Tartan

What it is

A tartan is cloth built from bands of colour that cross each other, the upright threads meeting the sideways ones. Where they cross, the colours mix and read as a third shade. The full design repeats, and one repeat is called a sett. Some setts use only two colours; others run past twenty. In North America the same cloth is usually called plaid, a word English took from Scottish Gaelic. The word tartan itself once described a kind of weave rather than a pattern: until the 1820s, cloth described as tartan could be plain, with no pattern in it at all. Gaelic speakers in the Highlands called patterned cloth breacan, meaning many colours.

Origins and history

Nobody knows for certain where the word tartan comes from. One suggestion is the French tiretaine, a wool and linen mix; others point to Gaelic words for across, or to a French term for Tartar cloth. The pattern itself is older than the name. Cloth woven in tartan style, about 3,000 years old, has been found in Xinjiang in China. In Scotland tartan became a sign of national identity, especially after the 17th century. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745, the Dress Act of 1746 banned Highland dress for about two generations. In the 19th century a revival of interest in Highland culture carried tartan around the world with Scottish emigrants.

How it is woven

Traditional tartan is a tight twill weave of worsted wool. Two threads pass over two and under two, each row shifting one thread along, so the cloth shows fine diagonal ribs. A colour that crosses itself stays solid; a colour crossing a different one produces a blend, so the eye sees an extra shade that is not in the cloth. Two base colours give three perceived colours, and six give twenty-one. That is why busy setts look softer and more muted than simple ones. Most setts mirror around two pivot points. A few do not, and repeat in blocks instead. Thread counts, written as numbers and letters, record each colour and its width.

Dress and objects

In Scotland tartan is worn as the kilt and as a plaid, a large rectangle of cloth. The Gaelic word plaide means blanket, and the older belted plaid, sometimes called the great kilt, came before the kilt as it is known now. A long shawl, the arisaid, could be wrapped around the body as a dress, and there were shoulder capes too, among them the full plaid and the fly plaid. In time plaid came to mean a blanket. Tartan also dresses soldiers: it has long been used in military uniform, and institutions use it as a form of branding.

Today and change

Tartan is no longer only wool. The pattern turns up on paper, plastic, packaging and wall coverings, and in clothing and accessories worldwide. The Scottish Register of Tartans holds thousands of designs, and new ones are recorded for organisations, for individuals and to mark events. Setts also exist outside Scotland and outside Europe, in parts of Africa, East and South Asia and Eastern Europe. Madras cloth, woven in India, often uses patterns that do not mirror, which is unusual in Scottish weaving. Where the pattern once came from local plants and minerals used as dyes, modern colours are usually synthetic. Some tartans keep an older, slightly rectangular sett, made when the weft thread was thicker than the warp.

How Tartan is kept

A weaver starts with the warp: threads stretched lengthways, arranged in a chosen order of colours and widths. The weft then crosses them, two over and two under, in the same colours and the same order, so the pattern grows row by row. The finished cloth is cut and sewn into a kilt, a plaid, a tie or another item. A clan, family, district, regiment or organisation may have a sett recorded in its name. Wearing tartan shows which of these a person belongs to.

When and where

Tartan belongs above all to Scotland, and especially to the Highlands and the Gaelic-speaking areas where patterned cloth was called breacan. Scottish emigrants and their descendants carried it to other countries, and it is worn and registered worldwide today. Versions of tartan weaving are also found in parts of Africa, East and South Asia and Eastern Europe, and the oldest surviving cloth of this kind comes from Xinjiang, in China.

What Tartan means

Tartan carries a great deal of meaning for those who wear it. From the 17th century it stood for Scottish identity, and it kept that meaning even while Highland dress was banned. A sett can name a clan, a family or a district, so the cloth says where someone belongs. Regiments and organisations use setts for the same reason. New tartans are recorded to remember people and events. The colours in old setts came from the plants and minerals of one place, so a pattern could once be tied to its landscape.

Questions people ask about Tartan

See also

KiltA pleated knee-length skirt in tartan wool, worn as Scottish Highland dressChristmasA festival of Jesus's birth, kept on 25 December with gifts, lights and shared mealsValentine's DayA Christian feast day and cultural celebration of love kept on February 14 in many countries.Mother's DayA worldwide annual celebration dedicated to mothers, maternal bonds and family care

Good reading and sources

• How this brand has outsold Coke in Scotland for over a centuryCBC, Article
• Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker's regeneration reveals a new DoctorBBC, Article
• The real history of tartan, from the Scottish Highlands to the streets of TokyoNational Geographic, Article
• How this brand has outsold Coke in Scotland for over a centuryCBC, Article
• Doctor Who: Jodie Whittaker's regeneration reveals a new DoctorBBC, Article
• The real history of tartan, from the Scottish Highlands to the streets of TokyoNational Geographic, Article

• Tartan on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.