Kilt Rental USA

What are Hunting Tartans & Dress Tartans?

Unlike the differing colors of tartans (modern, ancient, weathered), these terms refer to different tartans all together. Some Hunting Tartans will have the same “line pattern” as the corresponding “Clan” tartan with slight color changes while other Hunting tartans will look completely different. Some Dress tartans have a slight line of white while others have a mostly white “base”.



Hunting Tartans - Hunting tartans have been around for quite some time. Contrary to popular belief, they were not literally worn while hunting game. A common misconception is that Hunting tartans were worn by Scotsmen while hunting game & when they returned to their cottage they changed into their “formal” kilt for dinner. The modern day kilt wearer can feel free to wear a Hunting tartan to a formal event.



Hunting tartans almost always contain earth tones. For example Buchanan Clan tartan has a lot of bright red & yellow but Buchanan Hunting is mainly brown & green. There are some exceptions to this rule, not all hunting tartans have brown & green… For example : MacPherson Clan tartan is mainly red, but the Hunting tartan is mainly black & grey.







Dress Tartans – Dress tartans tend to have a lot of white in them. Most Dress tartans appear to have a white “base” or white “backdrop”. For example, MacKenzie clan tartan is mostly dark green & dark blue with small “hints” of white but the MacKenzie Dress tartan has quite a large amount of white in it. It’s also worth mentioning that Highland Dancers (both men & women) wear dress tartans while performing.

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MODERN - ANCIENT - WEATHERED - MUTED

The shades of color in a tartan can be altered to produce variations of the same tartan. The resulting variations are termed Modern, Ancient, Weathered, and Muted. These terms refer to color only.



MODERN represents a tartan that is colored using chemical dye, as opposed to natural dye. The reds and yellows will be vibrant, and the greens and blues will be dark.



ANCIENT refers to a lighter shade of tartan. This shade is supposed to represent the colors that would be obtained by using natural dyes. The reds are usually more of an orange, and the blues and greens are usually quite pale.



MUTED or WEATHERED refers to tartan which is a shade between Modern and Ancient. This type of tartan is very modern, dating only from the early 1970s. The reds will appear to have a slight coral tone, the blues usually appear to be a grayish blue, and the greens usually appear to be slightly brown.

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What’s the difference between 16oz kilt cloth & 13oz kilt cloth?

The short answer for this question is that the ounces determine the thickness of the cloth.

The weight of the tartan is listed with the tartan name in the dropdown boxes. If you desire a specific tartan in a specific weight that is not listed, please contact us. We have connections with all the major woolen mills in Great Britain, let us do the research for you.

Kilt cloth is (for the most part) woven in four different weights of wool:

• 18 oz (Regimental Weight)

• 16 oz (Heavy Weight)

• 13 oz (Medium Weight)

• 10 oz (Light Weight)



Most customers choose the 16oz or 13oz, as these are the standard weights for proper kilts. There is very little difference between the 16oz and 13oz cloth. The 18oz is ultra thick and only available in a few tartans.

Getting a kilt made with a 10oz (or 11oz) tartan cloth is possible and perfectly acceptable. The 10oz cloth is a bit on the thin side, and usually the bottom of the kilt will have a hem in it opposed to the 13oz and 16oz kilts that do not have a hem.

Usually people order custom kilts in a 10oz cloth for 2 reasons:

Reason # 1 - Some tartans are only available in 10oz (Modern Tweedside is one example).

Reason # 2 – Highland dancer kilts usually require a 10oz or 11oz cloth.

It is recommended that if you choose to order a custom kilt in a 10oz or 11oz cloth, that you select an 8 yard kilt opposed to the standard 5 yard kilt. This option can be selected during the ordering process.

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