Posted on 09/28/2001 6:55:03 AM PDT by SAMWolf
SEATTLE (AP) -- These skirts are not for women.
"The kilt is the most macho of all garments for a man," says Steven Villegas, owner and creator of Utilikilts. "It is like a warrior's garment."
Customers from businessmen to former cowboys have snapped up 2,500 Utilikilts, a "utilitarian kilt" that comes in fabrics from blue denim to tropical prints. Styles vary from a custom-made tuxedo kilt to one for construction workers with loops to hold hammers.
Kilts are free of the restrictions of pants or shorts and offer plenty of air circulation, Villegas notes.
"I think it is the most comfortable thing a man can wear," he says.
Hugh Hunt is the proud owner of four Utilikilts, which he wears to everything from parties to the golf course.
"I am a very practical guy," says Hunt, owner of the Blair, Neb.-based Huntel Co., an Internet-service provider. "These are very practical things. They should replace jeans. They are very comfortable, and they look good."
Utilikilts sell for $87 to $150, and a custom-made kilt can cost several hundred dollars.
The 16-month-old company has yet to make a profit. But Villegas is already planning to spend any profits to fulfill his dream of converting a double-decker bus into a traveling troubadour-style theater.
Utilikilts' nine employees regularly wear kilts to work. Accountant Bill Guerts wears his crisp navy kilt with a proper blue button-down shirt, dark socks and shiny shoes.
Villegas recently moved his kilt manufacturing plant and offices from a garage-size space to a 3,300-square-foot warehouse. Kilt making will be done on the top floor, and a retail shop on the street level will open Oct. 10.
Utilikilts faces growing competition from other American kilt makers, such as Sport Kilts, based in Seal Beach, Calif.
But Villegas isn't worried. He says his patented design includes heavy-duty pockets that always hang right side up and flat, symmetrical pleating, which gives his kilts swing but prevents them from flipping up in a strong wind.
It's a man's own personal decision whether to wear anything underneath, Villegas said.
Villegas slips a stack of business cards in each pocket of his Utilikilts, preferring to rely on word of mouth rather than conventional advertising. His Web site features pictures of devoted customers.
Kilts are "good for morale," declares customer Hunt, who is featured on the Web site with a dozen male company presidents, all wearing black kilts.
On the Net:
www.utilikilts.com
I guess we know why he's a "former" cowboy.
So if a yuppie dork buy one of these skits, trips on it and crashes into the ground: Is he guity of a sexual identity hate crime on himself?
Because that's what happens to folks who call it a skirt!
Jamais Arriere!
There's the rub indeed. I love to wear my great kilt when camping or hiking, (in addition to Highland games of course) for this reason alone. The only complaint I have is that it's a real pain to pleat before wearing...
You are *so* mistaken, Sam! Kilts are not - I insist, not - the same as skirts!
A Scottish man in a kilt is equivalent to an American man in cowboy boots and jeans, IMHO.
*Men* in *kilts* are very masculine and quite attractive!
I admit this applies only if they are also wearing (and preferably playing well) bagpipes...
Going to the website now to look for a picture! Yahoo!
Willye be sayin' thot to me face ?? An, allow me ta intraduce ye ta annotha great Scots tradition: the Dirk. . .
Kilts and Celtic music are the perfect response to saggin' britches and rap music!
If some girlie-boy wants to think ill of my kilt then let him crawl up under it...
I'm a woman, and it's quite easy for someone to grab a hold of a pleated skirt to trip me. When wearing pants, you actually have to grab the "person". Pants make more sense, even if Mel did look great in that kilt! LOL
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