Your Tartan. Your Highland dress, made to your measurements.

A tartan is a woven pattern of crossing coloured bands that repeats in a fixed sequence called a sett. Each tartan is defined by its thread count — the exact order and proportion of its colours — and most are formally recorded in tartan registers. In Scotland, tartans traditionally identify clans, families, districts, and regiments. Every sett in the finder above can be ordered as a made-to-measure kilt, skirt, or fabric by the yard.

All tartans are plaids, but not all plaids are tartans. A tartan repeats an identical sett in both the horizontal and vertical direction and is usually tied to a clan, district, or institution. "Plaid" is the broader term — in North America it covers any criss-cross pattern, including checks that never repeat symmetrically and belong to no one. In Scotland, a "plaid" historically also meant the garment itself: the length of tartan cloth worn over the shoulder. Both live in our range: registered setts as kilts and formal wear, open plaids as shirts and casualwear.

Start with the dominant colour and count the pattern's repeating block — the sett. Then compare it against a register: our Tartan Finder above lets you search 5,000+ recorded tartans by name, colour, and type. If you have a family connection, searching your surname is faster than matching by eye, since many setts differ only in one or two thread lines. Still stuck? Send us a photo and our team will identify it against the registers. Once identified, the finder shows every product we make in that sett — kilts, skirts, ties, and yardage.

More than 5,000 tartans are formally recorded, and the number grows every year as new designs are registered for families, companies, events, and charities. Our finder covers the full recorded range: clan and family tartans, district and regional setts, military patterns, and modern commemorative designs. Beyond our in-stock range, our partner mills can weave from a catalogue of 4,291 additional registered tartans on commission. If yours is a mill-only pattern, order it as a Custom Weave and we’ll have it woven for your kilt.

Six broad categories cover most tartans. Clan tartans belong to Scottish families and their septs. District tartans represent towns and regions. Military tartans, like the Black Watch, mark regiments. Royal tartans are associated with the monarchy. Universal tartans, such as Royal Stewart, may be worn by anyone. And commemorative or corporate tartans are modern designs registered for events, causes, and organisations. Many tartans also come in variants — Ancient, Modern, Weathered, Hunting, and Dress — which recolour the same sett. Filter the finder by any of these types; each result opens the kilts, skirts, and accessories available in that tartan.

Yes. There are no laws restricting who may wear a tartan. Universal tartans like Black Watch and Royal Stewart were designed for everyone, and district tartans can be worn by anyone with a connection to that place — or simply an affection for it. Tradition suggests reserving a specific clan tartan for members and septs of that clan, but for weddings, Highland games, and cultural celebrations, tartan is open to all. Filter by Tartan Type: Universal in the finder above to browse open designs. Most universal tartans are also in our Quick Ship range — cut to your measurements on the fastest lead times we offer.

Type your surname into the finder above — it autocompletes from 2,000+ recognised clan and family names, including septs (allied families entitled to wear a parent clan's tartan; for example, Reid is a sept of Clan Robertson). If nothing matches, your name may connect through a mother's line, a regional district tartan, or an anglicised spelling — our Clans Finder quiz walks you through all three routes. Every match opens a collection of kilts, skirts, and accessories woven in your clan’s exact sett.

Historically, colours reflected the plant and mineral dyes available locally, so early tartans mapped to regions before they mapped to families. Later, meanings were often attached: green for the land, blue for lochs and sky, red setts associated with battle dress. Variant palettes recolour the same pattern — Ancient mimics soft vegetable dyes, Modern uses deeper post-1860 chemical dyes, and Weathered imitates cloth aged by the elements. The sett stays identical; only the palette shifts. We stock Ancient, Modern, and Weathered variants for most major clans — choose the palette when you order your kilt.