Clans of Ireland Ltd are proposing that members of affiliated Irish Clans consider the idea of using a form of Irish national-dress: the Brat.

The Brat was the most colourful, versatile and warmest garment in the early Irish wardrobe; it was four cornered, roughly rectangular in shape and being of wool was probably treated or ‘fulled’ to a dense finish. The process of fulling was undertaken both to make the material thicker and to rid it of oil dirt and other impurities.

Its early design was that of a blanket, but over time the design appears to have evolved to become a shoulder fitted demi-lune shape cloak. Some brats were fringed with a different colour or colours, some of silver and gold thread. Some were shaggy. Some were embroidered.

In the sixteenth century when fur-lined mantles became the norm throughout Europe, woollen weather-proof mantles evolved in Ireland

The fringe of the tufted mantle were thickened at the neck to give a full collar. According to Sir James Ware, “Rowes of this shag or fringe were sowed on the upper part of the mantle, partly for ornament and partly to defend the Neck the better from the Cold and along the Edges run a fringe of the same sort of Texture”.

Wool was always used. Over time the wool became lighter and finer. Twill and herringbone were used regularly. It appears that the majority of Brat were of a single colour, but colour also denoted rank so that those of nobility were striped, checked, variegated or speckled with bold colours including; purple or crimson and green, as well as blue, black and yellow.

For every-day wear and for the poor; dun and grey were used.

Originally brooches are thought to have been straight pins made of bone, sometimes with a hole at the head through which a leather lace could be looped. This eventually transformed itself into a bronze pin with a bronze ring mounted and swivelling on the head. A lace could loop from the ring to the tip of the pin to gather the Brat securely on the shoulder.

Throughout the history of Gaelic Ireland the Brat was the distinctive item of apparel for men, women and children, which evoked status, indicated by the length and breadth in addition to fabric quality and colour.Clans of Ireland proposes that the Brat should be seen as a distinctive symbolic item of Irish National dress / costume.