Hard Tartan

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Hard tartan is a term that's been bandied about for years, it is generally used to describe a stiff, coarse cloth of the type found in rural Highland specimens and later, the type of woven by Wilson's of Bannockburn and others until the mid 1800s.

All Highland tartan was worsted but not all was hard although is was all invariably coarse. The native type of sheep used to produce the long staple yarn used for 18th and early 19th century tartan yarn, the Scottish Dunface, has been 'improved' i.e. bred out: the Soay sheep are the nearest surviving relatives. This 'hard tartan' was always fine by modern kilting standards, more like a medium weight cloth. Heavier cloth was coarse but not hard and modern 'unfinished' cloth is closer to that Wilsons called Coarse Cloth rather than true hard tartan. Hard tartan is not available today.