New Texas Tartan

[castledangerous]

Nothing, in my opinion, makes a tartan more appealing and universal then adding "gold for fringing on a flag on the stage of [the designer's] school auditorium".

[RockyR]

I'm torn on the issue...

On the one side, yes, there is a state tartan already. The issue is, THAT state tartan (Texas Blue Bonnet) is controlled by 1 entity in TX as well (store named Scotland Forever who are very nice folks in their own right). So if you, as a store owner, don't have access to your state tartan based on copyright issues, what would you do other than create your own (competing) state tartan?

Agreed that some color symbolism in tartans can get a bit corny, but having designed a few tartans myself, I pose this question: Which is "cornier", creating a tartan based on colors that may mean something to the intended buyer / wearer OR designing / naming a tartan and for the explanation of colors adding "A design I thought was pretty, so that's the one I chose"? In order for people to "connect" with a tartan, there has to be some meaning other than "it looks pretty" or just b/c someone NAMED it something.

All that being said, I agree with Matt on the fact that all states have "red white and blue" in their flags and that would be very limiting in making up state tartan colors. As well, I'm not a fan of this particular design, though from a business perspective, I do understand why she did it. I just give the design itself a 'miss'.

[opositive]

my first impression was... gee, that looks an awful lot like royal stewart.

[Tobus]

On the one side, yes, there is a state tartan already. The issue is, THAT state tartan (Texas Blue Bonnet) is controlled by 1 entity in TX as well (store named Scotland Forever who are very nice folks in their own right). So if you, as a store owner, don't have access to your state tartan based on copyright issues, what would you do other than create your own (competing) state tartan?

Well that's certainly interesting. I hadn't heard that before, or hadn't been paying attention. Are you saying that our official state tartan is only able to be purchased through one company? I didn't see any restrictions on it in the tartan registry. That does indeed change the nature of the issue.

Agreed that some color symbolism in tartans can get a bit corny, but having designed a few tartans myself, I pose this question: Which is "cornier", creating a tartan based on colors that may mean something to the intended buyer / wearer OR designing / naming a tartan and for the explanation of colors adding "A design I thought was pretty, so that's the one I chose"? In order for people to "connect" with a tartan, there has to be some meaning other than "it looks pretty" or just b/c someone NAMED it something.

But all the authentic traditional Scottish clan tartans were basically created that way, weren't they? Someone picked a sett because they liked the way it looked, and then someone else (in most cases) randomly assigned it to the clans. Now they have huge significance, not because of the meanings of the colours, but because of their adoption by a group and the subsequent association with that group.

I would agree that creating a new tartan and hoping to make it achieve that level of significance is more difficult today without that history behind it, but I don't think the majority of people are picking their tartans based on colour symbolism. There's no doubt that you have authoritative experience in designing and marketing tartans, and I certainly don't mean to challenge that experience, but as a consumer, I can't think of anyone who said to himself, "oh wow - that tartan has red for bravery, so I must have it!" It seems to me that people buy tartans because they either like the colour scheme because it looks good, or they want to associate with the group it represents. In other words, what makes a tartan design popular is either its visual appeal or its adoption by a group. Assigning philosophical significance to the different colours of the tartan seems to be more important to the designer than it is to the consumer. Obvious exceptions would be school colours or other tartans where the colours already have significance, and the tartan is designed around them.

That being the case, I would think the first step in making a new tartan popular is making it look good. When the members of an organisation adopt it or take to wearing it as their own, then the identity component starts to kick in. But if a tartan starts off ugly and never gains approval by the group it's supposed to represent, it will go nowhere.

Just food for thought, and hopefully an interesting conversation on the subject!

[ShaunMaxwell]

When I first saw the Texas Bluebonnet tartan, I thought "Oh, I'll have to get a kilt in that tartan." But once I saw a couple in person, I decided that overall impression was a bit soft, almost feminine, as it's very muted and overwhelmingly blue. I mean no offense to anyone who owns one. That's just my opinion. I wouldn't mind an alternate tartan, but this definitely isn't the one!

