Cameron Tartan

[davidg]

So what exactly are Lochcarron saying?

They're not saying anything Jock. They simply would not be allowed to sell a restricted tartan without permission of the holder of the rights. As this tartan was designed in 1840, if memory serves me correctly, it cannot possibly be restricted under international copyright law as nobody holds the rights any longer than 75 years after the death of the copyright holder

All modern tartans come under copyright law but most are simply put into the public domain without any restriction whatsoever. Other tartans, like Isle of Skye, are freely licensed to the general public and for these tartans the supplier, i.e. the kilt maker, has to pay a surcharge which is effectively the licence fee paid on behalf of the end user. Other tartans are fully restricted and can not be sold to anyone except to a licensed outlet for a specific and approved use

All other tartans, that is those that are out of copyright like Lochiel, can be freely woven, sold or worn by anyone without exception but there are a few tartans that convention says should not be worn. The Balmoral, for example, is used by the Royal Family and it is bad form for anyone else to wear it. The Cameron of Lochiel tartan appears to fall into this same category of being reserved for use by the chief and not normally worn by clansmen. To do so would cause offence but you can't physically be stopped from weaving, buying or wearing it

That was precisely what I was meaning when I said to the OP that they would be advised to check the Clan Cameron site so that they could become aware of any special conventions. The danger of them simply going to a kilt maker would be that, especially in this case, because the tartan is not restricted it could have been sold to them and they would unwittingly have broken the convention which may, in turn, have cause offence and embarrassment

You certainly did the OP a good service with finding the information but I think the crossing of our posts may have confused you. Twice I was still composing whilst you were already posting so it may have looked like I was trying to argue with you, which was not the case. However, the fact does remain that this is a convention rather than a restriction, which has quite a specific meaning in the trade

[figheadair]

They're not saying anything Jock. They simply would not be allowed to sell a restricted tartan without permission of the holder of the rights. As this tartan was designed in 1840, if memory serves me correctly, it cannot possibly be restricted under international copyright law as nobody holds the rights any longer than 75 years after the death of the copyright holder

Actually Wilsons were weaving it a early as 1800.