Kilt/Tartan Help

**Grizzly** · 5th March 13, 11:51 AM

John Wayne fly fishing on The Test now that is something I would pay good money to see....

**Jock Scot** · 5th March 13, 12:06 PM

The ghillies at Nursling always insisted that we wore glasses when fishing there, due to an American Ambassador to the UK losing an eye there, when a salmon fly lodged in his eye. I must get back down there sometime. Sorry that's as near to JW as I can get.

**David Thorpe** · 5th March 13, 01:08 PM

Originally Posted by usonian

It pretty much comes down to this:

Until such time as the sale of all tartan is governed by a single central authority who will only mete it out after irrefutable genetic or genealogical proof that you belong to a particular clan, you can purchase and wear whatever tartan you please.
Traditionally, however, one would wear a tartan with which they have a family connection, or absent a family connection then they would wear a "universal" tartan.
Some people will heartily encourage you to wear whatever tartan you like for whatever reason you like.
Some people will take offense (ranging from mild indignation to outright castigation) if they learn you're wearing another family's tartan with no affiliation.
Most people won't even notice or ask about your tartan - or if they do it's small talk and they'll drop the subject once you tell them.
If you're fine with all that, then go for it.
If you're not fine with it, stick with your family tartan (or a universal one if you don't have a Scottish connection.)

There is no single, simple, universally agreed-upon answer to the question; it can be (and has been) asked 1000 times on this forum and will never result in consensus, so it's ultimately going to be up to the individual kilt wearer.

Excellent summation. I would like to nominate this post for a Sticky.

**KiltFitz** · 8th March 13, 07:14 PM

I am often asked what tartan I am wearing. It's a good ice-breaker. Very, very occasionally in Scotland someone has asked me about my "right" to wear the particular tartan. None of those people have been born in, nor lived in Scotland.

Don't worry about the Lord Lyon. If I had time, I'd like to go to Edinburgh this weekend and ask 100 kilt-wearing scots the same 3 questions:

1) Did you check you have the "right" to wear your tartan before you got it?
2) What is the name of the current Lord Lyon?
3) What does the Lord Lyon do?

I don't need to of course because I am reasonably confident that I already know the overwhelming majority of those responses. The sale and re-sale of kilts and highland wear is a large industry and people who are possessive of their ancestors' contribution to culture should remember that it has been worldwide interest and spending in that same culture which allows them to participate.

In my opinion, a lot of this comes down to a desire on the part of some to claim some form of "nobility" in their celtic ancestry. What I have learned about Celts however is that they were quite welcoming of people from other places and cultures who wished to come and share in their way of life. The warrior who could give success in battle was prized above all others. Regardless of who his great great grandfather twenty times removed was. I

travel with a large group of people who all wear kilts to the same events. Some know the history of their own family and prefer their own tartan, some don't care. At least 2 are quite respected history scholars with far more knowledge of clans and tartans than I would ever hope to have. If we met someone who told us that they owed an "exclusive" tartan which they did not wish to share without some reasonable copyright or commercial reason for doing so I can tell you that, to a man, we would shake our heads and move on. You don't "own" history, you are merely a product of it.

Apparently if I want "permission" to wear the tartans of any of the clans to which I have affiliation, I've to write and ask the chief. Doubtless I would be asked for a hefty subscription fee. Just watch me. I'd much rather debate their "born" right to ask it of me.

**TheOfficialBren** · 9th March 13, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by Wil

I understand that the availablity of "universal"tartans are out and about. I was asking about proper protcol on me seeing a kilt at a shop and wasn't a McFarlane or Shaw (my two family's)tartans and wearing it.......

I feel you on this one. I would LOVE a Shaw Modern tartan (my family) but it is considered a rare tartan and always tacks on extra cost to the kilt so I stick to universal tartans and maybe similar or connected clans for now.

Shaw Modern in P/V would be stellar.

**Paul Henry** · 9th March 13, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by TheOfficialBren

I feel you on this one. I would LOVE a Shaw Modern tartan (my family) but it is considered a rare tartan and always tacks on extra cost to the kilt so I stick to universal tartans and maybe similar or connected clans for now.

Shaw Modern in P/V would be stellar.

I'm not sure what you mean by "rare" it's on the standard Lochcarron listing for Strome, Shaw Modern , so it should be just as available as any of the 500 or so other ones, unless it's not in stock of course , but any good kiltmaker shold be able to get hold of it for you.

**TheOfficialBren** · 9th March 13, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by paulhenry

I'm not sure what you mean by "rare" it's on the standard Lochcarron listing for Strome, Shaw Modern , so it should be just as available as any of the 500 or so other ones, unless it's not in stock of course , but any good kiltmaker shold be able to get hold of it for you.

Hm...I've seen it on many vendors' lists under "Old And Rare Tartans." This always ups the cost of the kilt a good amount.

**Paul Henry** · 9th March 13, 06:06 PM

"Old and Rare" is the name of a range of tartans produced by House of Edgar , they are mediumweight ones 13 oz, the LochcarronSrome one is 16oz. Off hand I don't know the price differential, but the House of Edgar's naming is just a convenient grouping term, and doesn't actually mean that the tartans are actually rare, perhaps not so widely used. It might be worth looking into the Lochcarron one, just to see if you could get your family tartan, talk to your kiltmaker I'm sure they could help as they generally have better contacts with the Mills themselves, it certainly might be worth a try.
Just had a thought the O & R are single width, the Lochcarron is double width, so that could explain why they would be a large price difference.

**seanachie** · 9th March 13, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by paulhenry

"Old and Rare" is the name of a range of tartans produced by House of Edgar , they are mediumweight ones 13 oz, the LochcarronSrome one is 16oz. Off hand I don't know the price differential, but the House of Edgar's naming is just a convenient grouping term, and doesn't actually mean that the tartans are actually rare, perhaps not so widely used. It might be worth looking into the Lochcarron one, just to see if you could get your family tartan, talk to your kiltmaker I'm sure they could help as they generally have better contacts with the Mills themselves, it certainly might be worth a try.
Just had a thought the O & R are single width, the Lochcarron is double width, so that could explain why they would be a large price difference.

This is very true, Paul owns a lovely kilt in the Ulster Peat tartan, which I really like. When I made inquiries about this tartan it was priced beyond my means because it was offered only in single width at the same cost as double width.