[macwilkin]

When I first saw the Texas Bluebonnet tartan, I thought "Oh, I'll have to get a kilt in that tartan." But once I saw a couple in person, I decided that overall impression was a bit soft, almost feminine, as it's very muted and overwhelmingly blue. I mean no offense to anyone who owns one. That's just my opinion. I wouldn't mind an alternate tartan, but this definitely isn't the one!

Take a look at the Houston Fire Department Pipes and Drums version of the Bluebonnet:

http://www.hfdpipes.com/HFD_Pipes_an...oppedImage.pdf

The Tartan

The tartan adopted by HFD Pipes and Drums is a variation of the Texas Bluebonnet tartan. The original Texas Bluebonnet Tartan was designed by June McRobertson and designated as the official tartan of Texas by the Texas State Legislature in 1986. The bluebonnet is the Texas State flower.

The pattern is reminescent of the colors and design of the bluebonnet, when looking down at the flower.

HFD Pipes and Drums has darkened the colors of the original design. We have designated this the Houston Texas Bluebonnet. HFD Pipes and Drums are the only group in the world to have officially adopted the Houston Texas Bluebonnet tartan.

In addition, our kilts and plaids are custom pleated. The pleat, referred to as the Houston Pleat, is pleated to the red line in the tartan.

-- http://www.hfdpipes.com/HFD_Pipes_an...s/History.html

T.

[triolamj]

Ah yes, I remember it differently. HFD put in the order for regular Texas Bluebonnet but when the material arrived they quickly realized that the mill had gotten the primary color wrong, substituting a darker shade for the light Bluebonnet color. They decided to use the material anyway and I think they actually got a better look. I've joked about it over the years, but I may have been the one to coin the term "Houston Bluebonnet". I felt that it was a worthy relative to Texas Bluebonnet for those who preferred the darker shade and hoped that it would be popular enough to keep down the volume price for HFD. I'm not sure how much of the current bolt HFD has left but eventually I might like to buy a Houston Bluebonnet kilt, too. You can see the difference in the shades of blue by comparing the wallpaper and the photos on their website.

Being a buddy of Sia Beaton, the spokersperson for the Texas Bluebonnet Tartan, I've heard and read the story of its creation numerous times. My understanding is that the pattern was registered as publicly available for weaving by any mill in any fabric in order that any Texan who wished could obtain it. I've been told that the current "copyright holder" or "registrant" is an inheritor of June McRoberts, the creator, and DESPITE her express wishes uttered during her lifetime is attempting to wring whatever cash he can from the copyright. If the situation continues beyond his lifetime, it might be necessary to repeal this tartan's recognition as a state symbol.

As much as I like Things Celtic, Texas Lone Star is an UGLY tartan and too much like Royal Stewart. I would take the pattern for US Saint Andrews which is based on the colors of the US flag, replace the primary color with a bluebonnet blue, and shift the others (navy blue, red, white, etc) over 1 in the pattern. Viola!

[RockyR]

Well that's certainly interesting. I hadn't heard that before, or hadn't been paying attention. Are you saying that our official state tartan is only able to be purchased through one company? I didn't see any restrictions on it in the tartan registry. That does indeed change the nature of the issue.

Yes... the tartan was designed and copyrighted and is owned by a little old gentleman in a nursing home. Frugal Corner had gotten permission to sell it. Scotland Forever (who had been selling it for YEARS not knowing it was actually copyrighted) eventually contacted the copyright holder and got SOLE permission to weave and sell the tartan (and Frugal Corner's rights were revoked). As I stated above, the owners of Scotland Forever are VERY nice people and good business people and are now the only ones with the permission to sell the Texas Bluebonnet tartan.

As an FYI, the register is indeed flawed for MANY tartans that are copyrighted / restricted. Many of ours that were registered before the creation of the register had to be amended to show the restrictions (I had to call / email them and ask for it b/c it wasn't shown properly).

