Quote Originally Posted by Ryan Ross View Post
That's a very common misconception. Tartans were designed for fashion (with, perhaps, possible considerations made, now and then, for camoflage). Assigning tartans to clans is a pretty new idea that has really caught on.
Exactly. They were regional before the 1800's. And they were only regional because the various clans living there used the natural dyes that they had on hand- and therefore used whatever happened to be most prevelent for their region! Which I also suspect may have been part of the justification for the idea of tartan as clan identifiers. BUT that's just speculation. I have no facts to back that thought up.