Harris Tweed - Then and Now

Today, people know Harris Tweed as the only fabric in the world that is guarded and protected by its own Act of Parliament and statutory body, the Harris Tweed Authority.​

This Act of Parliament guarantees that every piece of Harris Tweed is handmade by the people of Outer Hebrides, just as it was a long time ago.

The story of Harris Tweed is about love, friendship, dedication and the wish to keep a piece of history intact.

Lorna Macaulay, CEO of the Harris Tweed Authority, tells us the story of this remarkable fabric: "There was evidence of a weaving sector here in the islands from times immemorial, there has always been a sort of a culture of weaving cloth, using the animals to make cloth from.

The industry itself was born about 1846, when Catherine Dunmore, the Countess of Dunmore moved to the island, and she befriended the locals who were making cloth. There was no Harris Tweed industry by then, they were just weaving cloth.

She liked what they were doing and she began to encourage them to formalize it into something more commercial and industrial.

After the Earl of Dunmore died, when she was settling his estate and travelling back and forth from the island to London she would bring samples of the cloth that would be woven by the locals to London with her, sell it to her wealthy friends and associates there, and bring new orders back for the locals to weave. So an industry was born."

As Lorna Macaulay says, the origins of the Harris Tweed Industry are very much linked to the Dunmore family.

Lorna also says: "Obviously in those days all the processes were absolutely by hand. The dyeing was done from natural sources, it would have been done from the grass, from the rocks, so the colour that the wool was dyed was all from natural sources found on the land. "

Even though the times have changed, the process of making Harris tweed remained almost the same.

Lorna tells us why: "Nowadays for commercial reasons our dyes are largely commercial dyes, in those days everything would have been from a natural dye, from the land.

The wool would have been handspun in those days, on a spinning frame. Today all of that is mechanized. But the difference from Harris Tweed today and other woven cloth is that today Harris Tweed must still be, by law, woven by hand at the home of the weaver, with no mechanical assistance. It's actually like a bicycle mechanism, the loom."

Here is an interactive comparison between the Harris Tweed production process in the past and now:

The Harris Tweed industry is a traditional cottage industry, that brings employment to their fragile part of the world. The islanders who create the beautiful fabric are far from the market that uses Harris Tweed, that's why it's so important for them that people know about the cloth and they choose to support it.

Lorna Macaulay said: "There were several legal challenges which attempted to move the Harris Tweed Industry from the islands to Mainland Scotland.

Those who were involved at that time realized that this was too important to allow these legal challenges to continue, so in late 80s, early 90s, they began to work on the creation, on the possibility at that time to put in place some sort of legal protection for the industry.

They began to work up the wording of the Harris Tweed Act, and it was applied for and passed in 1993. What that really meant was that it also created the Harris Tweed Authority, who I work for. Those visionaries who saw the need to create the Act, they wouldn't have seen Ebay and all these other things coming so they were real visionaries."

Harris Tweed is protected by the Act of Parliament and by the Harris Tweed Authority so that the industry can never be taken away from the islanders. Harris Tweed also has a whole extensive network of trademarks all over the world.

Harris Tweed is more than a fabric to the islanders, and every piece of cloth has a story. As they say, "from the land comes the cloth". The colours of the fabric are inspired by landscapes of Scotland:

One of those manufacturers is Amy Britton, an independent designer from Scotland creating accessories with Harris Tweed.

Amy Britton says: "We developed our own Harris Tweed, so that we had our unique selling point, so our tweed is bespoke at a range of colours which are all inspired by the Scottish landscape."

Amy also said: "We do purses and glasses cases, cosmetic bags, wash bags, laptop bags, pencil cases, different sizes of purses. All has to be handwoven traditionally."

She started working with Harris Tweed about six years ago, and as she says, her Harris Tweed products have: "A more contemporary feel."

Another manufacturer working with Harris Tweed is Catherine Aitken, and her story is also impressive.

Catherine had a busy career in the Scottish film and TV industry producing dramas and developing scripts. When she and her business partner were preparing to go to Cannes Festival to try and sell their new projects, she got the idea to make bags for themselves in order to promote the projects. The people at the festival were so impressed with them that she came back to Scotland with orders for bags.

About working with Harris Tweed, Catherine Aitken says: " My family wore and worked with a lot of Harris Tweed when I was growing up.  Then when I started my business I originally based it on repurposing second-hand clothing and then I specialized in repurposing Harris Tweed jackets – and that’s always been a staple in my collections since then. 

I love Harris Tweed for its durability, the wonderful quality and the colour range.

I also love the fact that Harris Tweed has a story behind it, that it’s made by hand and has such a history behind it.  It makes a fabulous emotional connection to the wardrobe, combining heritage with glamour and with sustainability."

Catherine Aitken created collections for the British Museum, National Galleries and Judy Murray, she exhibited in the US and Europe and throughout the UK. Currently she is working on new designs and a new collection.