Weathered and muted Tartans, Why?

[Tobus]

Few of them are recognized by clan chiefs

Huh, first I heard of that. I was under the impression that as long as the sett was correct, chiefs generally didn't care about the colour variants. After all, everybody accepts the "ancient" colourways, right? The muted and weathered are just extensions of that, in many ways. I'd be interested to know which chiefs have a problem with it, and what their official positions are.

Sir Malcolm Colquhoun, current chief of Clan Colquhoun, obviously accepts them since his wife wears a dress in the Reproduction Colquhoun. My favorite kilt is in this Reproduction palette, and (to answer the OP's question), I just like this general colour scheme. No different than choosing a red car over a blue car. It gives consumers a choice to personalise their kilt a little more to their liking instead of everyone wearing the exact same colours. Yes, these schemes were invented by weavers to sell more product.