Workwear manufacturer Blaklader has added a kilt to its range. We took it for a test drive.
Let me start by saying that, I am happily married (to a woman), am the father of four children, and aside from one drunken dalliance with a negligee when I was about 16, I have never harbored any transvestite leanings. However, I must admit that my curiosity was piqued when I first heard that Swedish workwear manufacturer Blaklader had added a heavy-duty kilt to its product range. In fact, I was so taken with the item that I actually invested in one with my own hard-earned cash so that I could test drive and review it without in an independent and unbiased manner.
Now I could have worn it onto a demolition site but, thick though my journalistic skin has become, I didn’t think I could cope with the level of abuse. So I decided to try it somewhere quiet, somewhere off the beaten track. In short, somewhere where very few people might point and laugh. So I chose to unveil my new look at last week’s Glastonbury Festival where, I hoped, the 180,000 revelers and their pervading weirdness might provide a bit of cover. So here we go.
First off, this kilt is seriously well built. It’s heavier and thicker than a pair of jeans so straight away any concerns about stray breezes causing an unplanned unveiling were put to the back of my mind. Putting it on proved to be rather more of a challenge, however. For the past 40+ years, I have grown accustomed to the well-proven zip/button combination so the process of wrapping this kilt around my waste and then fastening it with two big, heavy buttons felt oddly unnatural.
However, once it was on, I must admit that I quickly acquired something of a swagger; not quite Braveheart but certainly heading in that direction.
Sadly, this being Glastonbury, my plans to pair it with a pair of bright red Dr Marten boots vanished in the mire of a major thunderstorm and a mud the consistency of mushroom soup, and I was forced, instead, to accessorise with a pair of luminous green socks and slightly less intimidating green wellington boots. At this point, my daughter rolled her eyes for what would be the first of many times during that day.
The kilt is remarkably comfortable and once we had started to watch the bands, I largely forgot that I was wearing anything other than my usual concert-going jeans. However, the presence of the kilt flashed back into dramatic clarity the first time I decided to sit down. Even though I had eschewed the traditional Sottish approach to underwear, I was suddenly very aware of just how exposed I was in the undercarriage department. And all too quickly, I settled into smoothing it to the back of my legs as I sat down which, when paired with three days worth of beard growth, gave me the air of the world’s least convincing transvestite.
The pockets (and oh my, does this thing have pockets) were superb and plentiful. In fact, my mobile phone, camera, wallet, hangover cure, ProPlus, and asthma inhaler each had their own pocket and I still had room to store any leftover beer bottles and falafels that I accumulated during the day.
I also mentioned earlier that this was a heavy-duty item. I wore the kilt for two days solid; it survived a torrential downpour, copious amounts of mud, spilled cider, vegetarian chilli, stray drunken Bristolian vomit; 19 gigs; some ill-advised dancing; and a whole lot of walking and it just came back for more. And even the kilt’s harshest critic – my 16 year old daughter who was forced to accompany said item for the entire two days – started to warm to it. At one point, I was stopped by a total stranger and asked where he could get one as it was a “good look” – My daughter still rolled her eyes but, if you looked really closely, you could tell there was a tiny bit of pride lurking behind her convincing facade of ridicule.
The best thing about the kilt, however, was its coolness. I attended Glastonbury 2008 in jeans last year and, even though it was much cooler in June 08, my jeans were hot and uncomfortable to wear. The kilt, however, kept me cool and well ventilated throughout, despite stage-side temperatures hitting the 90s on two days.
But will it catch on? Will it become a common sight on demolition sites in the UK and across Europe?
Given the level of banter and abuse among demolition workers, it seems unlikely. However, the wearing of hard hats, safety gloves, goggles and the issuing of sun tan lotion seemed equally unlikely not so long ago, so I certainly wouldn’t dismiss the concept. And while I opted for the tres chic all-black model, it is also available in ultra-high vis yellow which makes it even more suitable for site work.
I am reliably informed by the good people of Active Workwear who sold me my kilt that there have been less than a dozen of them sold in the UK so far and that, to the best of their knowledge, mine was the first to be sold to the South of England, which I guess makes me a trendsetter.
So if you walk on a demolition site at any time in the future and you see a worker wearing a rather fetching kilt, just remember who started the trend!
Would you wear a Blaklader kilt on site? Please let us have your thoughts by hitting the comment link below.
