Kilt-wearing: A Personal Journey

Kilt-wearing: A Personal Journey

The Upsides to Kilt-wearing

1. A kilt is more comfortable than pants or shorts

2. A kilt helps me feel cooler on hot summer days.

3. Woolen knee high socks keep my lower legs warmer than jeans.

4. It is comfortable to run/jog in a kilt

5. It is more efficient (slightly less tiring) to walk. (The clothing isn't wrapped around legs providing slight resistance at thigh lift and knee bend).

6. Crouching is comfortable. (Though kneeling and knee-walking is a bit more complicated/challenging)

7. That refreshing breeze I feel on a windy day. :-)

8. No chaffing on endurance walks or hikes.

9. It couldn't be easier for a gentleman to take a leak (for that matter, other woodland necessities are made simpler by a kilt, rather than pants around my ankles)

10. No more need to worry about forgetting to zip my fly. :-)

11. I can carry things in you pockets of my kilt much more comfortably (on the side pockets hanging off the kilt)

12. If my kilt gets wet, I don't have that wet fabric directly against me, except at the waist

13. I can take my kilt off, without taking off my shoes.

14. I can put my kilt on with my shoes on.



Down-sides of kilt-wearing:

1. Riding a bicycle is a bit difficult... The back of my kilt is long enough to usually be touching the rear wheel but too short to really "sit-on" it to keep it from flowing in the wind... Also... You may scandalize the neighborhood while riding a recumbent bicycle...

2. Kilts are more expensive than pants.

3. Kneeling to do things such as scrubbing floors is awkward because if the front of the kilt gets under your knee, it can "trip" your leg...

4. I have had some trouble staying warm in a kilt... All of my kilts are made of cotton, and when I first started wearing kilts, it was for comfort in hot weather, for which cotton and linen are well suited; with woolen knee socks, my cotton kilts are warmer than jeans but I'm finding that when it gets into the twenties, I am gravitating towards woolen pants. I suspect that a woolen kilt may keep me similarly warm as woolen pants but it looks like a wool-kilt starts at $250 and I'm not ready to take that plunge yet... I had ordered acrylic kilt with perhaps 10% wool but that order fell through and was cancelled by the supplier due to lack of stock. I will keep experimenting with this and perhaps a thicker pair of woolen socks will have an additional warmth factor...

5. Children can be occasionally heard to be asking their parents, "Mom, why is that guy wearing a skirt?"

6. No knee protection. You might be more likely to scrape your knee if you fall down or kneel a lot.

7. Heavy. I would compare a kilt to the weight of a pair of jeans as that seems comparable but a kilt is certainly heavier than a pair of shorts. So if for some reason you are counting ounces, perhaps a nylon kilt may fit the bill.

8. Mosquitos. I haven't encountered this as a problem yet but I'm cautious about wearing a kilt in outdoor adventures where there might be a lot of mosquitos... The mosquitos might have additional access to tender parts... Also I have wondered about kilts and ticks... I also have some concerns about kilts in rattlesnake country but a pair of pants isn't going to stop a rattler either... I'm not about to give away my pants just yet...