Quote Originally Posted by g koch
I read somewhere a snippet from the journal of a sales agent for a large mill that sold tartan to the Highlands. This was a few years before 1745. He said that sales were brisk and the young men seemed to fancy red tartans that year!
After that post, I went and found an OLD tartan history book that I've had for years, and it reminded me of a fact that I had forgotten.

There was a time before 1800, when the Scots would buy from their local mills... almost exclusively. They would wear whatever the mills were producing at the time... atleast as far as colors. Usually, they would produce the district tartan and have it on hand all the time. Other than that, there were any number of "generic" tartans woven for clothing.

That FLOORED me when I re-read it. But, it makes sense. With a tradition so rich in heritage, it makes sense that they would NOT tred on the authentic tartans for the sake of cloth sales.

Sure those mills were the ones that produced the "special tartans" for the local interests, but they also appealed to the "commoner".

I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!!!