Tartan vs Plaid — Is There a Difference?

What Is Plaid?

A plaid is a long piece of cloth that is made of wool and worn over the shoulder. So while the interlocking woven pattern of colored stripes is tartan, the material itself is the plaid. The word plaid derives from the word ‘plaide’ which describes the garment preceding the modern kilt,Eventually the word plaid was used to describe any sort of blanket-type garment and as blankets themselves. It is also believed that the word plaid came from the Gaelic ‘plaide’ which means blanket.

​What Is Tartan?

Simply put, tartan is a checked pattern. The pattern has stripes that meet at a 90-degree angle, with the vertical stripes being exact duplicates of the horizontal stripes. The pattern of cloth the garment is actually made from is tartan. The size, color or pattern can differ in a plaid, and the stripes are not the same in both directions.

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