the most faded kilt ever??

[artificer]

The problem there is that you're comparing an entirely different tartan.

I don't entirely agree. I think Tobus has the right idea here. Once you adjust levels for the dark image on bright white background here's what you get.





You see the blue and green DO lighten up quite a lot.

The other important thing to remember is that it's an attempt to give the effect of a faded kilt, not exactly reproduce it to museum-quality standards. Some colours might be different because the designer at the mill thought it wouldn't be
pleasing, also remember that colours can vary from lot to lot, even from a single mill's run.

On top we see the eBay kilt, a real weathered Mackenzie
In the middle, a Dalgliesh Mackenzie, modern
On the bottom, a Dalgliesh Mackenzie weathered reproduction

See that on the eBay kilt, the black has faded to the orange/brown, while the greens and blues have stayed very dark.
Yet on the reproduction, the black is still black, the blue has been replaced by a much lighter, pale blue, and the green has turned to the orange/brown that we should see in the black.

[NeightRG]

Some colours might be different because the designer at the mill thought it wouldn't be pleasing

That's exactly the point that I'm making.

The most dramatic change in the real weathered tartan is easily that the black areas - originally the darkest parts of the tartan - turned into one of the brightest elements of the tartan - the orange/brown. And yet on the reproduction, they kept it black - either for aesthetic reasons, or to keep it more easily identifiable as Mackenzie.