I wonder how many civilian pipe bands have asked permission of anyone to wear anything. In the military it's different of course, because permission is granted for all the different bits of kit and they keep track of it all in the regimental histories. On the civilian side, I've never seen any discussion on that topic on piping forums, and I've seen pretty much everything discussed on piping forums

Another thing one would wonder about is how a clan chief would obtain the authority to grant permission. More than a couple tartans were invented by the "Sobieski's" in the 1830's. Why would a clan chief in 1850 have the authority to allow or dis-allow wearing of a tartan that was made up from thin air not many years before by a couple of Welsh con men? If he didn't have it then, why would he have it today?