On the one side, yes, there is a state tartan already. The issue is, THAT state tartan (Texas Blue Bonnet) is controlled by 1 entity in TX as well (store named Scotland Forever who are very nice folks in their own right). So if you, as a store owner, don't have access to your state tartan based on copyright issues, what would you do other than create your own (competing) state tartan?

Well that's certainly interesting. I hadn't heard that before, or hadn't been paying attention. Are you saying that our official state tartan is only able to be purchased through one company? I didn't see any restrictions on it in the tartan registry. That does indeed change the nature of the issue.

Agreed that some color symbolism in tartans can get a bit corny, but having designed a few tartans myself, I pose this question: Which is "cornier", creating a tartan based on colors that may mean something to the intended buyer / wearer OR designing / naming a tartan and for the explanation of colors adding "A design I thought was pretty, so that's the one I chose"? In order for people to "connect" with a tartan, there has to be some meaning other than "it looks pretty" or just b/c someone NAMED it something.

But all the authentic traditional Scottish clan tartans were basically created that way, weren't they? Someone picked a sett because they liked the way it looked, and then someone else (in most cases) randomly assigned it to the clans. Now they have huge significance, not because of the meanings of the colours, but because of their adoption by a group and the subsequent association with that group.

I would agree that creating a new tartan and hoping to make it achieve that level of significance is more difficult today without that history behind it, but I don't think the majority of people are picking their tartans based on colour symbolism. There's no doubt that you have authoritative experience in designing and marketing tartans, and I certainly don't mean to challenge that experience, but as a consumer, I can't think of anyone who said to himself, "oh wow - that tartan has red for bravery, so I must have it!" It seems to me that people buy tartans because they either like the colour scheme because it looks good, or they want to associate with the group it represents. In other words, what makes a tartan design popular is either its visual appeal or its adoption by a group. Assigning philosophical significance to the different colours of the tartan seems to be more important to the designer than it is to the consumer. Obvious exceptions would be school colours or other tartans where the colours already have significance, and the tartan is designed around them.

That being the case, I would think the first step in making a new tartan popular is making it look good. When the members of an organisation adopt it or take to wearing it as their own, then the identity component starts to kick in. But if a tartan starts off ugly and never gains approval by the group it's supposed to represent, it will go nowhere.

Just food for thought, and hopefully an interesting conversation on the subject!