Well, I might call it a "McKilt" but with the Scottish nature of the kilt, that might not be appropriate.

I've got a theory that I like. It might hold water, or it might be full of holes, but here goes. Part of the genius of the American "way" is that we take things from all over the world, cheapen them (usually in both sense of the word) and make them suitable for mass production, mass distribution, mass storage and mass consumption.

Now, that SOUNDS like I'm slamming America---but I'm not! We can, to quote Tony Montana, "really move product." If I go down to my local supermarket, I can buy tamales and sushi and canned spaghetti sauce and Thai rice noodles. None of the foregoing could be confused with what we might call "real" tamales or sushi or spaghetti sauce or Thai rice noodles, but frequently they're really not too bad---if you take them on their terms.

If you look at a Utilikilt, and you're coming from a "traditional kilt" background, you might be likely to say, "What a load of tripe!"

Similarly, if you look at our supermarket's brand of spaghetti sauce, and you're coming from a traditional Italian cooking background, you might be likely to say, "What a load of tripas! (Or however you say "tripe" in Italian.)"

The Utilikilt is NOT a tank. (We use tank as a term of art here, to mean a heavyweight, tartan worsted wool, eight yard kilt, hand sewn.) If you expect it to be a tank, you'll never be happy with it.

But they're not without their charms, and their uses.