Information about Harris Tweed

Harris Tweed (Clò Mór or Clò na Hearadh in Gaelic), is a luxury cloth that has been handwoven by the islanders on the Isles of Harris, Lewis, Uist and Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, using local wool.

Traditional Harris Tweed was characterized by subtle flecks of color achieved through the use of vegetable dyes, including the lichen dyes called "crottle" (Parmelia saxatilis and Parmelia omphalodes which give deep red- or purple-brown and rusty orange respectively).^[1] These lichens are the origin of the distinctive scent of older Harris Tweed.^[2]

Production

The original name of the cloth was tweel, the Scots for twill, the cloth being woven in a twilled rather than a plain pattern. A traditional story has the current name coming about almost by chance. About 1830, a London merchant received a letter from a Hawick firm about some tweels. The London merchant misinterpreted the handwriting understanding it to be a trade-name taken from the name of the river Tweed which flows through the Scottish Borders textile areas, subsequently the goods were advertised as Tweed, the name has remained so ever since.^[3]

Scotland was the second country to experience the Industrial Revolution, very shortly after England. The mainland turned to mechanisation but the Outer Hebrides retained their traditional processes of manufacturing cloth. Until the middle of the 19th century the cloth was only produced for personal use within the local market. It was not until between 1903 and 1906 that the tweed-making industry in Lewis significantly expanded. Production increased until the peak figure of 7.6 million yards was reached in 1966. However, the Harris Tweed industry declined along with the textile industries in the rest of Europe. The only major promotional success of Harris Tweed in recent years has been the Nike "Terminator".

Every length of cloth produced is stamped with the official Orb symbol, trademarked by the Harris Tweed Association in 1909, when Harris Tweed was defined as "hand-spun, hand-woven and dyed by the crofters and cottars in the Outer Hebrides".

Machine-spinning and vat dyeing have since replaced hand methods, and only weaving is now conducted in the home, under the governance of the Harris Tweed Authority, established by an Act of Parliament in 1993. Harris Tweed is now defined as "hand woven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides, finished in the islands of Harris, Lewis, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra and their several purtenances (The Outer Hebrides) and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides."^[4]

Contemporary expansion

The American company Nike recently used the fabric to update a trainer called The Terminator, a basketball shoe from the 1980s. They ordered 10,000 metres of cloth from mills on the Isle of Harris, using a design by Donald John Mackay, who lives and works in Luskentyre on the island. The latest project DJ is working on is with the American company ‘The Healthy Back Bag Company’ who will be launching a new range of Harris tweed and leather bags in August 2007.

An English businessman has recently (Dec 2006) bought control of Scotland's renowned Harris tweed industry. Yorkshire entrepreneur Brian Haggas bought KM Group which produces 95% of Harris Tweed and was on the market for four years. Mr Haggas, 75, who owns textile firm the John Haggas Group, also bought Parkend, a tweed mill on the outskirts of Stornoway on Lewis in the Western Isles. The industry employs around 100 mill workers and 150 home-based weavers and makes the world's only commercially produced hand-woven tweed. Business has been in decline for a number of years and the KM Group recently shut one of its two mills, with all work being transferred to Stornoway.

The fictional character Robert Langdon from the DaVinci Code wears Harris Tweed, as does the fictional detective Miss Marple. Vivienne Westwood is a fan of Harris Tweed - her brand logo is very similar to Harris Tweed's logo.

See also

• Lewis Loom Centre
• Traditional dyes of the Scottish Highlands
• Tweed (cloth)
• Twill

Notes

External links

• Harris Tweed Authority

References

• Dunbar, John Telfer: The Costume of Scotland, London: Batsford, 1984, ISBN 0-7134-2534-2 1984 (paperback 1989, ISBN 0-7134-2535-0)
• Fraser, Jean: Traditional Scottish Dyes, Canongate, 1983, ISBN 0-8624-1108-4

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