Modern weathered tartans

[RockyR]

In short Jock, yes. They might dress the story up with all sorts of claims but the fact is that they've never done any research on which to base these spurious claims.

You don't think that DC Dalgliesh's claims that they carefully researched the colors used and the loan of the piece of MacDonald tartan from 200+ years ago are valid as research? I'm not saying that they had a team of scientists working on which shade of red and how it was dyed, but they did do research to reproduce the colors.

Taken from DC Dalgliesh's website:

...It began in the autumn of 1946 when a Peat gatherer seeking fuel on Culloden Moor, near Inverness, dug out an old piece of cloth, which after the most searching examination proved to be of MacDonald Tartan. The colour and sett were noted to be somewhat different to that in vogue but this was hardly surprising when it was decided that the piece of cloth was certainly 200 years old....

...Here indeed was the key to much lost and sketchy knowledge and to D.C.Dalgliesh, who obtained this piece of cloth on loan, among conditions laid down were two namely (1) that it be insured for £2,000, and (2) that it be lodge nightly, locked away in a safe.

Patient and intensive research into colours, sett and weave followed, and as a result D.C.Dalgliesh Ltd., have produced a range of “Reproduction Tartans” which are authentic in colour and design to those worn in 1745 and before.

Woven in pure 100% new wool, and using traditional weaving methods, the colourings of these Tartans offer a soft muted effect entirely reminiscent of the days when vegetable sources such as lichen, moss and alder bark provided the dyer with his raw materials.

Keep in mind, I DO understand that it's not 100% historically accurate and that there IS an element of 'commercialism' here. They aren't necessarily 100% historically accurate b/c it's their job to maintain a business, not please historians every request. I would say that if they are 80% accurate, they've done a good job approximating a 'weathered historical' look which is still attractive and commercially viable.

In the same vein, complaints could be made of painters who paint tartan and forget the smallest detail of a certain stripe or are a shade of red off. No one has attacked MacIan's historical accuracy.