Who invented tartan?

Answer 1

Celtic tribes were wearing check and stripes patters for thousands of years but the earliest record of checked cloth in Scotland was the Falkirk tartan dating to the 3rd century, the first written record in Scotland dates from the 16th century and the first pictorial evidence of what we would recognise as "modern" tartan turned up in the 17th century (Scottish mercenaries in Germany wearing tartan).

Tartans were not specially tied into clans in older times there were more tied into districts or areas. Several clans might wear the same tartan or pattern derived from the local weavers, the patterns dependant on what was locally available as dyes from the coasts to inland moors and it was sometimes impossible to discern the clans in battle as there was no uniformity.

Culloden (1746) marked the turning point though for Tartan in Scotland. As highland weavers disappeared and basic machinery was destroyed enterprising manufacturers set up shop just outside in the Lowlands to cater for the army contracts and the civilian demand from landed gentry, those living in the Lowlands and those abroad.

In the early 19th century things changed radically. The Highland Society of London collected as many tartans as they could find and asked the Clan chiefs to identify theirs, this had never been the practice and many were wrongly identified with different clans but it started the process which we know today where tartans are identified with certain clans. Modern nonsense but an entire manufacturing, tourist and national identity is now based on it.