The Scottish patterned cloth made with crisscrossed horizontal and vertical bands is tartan.
Tartan is woven from colored warp and weft threads that cross at right angles to create repeating patterns called setts. Different thread counts, widths, and colors produce designs ranging from simple two-color checks to highly intricate patterns. Traditional tartan was commonly woven from wool, although modern versions use many materials.
Tartan became especially associated with Scotland and Highland dress, including the kilt. Particular patterns are often linked with clans, families, regions, military units, organizations, or commemorative events. However, the idea that every tartan has an ancient clan origin is misleading: many named clan associations were formalized during the 19th-century Highland revival.
“Plaid” is a common North American term for tartan, but the words are not perfectly interchangeable in every context. Tartan is also found outside Scotland, and surviving tartan-style textiles from Xinjiang, China, are about 3,000 years old.