Unlike the Scottish who had different colored family tartans, every Irish family or clan its own distinctive color of kilt. The Irish clans preferred kilt that were made from one color. There are at least 200 Irish clan coats of arms and clan kilts.

Basically, the Irish clan system was very similar to the Scottish. Both nations were still and are inhabited by the Celtic race. There were two classes of clans. These were those clansmen that were related to other clans by marriage and those clansmen who were related by blood and formed separate branches of the clan.

This was demonstrated in the colors of the clan kilts. For instance, one clan might wear a light red kilt while another family, living many miles away, wore a bright red kilt to indicate a bond between both clans.

Irish kilts that were mad from wool were worn in the wintertime although silk and linen were also used to make kilts from. Probably the kilts that were made from silk and lines were work for special occasions rather than for everyday use.

Where two or more clans lived in the same region it became necessary to distinguish between the clans which was done by wearing a plant badge either next to the heart or on headgear and by wearing different colored kilts, although, usually, only one clan lived in one region.

The wearing of a sprig of flower or plant was one effective but simple way of to identify one’s clan. Those clansmen who help a high position in the clan were known as Chiefs and usually they had the front of their Irish kilts embroidered with their respective Coats of Arms.

The Irish, much that same as the rest of Europe, wore a tunic that stretched from the knees to the shoulders and was made from either silk, linen, wool, or leather, during the time frame up to and including the Norman invasion. Although pants of some type were probably worn by the clansmen, both sexes wore these tunics. Ireland supplied some silk and was a great supplier of linen, and to most countries, particularly Scotland, which followed the Irish fashion of using linen for clothing.

The supply of linen dropped because of the turmoil that resulted from the Elizabethan wars in Ireland, and Scots and the Irish had to resort to use the lower part of the tunic from the knees to the waist with the upper part abandoned because of the lack of material. The lower part was of the modern kilt.

Wool more or less took over as the primary material for kilts, although the Irish still make kilts fro linen. The very enterprising Scots started to use wool more than ever and they invented the tartan kilt that has become famous and that they still wear.

When making the Irish kilt the length of material used was determined by wrapping the material four times round the wearer, which is about twelve feet in length for a man and something less for woman. The width was measured from the center of the knees to the waist. The kilt was then made, plaited, and sewn.

At both ends there was cloth left plain at both ends, which was then crossed in front of the body. The aprons were fastened with a large pin a few inches above the lower edge of the Irish kilt and the entire kilt was fastened by a belt round the waist. The traditional materials used are wool, silk, and linen.

Click here for more information about Scottish kilt and Irish kilts.