List of Universal Tartans

**Woot22** · 8th October 08, 10:33 PM

I was wondering if there is a simple easy to use list of all the universal tartans you can have a kilt made out of. Also, would be interesting if the list contained who makes kilts from that particular tartan. I have recently found on this site that not every kilt maker uses every registered tartan. For instance Lochcarron might not make a kilt that is say the US Army tartan. I am sort of assuming that not every wool manufacturer has every tartan available. I could be wrong about that. I am still new to this forum and there is allot of information on here to try and sift through without asking for a little guidance first.

**Phil** · 9th October 08, 12:11 AM

Here in Scotland the universal tartans seem to be the red Stuart, dress Gordon, MacKenzie and one or two others, mainly because these are the ones the hire shops offer. There are lots of district and national tartans which are suitable if you don't feel you have an affinity to any particular clan. If you want a particular tartan then the kiltmakers will know where to get it for you (just pick a good kiltmaker, plenty of them here) and if it is an unusual one the weaver may have to do a special run for you (at an extra cost) so it is better to stick to a mainstream tartan which is always available.

**Balaamsass51** · 9th October 08, 03:55 AM

Since there are no Tartan Police, in actuality almost all tartans may freely be worn by anyone. There are of course many copyrighted designs- used by corporations or individual people. If you stay away from those (they probably will not be on any kilt manufacturers list anyway) you may wear what you like.

Matt H.

**Atlanta Kiltie** · 9th October 08, 04:48 AM

This link will take you to good selection of universal tartans.

www.scottish-wedding-dreams.com/tartans.html

**JRB** · 9th October 08, 04:50 AM

Matt Newsome has a website called http://www.district-tartans.com/ that lists a huge amount of tartans associated with a place rather than a clan (including U.S. State and even city tartans).

**Ryan Nielson** · 9th October 08, 07:45 AM

I second that!!

I need an official list so I can go buy all of them. I feel like I need some variety and my favorites change all the time.

**Ryan Nielson** · 9th October 08, 07:47 AM

Just checked that link you gave. I really love the one on the very bottom of this page called wild geese (scroll way down)

http://www.scottish-wedding-dreams.c...sal-setts.html

Of course probably hard to get in something I could afford

**RockyR** · 9th October 08, 08:43 AM

When we recently redid our website, I made a list of MOST of the stock universal tartans from the 5 major mills in the UK...

http://www.usakilts.com/store/tartan...=show&gazgal=1

I put as many on here as I saw while uploading the files. I may have missed a few, but this is a pretty good sized list.

**Colin** · 9th October 08, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by Phil

Here in Scotland the universal tartans seem to be the red Stuart, dress Gordon, MacKenzie and one or two others, mainly because these are the ones the hire shops offer.

Let's not forget MacKenzie was a Clan tartan and a military tartan before it was mass produced by the cheapo shops. Actually all three mentioned were military tartans are they not?

Great link Rocky, very well done.