My maternal family is Welsh and English, and I happened to ask myself about the Welsh heritage. I learned that in the past (and possibly even today) Welsh clans would wear kilts in the same manner as the Scots. Like the Scots the Welsh clans also have tartans. I became intrigued with the idea of wearing a kilt. I feel very strongly that people should be able to wear what they feel makes them look good as long as it does not have the potential for interfering with their ability to do their job safely. Of course there may be a required uniform that prevents people from wearing many items of clothing to work on a daily basis. Luckily, I work in an office job without a strict dress code, just business casual. I decide that a kilt would qualify as business casual (it probably also helps that there is a Scottish heritage to my place of employment) and decided to order one in my maternal family’s tartan from USA Kilts. It is not this kilt, but it did make me want to have more kilts in my closet.
Since I had been researching kilts, Facebook’s little algorithms started suggesting various kilt and tartan makers in my feed. It suggested plans like USA Kilts, New House Highland, Celtic Clothing, The Box Pleat Kilt, DC Dalgliesh, and The Tartan Artisan. I followed these posts and kept doing research and then Steven Sim (The Tartan Artisan) had a post about the Declaration Tartan.
I really liked something about this tartan and ordered a neck tie in the tartan. This was the first contact that Steven and I had. He seemed like a great guy in all of our email communications and so I started following his posts more closely. It must have been in December of 2015 that Steven posted up an image of the Earthrise tartan.
I absolutely loved the tartan. I thought the colors were fantastic and I immediately knew I wanted a kilt in this tartan. I messaged Steven on Facebook and asked about the possibility of getting a kilt. Steven was open to the possibility, but needed to see if there was more interest as he would have to have the tartan woven at the local mill and they required a minimum yardage. Luckily there was interest and as soon as Steven let me know he would be having the tartan woven, I placed an order for a kilt (May of 2016) with the hope of having it by Speedmaster Day (Moon landing day) on July 21. Steven sent me some images of the woven tartan and some options for how the kilt might be pleated.
You’ll see that I choose option two in the photos of my actual kilt. The finished kilt arrived in the second week of July and so I was able to wear the kilt on Speedmaster Day to much adoration. I’ve worn it several times around town, to work, and special events and I always get compliments on the tartan. It is just amazing. I am also lucky enough to have kilt number 001 as I was the first to place an order. The last time I check with Steven there is only one other Earthrise kilt, and so I feel like such a badass when I wear it and think that only two out of seven billion people could be wearing what I am wearing.
Now for some shots of Earthrise kilt 001.
