Everyone loves a kilt.

And everyone also loves to ask the eternal kilt question: Whatcha got underneath?

“Socks and boots, duh,” is Jerry Powell’s first answer.

It’s just a joke, though, says the owner of the only Men in Kilts franchise in Colorado Springs. The Canada-based company takes care of exterior house cleaning needs: window washing, power washing of the house and driveway and gutter scrubs.

“We always wear something,” Powell said. “It’s a business and some people don’t want to see things under a kilt other than clothing. But it’s always fun to play with people.”

Kilts might seem an unusual choice for cleaning, but when Nicholas Brand, a Scottish transplant, decided to wear a kilt and wash the windows of his house one day in 2002, he got such a positive response he couldn’t not wear a kilt. He started a company and still leads it today.

“What’s not to love?” Powell said. “If you have to go to work, you might as well have fun doing it.”

One part of the gig is the wannabe paparazzi Powell and his technicians encounter in the wild.

“I can’t tell you how often I’m at a gas station in a kilt and someone wants to take a picture or I’m walking through Walmart and get asked for a picture,” Powell said.

“You have to have a big personality. Most of my techs are pretty excited about wearing a kilt. Some would wear them out at night because they thought it was so fun and they liked the attention so much.”

AJ Johnson is one of those techs. On a Friday afternoon, he’s perched on a stepladder outside a home in Security-Widefield diligently washing the front window. He’s got on a black hoodie emblazoned with the Men in Kilts logo and the required black and Kelly green tartan. Calf-length black socks and sneakers and a black ball cap complete the look, as does a belt around his waist holding cleaning supplies.

He’s a newbie. It’s only his fourth day on the job, but he’s thrilled to be squeegeeing windows in a kilt on a bright spring day.

“It’s awesome. I’m super proud to wear it,” said the Springs native. “I get looks all the time, but it makes people laugh and I love making people laugh.”

Home owner Desiree Wagner doesn’t necessarily have a thing for men in kilts, she just happened to be driving to work and see Powell’s van.

“I said that sounds interesting,” Wagner said. “And they were very sweet on the phone.”

On the side of the house, trying to work around a lavender bush, is Powell, also vigilantly squeegeeing a window. The next-door neighbor pops up to make kilt small talk.

“Do you ever have any problems if you’re on the second floor?” he asks. “I like to wear my kilts in the summer while I’m mowing the lawn to piss off my daughter.”

Powell smiles. He’s well-versed in kilt humor.

“I tell people if you’ve never worn a kilt, you’ll never want to wear pants again,” he said.

“Think about how much more freedom you’ve got than wearing jeans. They’re very practical and very fun.”

And it’s not like Powell picked out the kilt willy-nilly for his business; these kilts have meaning. They’re the Wallace hunting modern tartan, worn in honor of William Wallace, a Scottish hero in the early 1300s.

“The company chose the colors in honor of him,” Powell said. “And green looks good for a cleaning company.”

Powell, a 10-year Navy veteran with a strong background in maintenance, bought the franchise in late 2022 and opened it several months later.

He’d been searching for a franchise to buy and narrowed it down from 750 to two options: cleaning in kilts or a company that cleaned up after dogs in backyards.

“It was the power of the kilt,” he said. “It was a natural marketing tool. And I do have Scottish heritage a couple of generations back. The opportunity to carry that on was fantastic.”

Although he’s not yet been to Ireland or Scotland, it’s high on the list. His mother’s side is Scottish and Northern Ireland going back three generations, and his father is Welsh going back four generations.

There also have been castles in the family, including one built by a great-grandfather many generations removed in Wales around the 1450s. And though it’s no longer in the family their crest remains on the gate.

“Maybe this company was meant to be for me,” Powell said.

Contact the writer: 636-0270