Inexpensive Kilts

[Skweres]

so the irish gov. doesnt recognize any of the tartans? were there any specific reasons for why the tartans had certain colors and stripes? or was it just random?

[RockyR]

The Irish / Irelands National are green white and gold (with a little black) to reflect the flag's colors.

The HOE County tartans (to my knowledge) don't have too much color signifigance. I remember reading something about "the colors were chosen to reflect the soft rolling hills of the Irish countryside..." or something like that. Basically, they made up designs they liked and registered them.

The GT County Crest tartans (which are not registered with the STA, but are COPYRIGHTED) are designed around the crest for each county. They took the colors in the crest of each Irish county and designed tartans using those colors.

While the colors of some had meaning, the pattern itself (to my knowledge) did not. There's no reason why they used a thread count of 45 green vs. 40 green in the Irish national (to make up a couple numbers). The pattern itself was designed based on Polly's likes / dislikes and Scott Chalmers' likes and dislikes.

[gilmore]

While the colors of some had meaning, the pattern itself (to my knowledge) did not. There's no reason why they used a thread count of 45 green vs. 40 green in the Irish national (to make up a couple numbers). The pattern itself was designed based on Polly's likes / dislikes and Scott Chalmers' likes and dislikes.

Or perhaps what was thought to be marketable?

[RockyR]

Or perhaps what was thought to be marketable?

That was implied by "Likes and dislikes". They knew they were designing them for "public consumption", so they tried to make the most appealing tartans they could.