Checking if a Tartan is registered.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Hi Tiny,

Although the Scottish Tartans Authority, call themselves the authority, they have no official status.

Not sure what your criteria for "official status" is but just for the record, from the STA web site:
"The Scottish Tartans Authority is a Scottish Company Limited by Guarantee and not having a share capital under Company Number 162386."
And:
"The Authority is a Scottish Charity, recognised under Scottish Charity Number SCO24310"

So they are not a "fly-by-night" operation as one might erroneously assume when they read that they "have no official status."

The Scottish Register of Tartans (called the Register) is a national repository of tartan designs. It is an on-line website database facility maintained by the National Archives of Scotland, an executive agency of the Scottish Government.

They are the official people and this is their site:

http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/index.aspx

Although a tartan could be designed using the STA's programme and woven by one of their affiliated mills, it is not recognised till it is registered with the Scottish Register of Tartans.

The National Register is the government sponsored database, but at the end of the day, it is simply a database of tartans. You say a tartan is not "recognized" until it is registered with the National Register. One may ask, "recognized by who?"

What makes a tartan "official" or not is not whether it has been recorded with either the STA or the National Register but whether it has the acceptance and approval of what the tartan claims to represent (be it a clan, family, town, state, business, etc.).

There are many tartan design software programmes and many people have registered tartans with the SRT that have never been anywhere near the STA. The Scottish Register of Tartan's database contains all the registered tartans, not just the ones designed through the STA. They are the people who will tell you whether your tartan is original or a copy.

Regards

Chas

Point of fact: the STA's International Tartan Index actually contains more tartans than what is contained in the National Register.

For the purpose of the OP trying to determine whether their tartan is unique or too close to a preexisting design, the National Register could certain help with that advice; their fees are outlined here.

However, if the only goal is to determine whether said tartan is indeed unique, the same goal can be achieved by recording the tartan (for free) with the STA, which as I stated above, actually has a greater number of tartans in their database.

You can read more here.

This is not meant in any way to suggest that the OP should be discouraged from registering her tartan with the National Register should she choose to do so. In fact, depending on just what the tartan is intended for, it is probably a wise thing to do.

But strictly for the purposes of determining the uniqueness of the tartan, there is really no reason not to send it in to the STA.