ISO leads for County Derry tartan fabric and/or kilt in POLYESTER

**CyanMoonStars** · 8th February 20, 10:35 AM

Second daughter is being married. Her future FIL would love to wear an Irish Kilt (he's a McElhinney). As I understand it, many of the McElhinney families come from County Derry. I've found the tartan for him and he likes it. I might consider making it up for him, but the caveat is that he's dealing with cancer treatments and wool is NOT an option for him, so I'm on the hunt for polyester or poly/viscose. Does anyone have any leads for me?

**JIMMYG** · 11th February 20, 06:29 AM

We have a member in our band who is highly allegoric to wool.. so we ended up lining the kilt with a double barrier of poly and silk.. it made the kilt a bit heavy but no issues for the past 4 seasons.. Congrats on the wedding and hope he kicks the cancers *** !!!

Jimmy <new guy>

**jthk** · 11th February 20, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by CyanMoonStars

Second daughter is being married. Her future FIL would love to wear an Irish Kilt (he's a McElhinney). As I understand it, many of the McElhinney families come from County Derry. I've found the tartan for him and he likes it. I might consider making it up for him, but the caveat is that he's dealing with cancer treatments and wool is NOT an option for him, so I'm on the hunt for polyester or poly/viscose. Does anyone have any leads for me?

Hi there: I'd absolutely recommend polyviscose -- I know Marton Mills makes them but don't know if they weave it for Derry. I believe the House of Edgar has a lot of the Irish county tartans.

**CyanMoonStars** · 20th February 20, 01:23 PM

Bump for more info

**Steve Ashton** · 20th February 20, 01:38 PM

There are just a few issues with a request like this.

First is that there are only a hand-full of kilt quality Tartan fabric weaving mills in the entire world. Right now, all are in the UK.

Only one of these, Marton Mills, offer kilt quality Tartan fabric in a synthetic fabric. A blend of 65% Polyester and 35% Rayon.

However, the Irish County Tartans are now produced by just one mill, House of Edgar. They designed them, they own their designs.

While at least one weaver offers that they can produce any Tartan ever designed, the truth is that they will purchase the fabric, put their label on it, and sell it to you with their retail markup.
It is also not uncommon to find Copyrighted Tartans woven by some of the mills in the Middle East with no regard to the Copyright.

So I am afraid that if you want the County Derry Tartan you must order the fabric from House of Edgar and it will be woven in wool.

I have not inquired of Marton Mills if they have permission from House of Edgar to weave their designs in Poly/Rayon (I seriously doubt it) but I know that they will not knowingly violate ownership or Copyright.

I'm sorry, but I think you are out of luck finding the County Derry Tartan woven in Polyester.

**mikethemoose** · 25th February 20, 10:06 AM

Full disclosure (If it's not obvious by the Clan Cian tartan by my name) I'm of Irish descent.

The Irish traditionally (prior to 1800s) did not have tartans or kilts. They adopted the kilt first, in the 1800s, likely for a few different reasons. The British persecution of Gaelic culture left the Irish with a bit of a void on their own distinctive Gaelic traditions, to include distinctive apparel, and a feeling of want toward their own Gaelic identity; that and a dash of poor historical research and more than a small desire to separate themselves a bit from the Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain and bang, the Irish kilt is born. The Irish kilt, was originally either solid saffron (kind of a rust red) or green.

Distinctive absolutely. However, cosmetics become somewhat of an issue, especially if you want to wear a kilt to a non "Kilt Event". And don't want to constantly be explaining that you are not wearing a skirt, you are wearing a kilt, and why your kilt is solid instead of tartan.

Capitalizing on that and the popularity of Scottish tartans to represent clans, a few weavers went ahead and designed some Irish tartans. To the best of my knowledge the only one that has any real *historical* claim is Ulster. The rest were essentially dreamed up to give an aspiring Irish descendant trying to connect with their heritage a tartan that loosely represented that heritage. None of them as far as I know have received any sort of official recognition by the regions they supposedly represent and so are considered "fashion" tartans. Also just because your family originated in a region a long time ago, doesn't mean that's where your most recent Irish ancestors are from; for instance my family was supposedly originally from Clare, however my ancestors are actually from Kerry.

Here is the long and short of all of this. If you want an Irishman to wear a kilt, I'm all for it! Gaelic pride! However, don't believe that you are somehow *obligated* to wear this Irish tartan or that one the same way a Scotsman might feel. If you have limitations (like you need need a poly tartan) I suggest you pick an acceptable tartan in poly (there are a few fashion tartans available for the Irish in poly) and be happy representing your Irish heritage.

**lagco** · 26th February 20, 08:36 PM

USAKilts offers a few "fashion" tartans (Irish Heritage, Irish Heritage, Celtic Nations) in PV fabric. It may not be county-specific, but it's a start ... and you know that even their "casual" kilts are made-to-measure.