Wear of Clan Tartan by non-Clan Members

[dea3369]

The original question of this thread seems to assume that there are only Clan Tartans to choose from. A sort of "Someone's Clan Tartan or nothing" way of thinking.

Well, not exactly. As the OP, my question arose from several threads in which a person chose a particular kilt because of the "beautiful tartan" or "I liked the colors" or simply because it was time to procure another kilt. To me that was fine as long as the buyer selected a universal tartan or one that represented his/her clan. However, one thread had discussion about a person looking to buy a kilt in a tartan of a particular clan/sept (can't remember which one) to which he had no connection. So, I did a cursory search and found that the tartan in question was not a universal tartan. Having read several admonishments, outside of this forum, about wearing tartan that did not "belong" to the wearer, I wondered how one could consider procuring a kilt in a tartan to which one had no ties. I'll admit that I may be over-generalizing, but the one warning that comes to mind right now is the one about steering clear of tartans that only the British royals may wear.

I am probably like many others here who have learned a lot about kilts, tartans, clans, kilt-wearing, etc. simply by browsing. But I know that huge gaps in that knowledge still remain. So, I posted the question in an attempt to reconcile what seems to me thoughts that contradict each other: be-careful-what-tartan-you-wear versus wear-whatever-tartan-strikes-your-fancy.

Thus far, what I gather is that:
1) while there are clan tartans, there is really no restriction as to who can wear that tartan;
2) if that is not the wearer's tartan, it would be nice to get permission from the clan chief;
3) there are no kilt kops who will intensely scrutinize one's connection to the tartan he/she is wearing

Is that about right?