Tartan register

[Oddern]

In my search for Norwegian Tartans I discovered there is two separate Scottish registers of Tartans. Both registers claim they are the official Scottish register but they operate with different register number and to some extent different colouring of the tartans. The Scottish Tartan World Register seems to have fewer tartans in their register and many of the tartan info sites on the internet refer to this register. The other, The Scottish Tartan Authority, seems to have a larger number of tartans and are often referred to by the Kilt retailers on the net.
Is one of these registers not to be trusted? Are they both accepted by the Scottish authorities? Is one of them more commercial then the other?
Can you kilted friends be so kind to enlighten my darkness in this matter?

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I don't believe either of the above two mentioned organizations claim to be "the official Scottish register." If they do, I'd be very surprised. Especially since both have been working with the Scottish government in the creation of the upcoming new National Tartan Register (which will be sponsored by the government and really will be the official register). You see, up till now, there has been no official register of tartan in Scotland, as tartan is a fashion and an industry and not something like heraldry that needed to be regulated.

Starting in the 1960s there was recognized a need to create a central "master database" of tartans to keep track of the growing number of named designs. The first such was the Register of All Publicly Known Tartans, maintained by the now inactive Scottish Tartans Society. Both of the organizations you mention, the Scottish Tartans Authority and the Scottish Tartans World Register, were began by people once associated with the Scottish Tartans Society and their databases are based on that one.

Of the two currently active, the STA is the larger and more comprehensive. It maintains an international membership, works very closely with the tartan industry and academics, and their International Tartan Index (ITI) is the most comprehensive database of tartans there is. It will form the basis of the new National Register which will be launched early this year. For these reasons, the ITI is recognized as the industry standard.

The Scottish Tartans World Register is not a membership organization, and is operated as a private enterprise. It's database is somewhat smaller than the ITI. I assume those records will also be made available to the new National Register, as well.

Hope this answers questions!

[RockyR]

The Scottish Tartans World Register is not a membership organization, and is operated as a private enterprise. It's database is somewhat smaller than the ITI. I assume those records will also be made available to the new National Register, as well.

I am almost positive what's happened is that the STA has recently (6 months ago or so) began 'recognizing' all the tartans in the STWR that were absent from the STA (a good example is all of the Irish County Crest tartans from MM) to make the STA the more 'complete' database, with the help of the STWR. They're working together to set up the National Register, but the STA is taking the lead.

[Oddern]

Thanks for enlighten me guys. I'm new to this and find the information and history of the tartans quite interesting. We have a few norwegian tartans, some are used in the national folk costumes (Bunader). Also we have some modern tartans as the pride of Norway, Bergen Scottich society and Norwegian Centennial. I have tried to collect some info about Norwegian tartans on my website www.tartan.no