Harris Tweed....the story of a genuine heritage fabric

The Harris Tweed story is one that needs to be told and just in case you have not heard it then here it is!

Known in Gaelic as Clo Mhor ‘The big cloth’ or Harris Tweed has been woven for centuries by the islanders of Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra. This world renowned cloth is still made by the inhabitants of the West of Scotland, and is not allowed to carry the Harris Tweed label if it is not.

Harris Tweed was initially produced for home use and sold only locally. The raw material, wool, was also produced locally and used in it’s natural state or dyed using vegetable dyes. In 1846 Lady Dunmore realised it’s potential and devoted her time to improving production and marketing. The mainland had by this time become mechanised with the Industrial Revolution while the Islands retained their traditional processes. Developments began though with the replacement of the small loom by the improved “fly-shuttle” loom and the introduction of carding and spinning machines.

Following the passing of the Trade Marks act in 1905 a mark and an application was filed to register Harris Tweed. And still today the well-known Harris Tweed Trade mark consists of the orb and the Maltese Cross with the words Harris Tweed underneath as shown above. This meant that every piece of tweed was inspected and, if passed, given a certifying stamp to give confidence to the trade and public. Little did they know at that time how important this label would become firstly to protect Harris Tweed from competition from mainland Scotland and more recently from foreign imports and copycat fabrics.

The original definition read,”Harris Tweed means a tweed, hand-spun, hand-woven and dyed by the crofters and cottars in the Outer Hebrides”. Amended Regulations in June 1934 read “Harris Tweed means a tweed made from pure virgin wool produced in Scotland, spun, dyed and finished in Outer Hebrides and hand-woven by the islanders at their own homes in the Islands of Lewis , Harris, Uist, Barra and their several purtenances and all known as the Outer Hebrides”.

So there you have it! It does not really get more Scottish than this. We already offer a range of fabrics and products in the world famous Harris Tweed. And we can make you almost anything you want to order so please just ask!