That's interesting. I can't think why no one thought to make black sporrans back then, but I would imagine the black shoes are due to the ubiquity of shoe blacking. Black shoes would be easier to maintain, I suppose, because of the universality of shoe polish color. Personally, I think the normal distress that brown leather gets through use would be more aesthetically pleasing on a brown sporran. Not sure if any of that's true, but that's what I was thinking.