Niche Biz: Kilts
In the beginning, there was the notion of just a single washable kilt. A loose, comfortable garment that, Steven Villegas says, “I could walk around naked in.”And because you couldn’t just go out and buy a man-skirt in those days, Villegas made one. And when he saw how nicely it fit him, he wore the kilt to a Seattle nightclub. At the door a bouncer asked, “Where can I get one of those?” And before he even got into the party, it occurred to Villegas: It’s a ballsy step, wearing a dress. Like Braveheart, only more so.
Next, Villegas–who likes to be called Krash–scavenged up $1,500 for an office, sewing machine, computer, internet service and fabric. He named his man-skirt the Utilikilt, and soon enough, there was a Utilikilts store in Seattle’s Fremont Street Market, a Utilikilts website and Utilikilts across the West Coast and around the world. Incredibly, this year, Krash sold his 100,000th man-kilt since he introduced them in 2000.
I should mention that I’ve had an Utilikilt since 2004.
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