But all the authentic traditional Scottish clan tartans were basically created that way, weren't they? Someone picked a sett because they liked the way it looked, and then someone else (in most cases) randomly assigned it to the clans. Now they have huge significance, not because of the meanings of the colours, but because of their adoption by a group and the subsequent association with that group.

I would agree that creating a new tartan and hoping to make it achieve that level of significance is more difficult today without that history behind it, but I don't think the majority of people are picking their tartans based on colour symbolism. There's no doubt that you have authoritative experience in designing and marketing tartans, and I certainly don't mean to challenge that experience, but as a consumer, I can't think of anyone who said to himself, "oh wow - that tartan has red for bravery, so I must have it!" It seems to me that people buy tartans because they either like the colour scheme because it looks good, or they want to associate with the group it represents. In other words, what makes a tartan design popular is either its visual appeal or its adoption by a group. Assigning philosophical significance to the different colours of the tartan seems to be more important to the designer than it is to the consumer. Obvious exceptions would be school colours or other tartans where the colours already have significance, and the tartan is designed around them.

That being the case, I would think the first step in making a new tartan popular is making it look good. When the members of an organisation adopt it or take to wearing it as their own, then the identity component starts to kick in. But if a tartan starts off ugly and never gains approval by the group it's supposed to represent, it will go nowhere.

Just food for thought, and hopefully an interesting conversation on the subject!

Yes, that's how many designs started. People just liked the designs and picked them based on that. That being said, it's much easier to get people "emotionally involved" in a tartan if there's a REASON for the colors / numbers chosen. I would respectfully disagree with you having seen many of our (own design) tartans sell. Heck... you'd be surprised how many people call up asking for the "343" tartan when they mean our Firefighters Memorial. It has 3 red, 4 red, 3 red stripes for the 343 firefighters that died on 9/11. That's symbolism that means a LOT to every firefighter I know.

There are also the Irish County Crest tartans which have their colors to reflect the colors in the crest for each Irish county. They have 'symbolism' which makes sense for them based on the collection (Irish County CREST tartan collection). It's not as 'corny' as some, but there is still meaning.

I also wholeheartedly agree that for a tartan to take off, it must look good. The colors can be brightened or softened (unless like you said it's a school color or something) and certain things can be done to make a tartan more or less appealing. I'll re-state what I did above as well... when it comes to this new design (the Lone Star State tartan), I think they missed the mark.

[ShaunMaxwell]

Cajunscot:

Take a look at the Houston Fire Department Pipes and Drums version of the Bluebonnet:

http://www.hfdpipes.com/HFD_Pipes_an...oppedImage.pdf

The Tartan

The tartan adopted by HFD Pipes and Drums is a variation of the Texas Bluebonnet tartan. The original Texas Bluebonnet Tartan was designed by June McRobertson and designated as the official tartan of Texas by the Texas State Legislature in 1986. The bluebonnet is the Texas State flower.

The pattern is reminescent of the colors and design of the bluebonnet, when looking down at the flower.

HFD Pipes and Drums has darkened the colors of the original design. We have designated this the Houston Texas Bluebonnet. HFD Pipes and Drums are the only group in the world to have officially adopted the Houston Texas Bluebonnet tartan.

In addition, our kilts and plaids are custom pleated. The pleat, referred to as the Houston Pleat, is pleated to the red line in the tartan.

-- http://www.hfdpipes.com/HFD_Pipes_an...s/History.html

That's definitely an improvement! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

SM

[macwilkin]

To quote Kyle: "***" Rocky's post describing the reason behind colour symbolism in state tartans. It is interesting to note that the first district tartan in North America, the Nova Scotia, actually set this precedent. Back in 1953 the tartan was designed for a display at an agricultural exposition in Truro. It was thought that it was better to design a new tartan, symbolic of the province, than to chose one clan's tartan over others and risk offence, according to Teall and Smith's District Tartans.

T.