In some parts of the world, mostly English speaking countries, a pattern of interlaced stripes is often mistakenly called a “plaid” instead of a “tartan.”

In Gaelic, plaid is the proper word for a blanket. When used in a context speaking of Highland Dress it refers to a length – usually 27 feet* – of material. Originally a kilt was known as the “belted plaid” and consisted of cloth that was gathered and belted at the waist. The belted plaids were most often made from a tartan cloth, and so the confusion between the two terms is understandable, but now no longer since you know the facts.

*The whole nine yards

Tartan refers to a pattern of interlocking stripes, running in both the warp and the weft. The warp are the threads running the whole nine yards of the fabric; the weft are the threads running between the salvage edges of the fabric. Salvage edges are usually set at the maximum width of a loom – sometime 45”, sometime 54”, but most often 60”.

Tartan has an ancient history. The earliest tartan in Scotland is thought to have been created in the fourth century. In other parts of the world, tartan cloth may be dated to circa 2000 BC. Every place cloth was made on looms, weavers created tartan designs, but nowhere other than in Scotland have tartans acquired such significance. 

It all started in August 1746. After the April 1746 Battle of Culloden, an English victory that sent Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Price Charles) packing for the highlands, the British government, in the Act of Proscription (also known as the Dress Act), forbade the wearing of tartan in the Highlands. It attempted to suppress the rebellious Scottish culture.

The Dress Act was repealed in 1782 and by the end of the eighteenth century large scale commercial weavers were in full production of tartan. The most notable was William Wilson & Sons of Bannockburn. In the 1819 Wilson’s Pattern Book over 250 tartans are included, but only a hundred (+/-) were given names. The 250 were not only Wilson’s designs, but patterns that Wilson had collected from all over Scotland.

By mid-century, the legend became a reality that the Wilson names borne by the tartans represented actual connections to those clans. Interest grew and legend blossomed through to the late 1890s when it was assumed that tartans had always been named and these were the names blessed by the clan chiefs.

Today tartan patterns can represent not only clans, but towns, businesses, and social or military organizations, thus, there are well over 7000 unique tartans on record.