If it should take two or three decades one implication is generational change. A new generation will grow up; one aspect of their childhood will be the eccentrics in kilts. Given "trousers" tyranny the eccentrics will be a small but conspicuous minority.