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A tartan can be defined as any woven design with a pattern of intersecting horizontal and vertical stripes. With a definition that loose, you could say that tartan patterns have been around since the very earliest days of looms and weaving.

In the mid-18th century, due to British restrictions on wearing of the tartan, for 36 years only one small group of people in the entire British Empire--the famed Black Watch, Royal Highlanders Regiment--could legally wear tartan fabric. This classic black, green and blue pattern, called the Black Watch Tartan, is still worn proudly by the current members of the Royal Highlanders Regiment.

In the States, it's common to refer to a tartan pattern as a plaid, but that word was originally used in reference to a garment, the heavy wool shawls worn by Scots centuries ago; the Gaelic word for tartan is actually breacan. The word tartan derives from the French word tiretaine, a cloth blend of wool and linen.

As covered in the historical article Did the Early Irish Wear Kilts?, kilts have been around in one form or another--from the earliest leine through the belted plaid and phillabeg--for hundreds of years. The earliest known Scottish tartan is the Falkirk Tartan, which bears the name of the town where it was discovered. Little more than a small scrap of material at this point, the surviving remains of the Falkirk Tartan show a simple light-dark check pattern, which many call the "shepherd's plaid." This remnant has been dated back to circa 320 A.D.

In the early days of kilting, solid colors and tweeds were much less rare than they are today, when clan tartans have assumed such dominance in the marketplace. It all begs the question: How did tartan patterns ever get associated with particular clans in the first place, and what factors have caused their steady growth in popularity?

Clans weren't yet in the picture in the 1500s, when Scots first started wearing the belted plaid. Tartan colors were largely dependent upon locally available dyes, which narrowed the spectrum considerably. When available, Highlanders wore bright, bold patterns to indicate success and prosperity; they also favored dark muted colors that would provide some degree of camouflage when hunting, herding, or traveling cross country.

Post-Jacobite Prohibitions

When the Jacobites were decimated at the massacre at Culloden, the British monarchy moved to proscribe many things Scots held dear--from tartan fabric to firearms and bagpipes--as a punishment for the Highlanders' generally rebellious attitude toward the Crown. The resolution of the Jacobite rebellions also effectively brought an end to the clan system in Scotland; by contrast, the end of these punitive measures just a few decades later would foster an expanded role for clans in tartan pattern design.

In 1746, the Disarming Act went into effect. The Act's full title read thusly: "An Act for the more effectual disarming of the Highlands in Scotland and for more effectual securing of peace of the said Highlands; and for restraining the Use of the Highland Dress." Suffice to say that the British crown had opted for retribution against the losing side in the rebellions, which had been chiefly supported by Highlanders dressed in tartan and kilts. The Disarming Act forbade any citizen of the realm to "wear or put on Highland clothes including; the kilt, plaid and no tartan or party-coloured Plaid."

The Disarming Act was repealed in 1782. Throughout the 36 years the Act was in force, the only group of people with legal sanction to wear the tartan was the vaunted Royal Highlanders Regiment, the Black Watch (see box).