Irish Kilts: solid vs. tartan

[Blackrose87]

Although she added that Irish dancers often were kilted.

All 3 of my sisters used to be Irish dancers, so I was dragged along to many feisanna all over the country, but mostly in the north. I can almost definitely say I've never seen one kilt at these. The boys all wore black trousers. I can't say that no boys wear kilts, but from my experience they must be quite rare.

I wonder then, where the market for Irish county tartan kilts and solid colour kilts originated? Seems like there's a regimental/piping tradition. But could the "market" be primarily North American-driven based on a need to give expression of our roots....? Just wondering, that's all. I admit to not knowing much about this at all. But it is interesting to me, especially having just discovered that my maternal grandfather's background is Irish from the county Cavan.

The 32 Irish county tartans and the Irish national tartan were designed in 1996 by the House of Edgar in Perth. As far as I can tell they were produced specifically for North Americans. To be honest, they're pretty much unknown in Ireland, and are very rarely seen there.