Irish National vs. Ireland's National

**denmcdough** · 20th January 10, 08:18 AM

I always thought the Irish National and the Ireland's National were the same. WRONG! HoE makes the Irish National. It is the one I have in a SWK.

So, my question for those who wear the colors of Ireland: which one do you prefer?? They're definitely different.

I prefer the Irish National, but might consider a semi-trad in Ireland's National from Rocky, at USAK. Any comments on that, too?

**xena** · 20th January 10, 08:42 AM

FWIW, I'm of the understanding that both of these are fairly new creations, essentially being a "fashion" tartan based on colours traditionally associated with Ireland (green and saffron mostly). So neither is more historical than the other.

That being said, it's all about personal preference. I've never compared them before, but I admit, I kinda like the Ireland's National because there seems to be two different tones of green, making for a more complex pattern. However, I too, own an Irish National from SWK from the Thrifty line. The price was one that couldn't be beat!

If they had been the same price, I might have choosen the Ireland's National. But, you can't beat Jerry's prices, IMHO.

**seanachie** · 20th January 10, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by denmcdough

I always thought the Irish National and the Ireland's National were the same. WRONG! HoE makes the Irish National. It is the one I have in a SWK.

So, my question for those who wear the colors of Ireland: which one do you prefer?? They're definitely different.

I prefer the Irish National, but might consider a semi-trad in Ireland's National from Rocky, at USAK. Any comments on that, too?

...or you could have the best of all worlds and have the SWK as a casual and the USAK as a dress kilt. It is actually interesting you brought this up, because I am trying to do the budget crunch and would like to order the semi-trad from Rocky to be able to wear to an Easter Sunday brunch. I am well aware of the differences in the 2 tartans and each has it's own appeal. You know there are others as well, such as the All Ireland just to further muddy the waters?

**xena** · 20th January 10, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by seanachie

You know there are others as well, such as the All Ireland just to further muddy the waters?

Oy vey!

**Zardoz** · 20th January 10, 09:31 AM

The Marton Mills Ireland's National is pretty much my favorite tartan. It was the first of many semi-trads I ordered from USA Kits, and continues to be a favorite.

**jordanjm** · 20th January 10, 09:48 AM

I have never seen Ireland's National Tartan before. Wow! It is beautiful.

**Zardoz** · 20th January 10, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by jordanjm

I have never seen Ireland's National Tartan before. Wow! It is beautiful.

http://www.usakilts.com/store/semitrad_kiltpage.php

**seanachie** · 20th January 10, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by Zardoz

The Marton Mills Ireland's National is pretty much my favorite tartan. It was the first of many semi-trads I ordered from USA Kits, and continues to be a favorite.

The tartan looks sharp, that goes without saying, but I like the acoutrements. I like the buttons on the jacket. I just won a nice argyll on an EBay auction, still waiting on it, and I hope to change them buttons out eventually. Very nice sporran as well.

**denmcdough** · 20th January 10, 02:48 PM

Zardoz, thanks for the nice pics. I'm starting to like the Ireland's National more, even though I have a SWK in Irish National. They both have their own special appeal.

I like the comment about "having the best of both worlds"...one for casual and one for dress. Well, I'm going to do that, as soon as I save up some bucks. I just received a tank from Scotland in the IoS. I'm broke now!

Also, in the one pic, do I detect harp buttons on your jacket? They look sharp. My wife made me a Crail jacket for Christmas and used harp buttons, too. Very nice.

**O'Callaghan** · 20th January 10, 05:09 PM

I prefer Irish National because it is a brighter green, but there are other people who prefer Ireland's National for exactly the same reason! I've always liked bright colours, but not everyone does.

Frugal Corner, as well as several eBay vendors, sell Irish Heritage, which is another similar tartan. I wasn't very happy with FC when I bought my solid green kilt, though.

As you say, there is also All Ireland by Locharron, which is quite different, but most people have only seen that in the Green version, and in fact there are Blue and Red versions as well. I believe Rocky commented in another thread that one of his personal kilts is in All Ireland Blue.

None of the above go back very far. The St. Patrick tartan is older than all of them, but even it was only registered in 1971. It has similar colours to most of them, but has large areas of white, which is normal for saint's tartans (as well as for dress tartans). There are several sources for kilts in this tartan, even including Sport Kilt.

There are a couple of other setts that are older than St. Patrick, such as Eire and Special Saffron, but good luck finding them! Burnett and Struth has "O'Saffron", which is actually the tartan of the Canadian Irish Regiment, and is similar to Special Saffron, but is not the same sett. I rather like the look of the Eire tartan, but I don't know where you could find it.

OTOH, Irish kilts in solid green date back to c. 1890, and solid saffron Irish kilts go back as far as 1857, AFAIK.