Traditional Kilts: 4 yards, box pleated

Box pleated kilts made from four yards of cloth, in the style of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

The four-yard, box pleated kilt:

How old is the kilt? People typically have a lot of misconceptions about this unique and historic garment. Very often they assume that the kilt, as we know it today, has been preserved from some ancient time in Scotland's past, unaltered and unchanged. Such is hardly the case.

The typical modern kilt contains, on average, eight yards of tartan cloth, arranged in knife pleats, pleated either to the sett (the pattern of the tartan is preserved in the pleating) or to stripe (the same line is centered on each pleat).

However, it was not always so. The kilt, as a tailored garment, first appeared on the scene in the last decade of the eighteenth century. These first tailored kilts contained, on average, four yards of cloth, and were box pleated – in the military, to the stripe, and for civilian wear, to no pattern at all. Early in the nineteenth century civilian kilts also began to be pleated to the stripe.

The four-yard, box pleated kilt, pleated to the stripe, was the norm for most of the nineteenth century, and has been called the "epitome of the kilt." It is only as we approach the twentieth century that knife pleated kilts, containing eight or more yards of fabric, began to be common.

Go to any Highland Dress retailer, kilt maker, or tartan shop today and all you will find available are eight-yard knife pleated kilts. Many kilt-making firms are now offering a four-yard kilt, still knife pleated, offered as a less expensive alternative to the eight-yard kilt. Typically, however, these are machine stitched.

Very few kilt makers today offer the original tailored kilt – that is, a four-yard box pleated kilt. No one at all did until kilt maker Bob Martin revived this style in 1983. Since then, Bob has trained a few other kilt makers, myself included, to make this style of kilt.

I have worn four-yard kilts for years and found them extremely comfortable. When Bob offered to teach me to make them, I jumped at the chance. And now I am pleased to offer them through this web site and through the Scottish Tartans Museum to the kilt wearing public.

Please browse through the menu at left to learn more about these kilts. Each kilt is custom made, and is a very personal item. Therefore, before I make a kilt for you, I'd like to talk about the details with you personally. After you have looked around this site, please email me at eogan@albanach.org to discuss further details. Thank you!

PRAISE FOR BOX PLEATED KILTS:

Ron Keeler, of Ontario, Canada, has purchased a few box pleated kilts from this site (a Black Watch, Gordon of Esselmont, and a green/purple non-named tartan tweed). He writes:

"Just wanted to tell you that I wore one of the tweed kilts to the Spencerville, Ontario, Highland Games over this week-end, and I had loaned my Gordon of Esselmont kilt to a friend for the same occasion. As well, the chap to whom I had sold the Black Watch kilt showed up at the Games as well. The three of us pretty well spent the day together fending off fans of the box pleated kilts we were wearing! I'm not kidding, we were questioned separately and together about these fabulous kilts by probably no fewer than twenty people! Wish I had had a hand full of your business cards; they would have been gone by the end of the day, for sure. Anyway, needless to say, they were greatly admired -- and people went crazy trying to figure out where my tartan came from (the green/purple tweed!). And, I should add, of course they were all 4-yard kilts -- MUCH cooler than the usual 8-yard jobs, as it was a blistering day."

Erin from West Virginia writes:

"I received the kilt today, and it's absolutely gorgeous. I love the color, and the craftsmanship is really just beautiful. (I honestly couldn't be more impressed.)"

Glen, from Alaska, had just received his Brodie Hunting box pleated kilt, when he wrote:

"The kilt is absolutely stunning. The tartan looks better than I imagined, and your workmanship is beautiful! The kilt fits great. I'm surprised just how different it feels to wear this kilt compared to a Utilikilt. It just feels more tailored, more handsome, and it has a presence that the other kilts lack. My wife thinks it looks quite handsome too."

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