About Harris Tweed®
and Artisan Tweeds
Harris Tweed®
Harris Tweed® (Clò Mór or Clò Hearach in Gaelic) is a tweed cloth handwoven by islanders at their homes and finished in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.
This definition, quality standards and protection of the Harris Tweed name are enshrined in the Harris Tweed Act 1993.
Brief history
For centuries, the islanders of Lewis and Harris, the Uists, Benbecula and Barra wove cloth known as clò-mòr - literally, "big cloth" in Scottish Gaelic - by hand. Woven initially by crofters, this cloth was woven for personal and practical uses and was ideal protection against the often cold climate of northern Scotland. Islanders used the fabric for trade or barter, eventually becoming a form of currency amongst islanders; paying rent in blankets or lengths of clò-mòr was not unusual.
By the end of the 18th century, wool yarn spinning from local raw materials had become a staple industry for crofters. The finished handmade cloth was exported to the Scottish mainland and traded, along with other commodities produced by the Islanders, such as goat and deer skins.
As the Industrial Revolution reached Scotland, mainland manufacturers developed mechanised weaving methods, with weavers in the Outer Hebrides retaining their traditional processes. The islanders of Lewis and Harris had long been known for the quality of their handwoven fabrics. Still, until the middle of the nineteenth century, Islanders produced this fabric mainly for either home use or trade and barter at the local market.
Harris Tweed Authority
As demand for Harris Tweed® expanded in the first decade of the 20th century, there was an influx of weavers into the industry seeking a wage. Soon a poorer quality tweed was being made by inexperienced weavers from imported, mainland mill-spun yarn, giving rise to the pejorative name of 'Stornoway Tweed'. This inferior tweed affected the market for traditional Harris Tweed made by experienced weavers from hand-spun yarn.
Legal protection of the name of Harris Tweed® by a trade mark and an established standard definition became essential. Groups of merchants in both Lewis and Harris applied to the Board of Trade for a registered trade mark. When this trade mark, the Orb, was eventually granted, the board insisted that they should present it to all the islands of the Outer Hebrides, i.e. to Lewis, North and South Uist, Benbecula and Barra, as well as to Harris, given the tweed is made in the same way.
In 1993, a new statutory body to guard the Orb Trade Mark, the Harris Tweed Authority, replaced the original Harris Tweed Association. Also, in 1993, an Act of Parliament, the Harris Tweed Act 1993, established the Harris Tweed Authority as the successor to the Harris Tweed Association. Its purpose is "to promote and maintain the authenticity, standard and reputation of Harris Tweed; for preventing the sale as Harris Tweed of material which does not fall within the definition..."
The following definition of genuine Harris Tweed® became statutory: "Harris Tweed® means a tweed which has been 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".
The Weavers
All weavers are self-employed and can work as a 'mill weaver' commissioned by any of the three mills or as an 'independent weaver' making and selling their cloth, sometimes on private commission. Mill weavers are supplied with beamed warps and yarn directly from the mills, along with instructions on how to weave the fabric. Once woven, it is finished at a mill and stamped ready for sale. On the other hand, independent weavers must often purchase yarn from the mills and warp it to their designs. The independent weaver then sends their woven cloth to the mill for finishing and stamping (which they pay for as a service) before it is returned to the weaver to sell. A weaver can work both as a mill weaver and an independent weaver.
Production process
The creation of Harris Tweed® begins with fleeces of pure virgin wools shorn from Cheviot and Scottish Blackface sheep. Although most of the wool is grown principally on the UK mainland, in the early summer, the island communities still join to round up and shear the local sheep to add to the mix. The two types of wool are blended to gain the advantages of their unique qualities and characteristics.
Wool is scoured and then delivered in large bales to the mills of the tweed producers. Yarn, dyed in a wide range of colours, is ready to blend.
Wool is scoured and then delivered in large bales to the mills of the tweed producers. Yarn, dyed in a wide range of colours, is ready to blend.
The freshly dyed coloured and white wools are weighed in predetermined proportions and then thoroughly blended by hand to exact recipes to obtain the correct hue. The mechanical, toothed rollers card the wool by teasing and mixing the fibres thoroughly before separation into a fragile, embryonic yarn. When spun, this soft yarn has a twist imparted to give it maximum strength for weaving. The spun yarn is wound onto bobbins to provide the ingredients of weft (left-to-right threads), and warp (vertical threads) supplied to the weavers.
This vitally important process sees thousands of warp threads gathered in long hanks in a particular order and wound onto large beams ready to be delivered, together with yarn for the weft, to the weavers.
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 usually, an older 'single width' Hattersley loom in the case of independent weavers. The weaver will 'tie in' their warp by threading each end of yarn through the eyelets of their loom's heddles in a specific order and then begins to weave, fixing any mistakes or breakages that occur until completed.
The tweed returns to the mill in its 'greasy state', passing through the hands of darners who correct any flaws.
Finishing the cloth then takes place. Dirt, oil and other impurities are removed by washing and beating in soda and soapy water before it is dried, steamed, pressed and cropped.
The final process is the examination by the independent Harris Tweed Authority, which visits the mills weekly before the application of their Orb Mark trademark, ironed to the fabric as a seal of authenticity.
