Why you don't see Scots wearing their kilts often

[Duke of Delrio]

You will save neither the kilt nor the tartan by lamenting that a Scotsman does not wear them often enough. Don't suggest when or how he should wear it. Uh uh, Tell him he can't. Prohibit his wearing it, and HE will see to it that the kilt survives until the crack of doom. Lord bless him!

As another who posted to this thread, I am of mixed heritage: German, Scotch, Welsh, Swedish, and American Indian. I am not "part" Indian, else, I could tell you which part. I am not "part" Highland Scot; I am "also" Highland Scot. However, I would no more argue with Jock Scot's perspective on why the kilt is not worn more often in Scotland, than I would take my Indian cousins to task for not wearing feathers and bucksins as often as they might.

It is precisely because of that refusal to bow to any other wish or compulsion which has kept the Scottish kilt alive for all the rest of us. We have a kilted tradition because that unbending will was deeply, and individually held by Highlanders throughout the grim times of the Prohibition and the Highland Clearances. The Scots of my family came to America because they could not stay. I suspect that Jock Scot is where he is because his family WOULD not leave. Far be it from me to suggest when he should wear his national dress, or that he should wear his kilt for my reasons. I know what I feel when I see the kilt proudly worn, but I cannot begin to guess at what Jock Scot feels when he sees it . . . or what outlawed tunes he hears when the winds come over the heather.

I appreciate his comments and send my thanks to him . . . and to those like him.

[chrisupyonder]

In the end it comes down to personal choice and circumstance and where you put the bar between what is a special occasion and what is mundane normal life. For some the bar is very high, weddings etc. For others it is on the ground and as there are as many different people, the bar can be anywhere inbetween. For me, now that I have retired, the bar has dropped much lower and a special occasion includes weekends and whenever I feel like wearing my kilt. Shopping in a 60mph gale with horizontal rain (which we get quite often in Scotland) is probably not classed as a special occasion.
What wonderfull people you all are and I respect all your views

[Jordan]

Shopping in a 60mph gale with horizontal rain (which we get quite often in Scotland) is probably not classed as a special

I don't know I enjoy doing it,if only to see the looks on peoples faces as i wander past

[OC Richard]

In the end it comes down to personal choice and circumstance and where you put the bar between what is a special occasion and what is mundane normal life. For some the bar is very high, weddings etc. For others it is on the ground and as there are as many different people, the bar can be anywhere inbetween. For me, now that I have retired, the bar has dropped much lower and a special occasion includes weekends and whenever I feel like wearing my kilt.

You have a way with words! Nicely written.

For me, as a piper, the kilt represents work clothes. Today I will don my kilt and jacket and drive off to a golf course to play (the pipes, not golf!)

In addition, having not owned a suit in many years, I wear the kilt whenever I attend any sort of event requiring more than aloha shirt, shorts, and zorries. (I dress like that year round, one of the advantages to living where I do.) Such dressy events are rare, maybe one every couple years or so.

[GG]

You will save neither the kilt nor the tartan by lamenting that a Scotsman does not wear them often enough. Don't suggest when or how he should wear it. Uh uh, Tell him he can't. Prohibit his wearing it, and HE will see to it that the kilt survives until the crack of doom. Lord bless him!

I think we have all seen the article “The kilt in Crisis” in the Heraldscotland 3 Oct. 2010. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/h...isis-1.1058881

Now, I won’t talk about kilts. That I leave for the Scotsmen to do. I speak general supply and demand, something that to me has played a major role during all my professional life:

As long as, in our “western” society, the demand for a given good is sufficient, there will always be manufacturers who will satisfy this demand.

If the demand is increasing existing manufacturers will produce more and bring their production facilities in accordance with their expectations. New competitors shall enter the market.

If, on the other hand, a market is declining, we see manufacturers leaving it, be it by their own choice or so forced to.

That is the market category or total market thinking.

Looking at market segments, could be price segments, some might increase, even on an otherwise declining total market, or decline, at least relatively, on an increasing total market. An example could be prohibitive prices, or insufficient value for money – in the mind of the consumers. What the manufacturers should think about the value for money relationship is of absolutely no importance, sorry to say. In practice it means that consumers might still be able to get the product, but not THE product.

Out of a situation like this there is only one remedy to consumers who care: Use more and buy more – and hope you are not alone.

Just a few thoughts - nothing of relevance for kilt wearing.