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I paint my footsloggers with red shirts and people always say something like "oh you run speed freaks eh?" and I obviously don't if I'm not fielding trukks and bikes out the wazoo.

So the question stands. Do clans matter?

Fluffwise, maybe.

There are non-clan groups though, like freebootas, madboyz etc..

Gamewise - not really.

My waagh is made up from all 6 clans, or will be when i get done painting them all.

Evil sunz have footslogger armies too.. They're the orks to broke to get a bike, which is why they're trashing YOUR world to get funds and junk to rebuild..

ehh dosnt have to, like i play chaos space marines my primary color of my entire army has been british crimson so people assume world eaters/bezerkers/word bearers, but really my leigion is a massive warband that likes to raid forge worlds and is made up of renagades/legionares from other armies, like i have a squad of khorne dedicated ultra smurfs

Game wise not at all, even fluff wise, could just say their Feral, or haven't really run into a bigger clan so they're still their own, which is a very fun thing about Orks

There are only so many colors you can paint a model, especially if you give them a uniform (of sorts - these are Orks, after all). Hard to blame folks for drawing the connection when your scheme shares a major element with an established clan. If someone made a custom SM chapter and painted the armor blue, everyone would assume they were Ultramarines until they were told otherwise, or closely examined the models for details that might hint at an alternate background (shoulder pad icon, divergent wargear/behavior modeled on figures, etc.)

Now, look at homebrew SM chapters from another angle - how many of them have ridiculous, aesthetically offensive color combos, just for the sake of avoiding the established schemes? How many people play established chapters with lists that run in direct opposition to that chapter's fluff? Paint and play can be linked quite closely, if the player has that inclination, but whether the guy (or girl... but, come on, let's be realistic, here ) across the table "gets" what you intended is mostly out of your hands. All you can do is give the army your own flavor through modeling or simply explain it, if you really care that much.

Better to have them look good, satisfy your personal vision, and possibly cause some confusion among casual onlookers than to compromise your army for the sake of that juvenile "I must be unique, so everyone will recognize my uniqueness" that so many prescribe to.