· HARRIS TWEED ·
HarrisTweed® is more than just a unique hand-woven textile, it's also the story of a real place with a rich culture, beautiful landscapes and vibrant communities located in the beautiful, remote islands of Scotland's Outer Hebrides. For many generations, the islanders of Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra, in Scotland's wild and beautiful Outer Hebrides, have woven fabrics in their own homes known as HarrisTweed®. Made from pure virgin wool dyed, spun, processed and finished by craftsmen in the Outer Hebrides. As well as being natural, biodegradable, non-allergenic and water-repellent, HarrisTweed® is energy-efficient to create and beautiful, durable and practical to use.
The process
SHEARING AND WOOL HARVESTING
Harris Tweed® fabric is made from pure virgin wools, which are blended together to take advantage of their unique characteristics. Although most of the wool comes from the Scottish mainland, in early summer the island communities come together to gather and shear the local sheep, which are scattered across the landscape.
WASHING & DYEING
Harris Tweed® is truly dyed in the wool, meaning that the wool is dyed before it is spun, as opposed to dyeing the yarn. This means that different coloured wools are blended to create a myriad of complex shades and hues. With vegetation now protected, natural dyes can no longer be used. However, Harris Tweed is a truly eco-friendly textile, with a low-impact VOC (volatile organic compound) absorbing production process, and is non-allergenic and biodegradable.
BLENDING AND CARDING
The dyed wools are weighed in predetermined proportions and carefully blended according to exact recipes to achieve the perfect shade. They are then carded between toothed mechanical rollers that tease and blend the fibres before being separated into a fragile, embryonic yarn.
SPINNING
Soft yarn has a twist imparted to it when it is spun to give it maximum strength for weaving. The spun yarn is wound onto bobbins to provide the ingredients for the loom: weft (threads from left to right) and warp (vertical threads).
LOWERING
This highly skilled process involves gathering thousands of warp threads into long skeins in a specific order and winding them onto large beams ready to be delivered, along with the thread for the weft, to the weavers at home.
WEAVING
All Harris Tweed® is woven on a treadle loom in an islander's home, not in a mill. The warp and weft threads arrive from the mill. Then the weaver goes to work, hand-tying the new threads to the ends of the previous weave, to make it easier to thread onto the loom. The weaving of the fabric can now begin under the watchful eye of the weaver.
FINISH
The tweed is returned to the factory in its ‘fat state’, where it passes through the nimble hands of experienced, sharp-eyed darners who correct even the smallest defects. Dirt, oil and other impurities are removed by washing and beating in soda ash and soapy water, before being dried, steamed, pressed and cropped to a perfect, impeccable state.
ESTAMPILLAGE
The final stage in the process is examination by the Harris Tweed® Authority's independent inspector, who, once satisfied that the fabric meets the standards, affixes the famous Orb certification mark, which is ironed onto the reverse of the fabric. This is the ultimate seal of authenticity.
ASZA HARRIS TWEED
BLACK - MULTI
CAMILLE HARRIS TWEED
BLACK MULTI
STEVE HARRIS TWEED
AMAZONIA GREEN
JR HARRIS TWEED
AMAZONIA GREEN
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