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Buyer's Guide - Kilts
Part One Tartan
Tartan Cloth
Tartan cloth is made with bands of pre-dyed wool woven as warp and weft at right angles to each other. The warp is the spun thread held taught from one end of the loom to the other. The weft is the tread that is woven through the warp at right angles. The weft is woven two over - two under and advances one thread on each new row. This produces narrow diagonal lines that form a block pattern made of vertical and horizontal lines that repeat to create the tartan.
Different Weights of Cloth
The weaving principle is simple but todays weavers can produce all kinds of cloth. Kilt fabric is woven with pure wool and is made in different weights, two of which are ideal for making kilts, medium and heavy weight.
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Medium Weight Cloth: Medium weight cloth is woven to 13oz/yard (430g/M), which is an excellent durable weight to make a kilt.
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Heavy Weight Cloth: Heavy weight cloth is woven to 16oz/yard (515g/M), which again makes an excellent kilt.
Medium weight kilts are simply kilts made with medium weight cloth. The medium weight kilt has certain advantages despite the fact it is the lighter of the two kilts. The pleats are usually very sharp and maintain their appearance. It is also a better weight of kilt for small kilts and kilts that will be worn for more vigorous activities such as Highland dancing.
Heavy weight kilts are kilts made with heavy weight cloth. The extra weight of the 16oz cloth makes the heavy weight widely regarded as the superior kilt. The extra weight makes all the difference in the way the kilt hangs and how the pleats swing. The heavy weight cloth is also more resistant to creasing which means as long as the kilt is kept hanging, very little, if any pressing is required.
Choice of tartans
Tartans are woven into different clan tartans, district tartans and more generic tartans such as 'Scotland Forever.' In turn, many of these groups are sub-divided into different colour schemes.
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 Modern Colours |
 Weathered Colours |
 Muted Colours |
Ancient colours are dyed very pale to reproduce an era when no chemical dyes existed and cloth was dyed using natural dyes.
Modern colours produce a kilt with the same tartan but bright strong colours made possible by the invention of chemical dye. For example, where ancient red appears orange, modern red appears scarlet and ancient blue that is sky blue is navy blue in modern colours.
Additional colours available are weathered, where the colours are tinted with brown shades to emulate an old well-worn kilt stained by years of exposure to the harsh Scottish weather on the Highland glens. Muted colours are also designed to emulate an old kilt but they are not as earth-like as the weathered colours.
Although the amount of tartans woven as stock is immense, there are many tartans that are not available in certain colours, if any. These tartans can be specially woven.
Choosing your tartan
If you have a Scottish surname there is a good chance that there is a tartan for your clan and one or more weavers weave it in quantity. If you like the tartan and are happy that you are wearing the family tartan this narrows the search down to different versions of that particular clan tartan. However, despite the large quantity of tartans now available, you may have a Scottish name that does not have a tartan. In this case it may be classed as a 'sept' of a clan. A sept of a clan is a family name that is related to a bigger clan for various reasons. The main reason was marriage. Female offspring of chiefs would lose the clan name in marriage but would still wish to retain her clan connection. Other clan names were simply small clans that sought the protection of a bigger clan. So, the sept clans then and now have the right to wear the badges, crests and tartans of another, bigger clan.
If your surname does not link to any tartan, the next step is to look back at each maiden name on the maternal side beginning with your mother. This can often throw up new possibilities for family tartans.
If you have by this stage found no related tartan to your name or have a dislike to your family tartan, then you can choose any tartan! There are many generic tartans such as 'Scotland Forever' that are designed to be a tartan for all, although in truth anyone can wear a clan tartan that they like the look of.
The Tartan Authority is the official body that all tartans must be registered with. You can learn more about clans, tartan and view for yourself hundreds of tartans on the Tartan Authority website.
Special Weave Cloth
Another scenario may be that the Clan tartan exists but is not commercially woven. If this is the case, it may be available in our 'Old and Rare' collection. This range covers more unusual tartans but there is a surcharge. We can also have the cloth specially woven.
