Expensive Men's Skirts

[SkirtRevolution]

I have noticed that one of the most common comments about men’s skirts is that they are expensive. A lot of men choose therefore to buy women’s skirts as they are far cheaper. I for one buy both expensive men’s skirt and also cheaper woman’s skirts. My thoughts on this matter are that I believe that if possible financially, we should all buy at least one men’s skirt. My reason for this is that, the more we buy from the women’s section and not the men’s the less we are contributing to companies that support skirts for men, and we are not giving a true reflection of the demand for men’s skirts. If all of us only bought from the women’s section, many of these companies like utilikilt would have never become popular and therefore the idea of men’s skirt also would not be as popular as it is today. I am not say that we should not buy from the women’s section (as I also do this) but we should all try and make the effort to buy a men’s skirt if it is possible for us, to support these companies and show that there is truly many men that want to wear skirts. I would love to hear others opinion on this.

[Stu]

I agree that men's skirts are expensive - often ridiculously so. They are also frequently badly styled, or with ugly detail, perhaps because the designer is desperate to differentiate them from women's skirts. I recall the first one put out by H&M - it was a square of shiny grey fabric which was supposed to be fastened with Velcro squares and worn over trousers; it was hard to see the point of it and it looked hideous.

I think one possibility would be for manufacturers, especially those who make jeans etc, produce unisex skirts. After all, a skirt is one of the simplest garments that can be made to fit the human form and there is absolutely no reason why such as plain denim, corduroy or canvas skirts with belts couldn't be marketed as suitable for both sexes. The same could be said of, for example, skirts with tie or elasticated waists, or stretchy pull-on skirts or wrapover skirts, so long as the shape, colour and fabrics were reasonably gender neutral. Marketing has a major role to play. If some of the bigger outlets like GAP and H&M started 1. sizing up some designs as male and female, and 2. having the skirts in both men's and women's sections, and 3. showing models of both sexes wearing them, then that would even further erode the stubborn "no skirts on males" taboo.

About 10-years ago, a British outlet called Topman started selling men's sarongs. I bought one and I wore it to death! It was poor quality and massively overpriced, but it was perfectly masculine and looked good - especially as I had been working out a lot at the time! So let's not forget about the possibilities with sarongs.

Stu

[owen]

Economy of scale is obviously a big issue for producers of men's skirts, which greatly affects their prices. No mass-produced Cambodian sweatshop stuff here. I doubt very much if any of them are making big profits, but good luck to any that are.

However, it is certainly possible to buy good-quality men's skirts at reasonable prices, as these pages regularly testify. In my case, I have a really nice "casual kilt" from http://thescotlandkiltcompany.co.uk which cost about 45 euro, and a long men's skirt, which I'm wearing right now because it's effing freezing, from Sabine Seidel at http://mode-trend-s.de/7.html , which is also excellent quality at a reasonable 50 euro or so (a few years ago).

It's not just a matter of price anyway. A quality man's skirt will give great satisfaction for many years, much longer than the women's stuff which we know was not designed with us in mind.

[gael4ce]

the long skirts at sabine seidels site are beautiful,bu do they have an english speaking site,would love to have either the long white or long leather ? black

[skirt24]

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... e%2F7.html

See if that helps. If not you can use google translator to switch the language over.

[gael4ce]

great timely reply,most helpful Sabine will be getting all my $$$$

[Dale]

In all honestly, a women's skirt just happens to fit my body quite well, and I am no woman. However, I am planning on the purchase of a few kilts soon in my clan tartan as I am an American of Scottish ancestry

[Hemitom]

My question is why is it that something different always has to be more expensive than the norm?? that goes for just about everything...

[crfriend]

My question is why is it that something different always has to be more expensive than the norm?? that goes for just about everything...

Some of that comes down to "economies of scale" and, I also suspect in this case, durability.

In the former, recall that women's skirts are mass-produced, usually in third-world "low-wage" nations, by the tens of thousands; also, most clothing for women is designed only to last for a season or two because that's the usual "shuffle rate" by which stuff comes into a wardrobe and leaves it.

Neither of the above cases typically apply to guys' clothing -- especially skirts. Speaking specifically of skirts, there is, or seems to be, precious little market so one cannot achieve the same sorts of volumes that tend to drive proces down. On the durability side, guys typically like to have clothes last more than a season or two; recall that a well-cared-for wool kilt can last a lifetime with judicious use -- try that with a lightweight tiered number from Wally-World. Too, guys' styles typically do not change all that quickly either; a good suit should be expected to last three or four years in moderately heavy use -- and one can expect to find a replacement after that in a very similar cut and fabric.

One of the reasons I go for looks that are "timeless" is that I do not want to be seen as apeing the latest Fashions of the day; I want to put looks together that will look as good in two or three years' time as they look now -- or that would not have looked very out of place five or ten years ago. This also gives me a bit of an edge when I'm looking for something because I may not have a direct way to integrate it immediately, but will find a way in time.

[SkirtRevolution]

Durability is a big difference between men and women’s skirts. I just received my utilikilt and it is durable to say the lest. Will I wear it 24/7, no, as I like the feel of softer women’s skirts when I am walking around the shopping centre casually or by the beach etc, but for days when I need to be ruff the utilikilt will be ideal, such as camping, or on windy days as it will not fly around. I like to have a variety for different purposes. One thing I also don’t like with men’s clothing is the idea that only women should wear soft material and men should clothes themselves in material that is simply practical and durable. Men and women live virtual the same lifestyles theses day, form needs to follow function.

[Dale]

I agree with the statement:

One thing I also don’t like with men’s clothing is the idea that only women should wear soft material and men should clothes themselves in material that is simply practical and durable. Men and women live virtual the same lifestyles theses day, form needs to follow function.

I like the feel of the softer fabrics. My legs are sometimes so sensitive it is pure torture to wear trousers, and the softer women's fabrics are great during the time when I experience this problem (it is something that seems to come and go). That said; I also feel the need for more rugged fabrics also. I wear leather skirts at times and they hold up well. Denim also holds up well, and a denim skirt is much more comfortable than blue jeans.

[Kirbstone]

Relative to what one can pick up on sales racks in the High St. all male kilts, even 'bargain' ones are expensive. But a quick look at how they're made will explain why...they're much better sewn together, have a complicated construction and the material is invariably better too.....not that I wear them often enough to begin to test their durability.

Tom K.