Kilt variants

The word kilt is used today to refer to a wide variety of different types of garments. The principal usages are:

1. The modern form of the traditional Scottish garment (see kilt);
2. The historical form of this same Scottish garment (see History of the kilt);
3. Various other national forms of the kilt, such as the Irish kilt;
4. The modern, or contemporary kilt;
5. Certain types of school uniform skirts or other skirts for girls.

Since it is the form of the kilt with which people are most familiar, this article, in what follows, will take as its standard the modern form of the traditional Scottish kilt as typically seen at modern day Highland games gatherings in Scotland and elsewhere throughout the world. The other types of garments which are often referred to as kilts will be described below, followed by a discussion of how they are similar to, or different from, the Scottish kilt.

Historical kilts

Historical kilts differed in several particulars (some quite substantial) from the modern-day kilt, even after the introduction of the tailored kilt in the late 18th century.

The earliest surviving kilts (or remnants) are regimental kilts dating from this period. In contrast to the most common form of the modern Scottish kilt, these kilts were box pleated, not knife pleated, garments with the pleats extending all the way around the circumference of the garment. Thus they did not have the characteristic wrap-around construction with the overlapping front aprons of the most common form of the modern Scottish kilt.

In addition, since these kilts date back to a time prior to the introduction of the modern system of clan tartans, the patterns in usage at the time are those of the regimental tartans of the day, such as the Black Watch tartan.

Kilts of this type are seen today mainly as reproduction kilts where effort is made to be as faithful as possible to the historical forms, sometimes extending even to using the same techniques of construction and vegetable dyes.

Contemporary kilts

Recent years have seen the introduction of a number of new styled, contemporary, or casual kilts catering to the Scottish market. Typically, these garments will use the word kilt in the name of the garment either directly or as part of a compound or hyphenated term. In some cases, the name under which the garment is sold will be trademarked in addition to using the word kilt as part of the name. All of these new types of garments differ markedly in several respects from the traditional Scottish kilt.

Among the most obvious features by which most of these contemporary kilts are differentiated from the traditional Scottish kilt are;

• First, most of them are made out of plain colored fabric, lacking the traditional plaid patterns associated with the Scottish clans; and

• Secondly, most of them are not made from tartan wool, but rather utilize a variety of different fabrics, including denim, canvas, leather, and polyester, or a poly viscose blend.

In addition to the above, these newer kilts often exhibit significant differences in design and construction techniques. Some, such as the NeoKilt™ do follow closely the same design pattern of the traditional kilt (wrap around construction with overlapping front aprons and stitched-down pleats around the sides and back). Others follow their own construction design. The UtiliKilt™, for example, is made to fit the hips with the waist being cinched tight by a belt in contrast to the Scottish kilt which tapers the pleats from hip to waist.

Some of the advantages of these kilts stressed by the manufactureres are their durability, ease of care and the significantly lower cost which is possible.

As a result, these garments have achieved a considerable degree of popularity especially among Highland athletes who might be reluctant to subject an expensive and more care demanding garment to the hard usage of the athletic arena.

They have also been widely accepted within the Scottish community as a whole where the manufacturers can be seen vending thier wares at many Highland games events.