This got me to thinking for a moment. I wonder why us, "the public", has decided that these are the most popular tartans. (My assumption being that these sorts of kilt sellers want to sell as many kilts as possible, and therefore carry the tartans people most often ask for.)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FREEDOM-TART...item20c48d4a7a

Overall they show some variety (a couple black-based ones, a grey-based one) but three, Black Watch, Gunn, and MacKenzie, are very similar in overall look. In other words the point doesn't seem to be to offer colour variety.

One thing which struck me is that only one is a red-ground tartan. When I looked back at old programmes from The World Pipe Band Championships I discovered that most of the UK-based pipe bands back in the 1980s wore only three or four different tartans, all of them red-ground tartans. Maybe these modern kilts are targeted at Scotland football and rugby supporters and red isn't deemed as appropriate (Scottish kits being usually blue, but also sometimes purple).