Hiring a kilt...

Amp34

Amp34

Amp34

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So I've always wanted to wear one (no comments please...;)) but never really had the right opportunity to wear one, until now. Where would be the best place to hire one (ie whole formal getup) and at what cost?

If local somewhere around Surrey/West London would be good. I'd also like it to be my clan tartan rather than some random one, will most kilt shops have a largish selection of tartans?

Oh and in before the "skirt" and homo crowd. ;)
 
If you want your own clan tartan it might be tricky if it's not one of the more common names, hiring companies tend to only have the most aesthetically pleasing or requested tartains in stock. If you were buying though - you can get anything you want!

Cost should be around £100 inc insurance for a weekend hire.
 
I've worn a kilt on a few occasions and love it. Great fun and looks very smart.... I assume that, as you have a clan tartan, you're Celtic of some sort? I am old fashioned in that I reckon you have to be of Celtic descent to wear a kilt :p

You will find kilt shops carry the most popular ones but should be able to get other tartans if you give them some notice... My experience anyways
 
If you can afford it buying one it is much better value. It does you for life and pays for itself in less than 10 wears. Depends how often you're likely to wear it though. I got mine for my 17th birthday and after a couple of years it had paid for itself.
 
buy one instead :) I was best man at my mates wedding last april and we all bought one for it and I'll be wearing mine out next friday for a burns supper that I'll be at.

Best 700 odd quid I've spent :eek:

Most places will have a good selection of tartans (not sure about the hire selection admittedly)

Possible shop for you

http://www.highlandstore.com/acatalog/Kilt_Hire_London.html

Oh and you have to be a true scotsman if you do wear one!
 
Thanks for the input guys.:)

Richie said:
I've worn a kilt on a few occasions and love it. Great fun and looks very smart.... I assume that, as you have a clan tartan, you're Celtic of some sort? I am old fashioned in that I reckon you have to be of Celtic descent to wear a kilt :p

You will find kilt shops carry the most popular ones but should be able to get other tartans if you give them some notice... My experience anyways
Click to expand...

Well various family members were Scottish (grandparents) so would be wanting to wear the (rather diluted blood) tartan of them.:p

£100 is a bit more than I was expecting and there is no way I could afford to buy one. I don't live in Scotland or have a Scottish accent I wouldn't wear it enough to really justify it at that price unfortunately.

EDIT: Looking at that link £80 for a week seems a bit more doable, only really need it for an evening though. :D And they don't appear to do any slightly less common tartans.
Jokester said:
*Sits polishing his ban hammer*
Click to expand...

Are you allowed to do that in public?:eek:
 
Never had to hire but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get a full outfit for a good bit less than £100. Nearer £75 sounds more like it.
 
You can usually hire one for around £75-100 for a weekend but if you want a particular tartan then be prepared to pay quite a bit more.

I went to a wedding in Ireland 2 years ago where the brides family were Irish and the Grooms side were all Scotts. The entire scottish contingent (including myself) turned up in full dress kilts and it looked awesome!

Kilt is THE most malny piece of clothing there is :D
 
Hi there

I hired a kilt outfit recently for my OH's graduation ball, cost was around £55.00 and I had the outfit for the just over the agreed long weekend time scale due to the adverse weather conditions. Cant really help with any outfitters for you in your particular area but I'd suggest ensuring they supply the complete outfit including socks, flashes, Sgian-dubh etc etc As for your own clan tartan, well that depends on your particular clan? Most of the hire shops here will stock the most common clans but can acquire specific tartans given sufficient notice.

Personally I went for the Saltire tartan:

Saltire.jpg


No, that isn't me in the picture.

Though I'm entitled to wear quite a few specific tartans I choose this as I felt it looks smart enough, again it's all down to individual preference though. As for purchasing your own kilt outfit, granted you'll see them advertised from £300.00 upwards but you basically get what you pay for and in my opinion for good enough quality you'd be looking to spend anything from £700.00 upwards. For myself I couldn't justify that cost given the amount of times I'd be wearing it.

//Edit - If you've never worn the outfit before may i suggest ensuring you can tie the ghillie brogues that should be supplied with the outfit?
 
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The Tartan would be linked to the Murray clan (of which there appears to be two tartans of different sides of the clan...) so whether that would be available easily I'm not sure. I guess if the worst came to the worst I could just get a Flower of Scotland one or something.

Thinking about it potentially I may be able to legitimately wear a tartan from the Macpherson clan too...
 
Sonea Fifer said:
//Edit - If you've never worn the outfit before may i suggest ensuring you can tie the ghillie brogues that should be supplied with the outfit?
Click to expand...

I've never found that too difficult, cross the laces at the front and then just do a crossing pattern back/front/back/front and put the bow/knot at the front. It looks like the model in that picture is wearing them a bit low to me but whatever is comfortable I suppose.

As for pricing, you're in Englandshire and therefore it's much less common so they can easily charge you £50+. Last time I had a wedding to go to down here I actually hired a kilt in Scotland and got a mate who was coming down to bring it with them and it saved me about £40 on the prices that I was being quoted.

Clan tartans - depends on the name how likely a hire shop is to have it, some names may be peculiarly Scottish but if you're not part of a big clan/have an appealing tartan then you're probably out of luck and there'll just be a standard selection.

With all that said it's an experience to wear a kilt and one that's highly enjoyable so I'd say it's worth it at least once in your life.
 
That's my theory too, always wanted to wear one but as I said in the OP I never really had the right opportunity too (feel a bit of a tit if I wore a kilt for the first time as the only person at the gathering wearing a kilt...). This time it's different and there should be a few people wearing them so... :D

As for tying the ghillie brogues if I can't do it I have a scottish friend who will be going so i'm sure I can get him to help if needed.

Is there any likelyhood of me being able to hire one in Scotland and getting it send down here? I guess the main issue would be not being able to try the stuff on first and cost of postage?
 
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