A tartan among us

[Mike_Oettle]

Corbmonster, since you have made your selection, this is probably redundant, but since you asked: “Am I safe in assuming heritage of Scotland, and Scottish national are universal?” I thought I would venture a reply.
The simple answer is that if a tartan is specifically for a clan, for a military unit or for some other corporate, you are not really supposed to wear it unless you belong. (Since there are no kilt police, you could go ahead and wear it anyway, but that is not answering your question.)
But a great many tartans, particularly those with the word Scotland in their name, are fashion setts, not owned by any such organisation. (The exception is the one simply called Scotland, which is a family tartan.) This means that Spirit of Scotland, Scotland’s Heritage or even Scottish National are available for anyone to wear. (So far, at any rate, Scottish National has not been adopted by the Scottish Parliament or any other official body.)
While Black Watch is associated with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and with the Canadian regiment affiliated to it, it is a universal tartan. But even in its military use, it has been worn by other regiments (notably the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in both Scotland and Canada). The Argylls wear it in muted shades (unlike the harsh modern dark blue and dark green of Black Watch regimental), and the muted version is also officially the tartan of Clan Campbell, as well as the hunting tartan of about half a dozen other clans.
For this reason many folk who are not associated with one of the regiments or clans mentioned prefer to avoid it. But it is nonetheless acknowledged as a universal tartan, as is Royal Stewart, which has traditionally been regarded as the property of the British sovereign. Royal Stewart is also worn by military pipe bands with specific royal associations. But civilian pipe bands with no royal connections also wear it, as do many ordinary folk, whether they have it in kilt form or some other format.
There are several other tartans that are either generally regarded as universal, or have been specified as such by their designers. But I would not recommend all of them to people wanting a universal tartan.
I have just overheard a colleague saying: “You’ve got to know the rules before you can break them.” He was not talking of kilts or tartans, but it’s a principle to go by with regard to tartan, too.
Regards,
Mike

[Steve Ashton]

To any member of this forum.

Please keep in mind that X Marks has its own Tartan. It was designed specifically for X Marks and any member here may wear it with pride.

Designed by our own Matt Newsome, it is registered as the world's first Tartan specifically for an internet group.

This is your family Tartan.

[KSmedic]

To any member of this forum.

Please keep in mind that X Marks has its own Tartan. It was designed specifically for X Marks and any member here may wear it with pride.

Designed by our own Matt Newsome, it is registered as the world's first Tartan specifically for an internet group.

This is your family Tartan.

And in all honesty, I think it's a particularly attractive tartan, to boot. Ultimately, you can wear whatever tartan you damn well please, and you're not likely to get a great deal of flack for it. I think I speak for most folks when I say that if you choose to wear a tartan specific to a clan, military service, or whatever, that you do so honorably. I wear either the Graham tartan, or the Marine Corps tartan. Both have great meaning to me, so I ask that what those tartans represent be respected. You can, of course, wear whatever you want, but please remember that those tartans symbolize a great deal to some of us.

[kilttrip]

To any member of this forum.

Please keep in mind that X Marks has its own Tartan. It was designed specifically for X Marks and any member here may wear it with pride.

Designed by our own Matt Newsome, it is registered as the world's first Tartan specifically for an internet group.

This is your family Tartan.

That is one beautiful tartan, Steve. I would love to have a kilt made from it. Any chance you could get a 'group rate' from a kiltmaker so any member who wanted one could get a discount?

[Steve Ashton]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'group rate'. The fabric I have on hand is priced at the same that it cost to have it woven plus only a 10% handling fee. It is already as inexpensive as I can make it.

[Manxstralian]

While Black Watch is associated with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and with the Canadian regiment affliliated to it, it is a regimental tartan. But even in its military use, it has been worn by other regiments (notably the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in both Scotland and Canada).

It's also the "school tartan" of Scotch College here in Melbourne, plus I saw a gaggle of schoolgirls the other day all in Black Watch skirts, so it's fair to say that outside Scotland it's fairly universal (I say "outside Scotland" because Jock Scot recently stated that within Scotland it's more appropriate for those who have served with the regiment). Having said that, I wore a Black Watch kilt in Scotland with no negative comments.

Cheers,

Cameron