State Seal Tartan Collection

[RockyR]

Over the past few years, the topic of US State Tartans has come up on Xmarks. Some states DO have registered tartans, some do not. Of the states that do have them, roughly 1/3 are “official” (approved by the state legislature). Some state tartans are open to the public (meaning anyone can weave them) while others are copyrighted and controlled by an individual or group.

USA Kilts, being inspired by the Irish Crest collection (each tartan taking color and design cues from the county crest), designed a collection of US State tartans. We chose the colors for each state based on the state's official great seal, as shown in the upper left corner of the tartan image (see below). The tartans themselves have no 'official' status with each state as they have not been approved by the state legislatures, but are a fashion collection, designed by USA Kilts, based on the state’s seal. These tartans have all been registered with the Scottish Tartans Authority in April 2013.

After a ‘false start’ with a mill a few years ago, we’ve secured a contract with a mill to start weaving them for us and we’re now moving forward with the collection. I submit, for your perusal, our State Seal collection.

Here are a few examples of the State Seal Collection tartans:

California:


New York:


Pennsylvania:


The full collection can be seen on our Gallery page in the upper right corner of the list under State Seal Tartans ( http://www.usakilts.com/information-...z-gallery.html ) or in our Tartan Picker on any wool tartan kilt page.

[Jim Simmons]

I really like the Arkansas tartan - my State. I now have placed a kilt in that tartan in my "to buy" list.

[Father Bill]

Neat! I note that the offical seal of Hawaii is the "Monk Seal" but it doesn't seem to come with any tartan . . .

[Liam]

Neat! I note that the offical seal of Hawaii is the "Monk Seal" but it doesn't seem to come with any tartan . . .

You're pretty sharp today Padre!

[usonian]

I quite fancy that Maine tartan. My mother's home state and a place I think of as a home away from home. Hmmm.

[seanachie]

I am a little confused, are these alternative state tartans? The Massachusetts tartan looks very different than the official tartan which is was approved by the Legislature. If this is the case, is the issue related to licensing cost or copyright?

[davidlpope]

Respectfully, I wish this project had not been undertaken. Fashion tartans notwithstanding, I'm concerned that this will lead to confusion in the general public and less use of the real Carolina tartan. Seems a shame when the Carolina tartan is not available from stock anywhere.

[Jock Scot]

Respectfully, I wish this project had not been undertaken. Fashion tartans notwithstanding, I'm concerned that this will lead to confusion in the general public and less use of the real Carolina tartan. Seems a shame when the Carolina tartan is not available from stock anywhere.

An interesting reply David. I wonder if you would care to expand on it, for the benefit of those parties outwith your shores who may not understand the "undercurrents" that you and others are hinting at?

[Nick Sweeney]

Stop adding more awesome stuff. It keeps adding to things I want to get. Both the California (birth state) and the Nevada (state I consider my home) Tartans look awesome.

[OC Richard]

I will say that those couple posted look much more tartanlike than the simpleminded diagrammatic clumsy modern tartans one usually sees elsewhere.

I shouldn't be too hard on some of the new designs because it's a very difficult design problem, designing a tartan using non-tartan things as one's model, and it takes quite a bit of tartan design savvy to overcome that handicap.

So what's next, State Flag tartans?? Kind of boring, most of them would be predominantly dark blue. Maryland's would be a wild thing to design. Arizona's would be very colourful. West Virginia's mostly white with fat blue stripes- meh. California's flag is a series of horizontal elements; just flip and cross and there's a ready-made tartan, though perhaps ugly.