Comparison: Daily wear UK Vs SWK

[Yaish]

I'm afraid not, no "real" (wool traditional, custom tailored) kilts to compare to. I certainly would like one, but it always comes down to there being something else that money can go for. Like three or four more SWK's, which suit my activities better.

Hopefully in a year or two I may get one, and I'm sure I'll make another review at that time.

For anyone who HAS compared the SWK's to a traditional wool kilt, please feel free to add to this thread.

[Roan Carter]

I'm in love with my standard Stillwater Kilt. I think there's some degree to which the material gets broken in and feels even nicer over time. Thanks for the cleaning advice, as I have a hard time keeping it clean from all the crazy stuff I get into while I wear it. (I live in this thing, lol.)

Do you happen to know what weight the acrylic wool of the standard stillwater kilt is, like 16 oz or something?

[NewKilt]

Yaish, Nice comparison between a non-traditional and traditional style kilt. I have 1 UK's in every material and model except the Survival and the Spartan. The rest of my kilts are all traditional wool.

The acrylics can be problematic in that they are subject to pilling (and snagging). I sold all of mine because of this. Any acrylic kilt will do this not just SWK's. Consequently, any traditional style kilts that I buy will always be wool. Wool is simply a matter of drycleaning once or twice a year. I do mine with Dryel at home and use spot remover if needed.

Certainly the advantage of the UK's is the tremendous amount of storage you have with the pockets. They are my favorites for casual wear. However, when the weather turns cold, my traditional wools see most of the action. When I wear a sporran, I limit what I carry to bare essentials to minimize digging around to find stuff. I have also found that using a money clip for your driver's license, a credit card or two, and some cash (rather than carrying the entire wallet) reduces weight and minimizes digging. When it's cold enough for a jacket outside, the sporran stays home - I have a black leather aviator's bomber jacket with ample pockets for my stuff. However, without the sporran, you absolutely need to remember to do a tuck because of the wide apron. This is especially true with wool kilts - that apron will tend to stay up even more so with wool than it will with acrylic.

I love both my traditional wools and my UK's. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. My favorite time of year is when the weather lets me wear either a UK or one of my traditionals depending on my mood.

Darrell

[smaughazard]

For anyone who HAS compared the SWK's to a traditional wool kilt, please feel free to add to this thread.

I'll jump in here, as I do own and wear both a tank and a SWK. My SWK is the heavyweight Black Shadow, and the traditional is a 13 oz. hand-sewn in my clan tartan. The Stillwater is very nice in most ways: good workmanship, quality materials, and quite good-looking. For me, the 24 inch length is too short (the tank is 27"!), which forces me to wear the SWK lower- about the height I wear jeans. The black material is pretty stain-resistant, and allows me to pick many combinations of shirt/hose to coordinate. While the pleats are well-made, the texture of the Shadow tartan makes the pleats occasionally adhere to each other and slightly inhibit the swing.

The traditional fits MUCH better, as you would expect from a custom-tailored garment. The wool's finish gives the kilt great swing; the pleats also seem to stay crisper. I'm very happy with the tank- and it is worth twice the price of the SWK. However, for that very reason, I'm reluctant to wear (and clean) it as often.

All that said, I will probably buy another SWK in the future- but I definitely want a couple more tanks!

[O'Neille]

I've got a good mix of SWKs, one standard and two heavyweights to compare to my two handsewn tanks. I like them all. Of course I am a standard sized kind of guy. I have a 33 waist and 34's fit perfect in almost every kilt I've ever purchased off the peg. My length is spot on 24 so that works out too. I guess I'm just lucky that the SWKs fit me so well, because for the price, the heavyweight wools are a great useful kilt with excellent finishing touches and hardware. I do like the slimmer cut out fell and the swish of a higher quality wool on a premium handsewn. I think for anyone who wants a nice wool kilt that can't be distinguished from a handsewn w/o close inspection should look at SWK heavies. As for the standards, they do have that acrylic fuzzy feeling, they get pills. I probably would get another if I found one for a great deal, but I would almost certainly spring for the extra and go for the wool if I were to get another. O'Neille

[Southern Breeze]

Great comparison, thanks for taking the time to put it together. I'll not add any comments as they've already been coverd in the other posts.