13 Facts About Harris Tweed

Harris Tweed, is a tweed cloth that is handwoven by islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.

The islanders of Lewis and Harris Tweed had long been known for the quality of their handwoven fabrics, but up to the middle of the nineteenth century, this fabric was produced mainly for either home use or for trade and barter at the local market.

Harris Tweed's sent the finished fabric to be made up into jackets for the gamekeepers and ghillies on her estate.

Harris Tweed's organised the weavers and created training an quality control and promoted Harris Tweed as a sustainable and local industry.

Harris Tweed's improved the yarn production process to create a more consistent, workable cloth and by the late 1840s, merchants from Edinburgh to London were supplying the privileged classes with hand-woven Harris Tweed.

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From this point on, the Harris Tweed industry grew, reaching a peak production figure of 7.

Groups of merchants in both Lewis and Harris Tweed applied to the Board of Trade for a registered trade mark.

In 1909, after much negotiation and a degree of acrimony from merchants in Harris Tweed who felt that the trade mark should have been granted exclusively to Harris Tweed, the Orb Trade Mark was granted.

Original definition attached to the Orb Trade Mark stated that: Harris Tweed means a tweed, hand-spun, hand-woven and dyed by the crofters and cottars in the Outer Hebrides.

Today, every 50 metres of Harris Tweed are checked by an inspector from the Harris Tweed Authority before being stamped, by hand, with the Orb Mark.

Creation of Harris Tweed begins with fleeces of pure virgin wools which are shorn from Cheviot and Scottish Blackface sheep.

All Harris Tweed is hand woven on a treadle loom at each weaver's home on a 'double-width' Bonas-Griffith rapier loom in the case of mill weavers, or normally an older 'single width' Hattersley loom in the case of independent weavers.

The last three years have seen Harris Tweed remain "on-trend" and a regular feature in both High Street stores and on catwalks in couture collections and the increase in popularity has led to the training of a new generation of weavers to meet production demands.