The Only Cloth Protected by an Act of Parliament
There are luxury fabrics, and then there is the one fabric on earth so fiercely protected that it has its own law. Harris Tweed is woven by hand, in island homes, on the edge of the Atlantic, and it's the only cloth in the world guaranteed by an Act of Parliament. I've been dreaming up and building things in it for years, so let me tell you why it's worth all of that.
What Harris Tweed actually is
The legal definition is precise and unbending. Genuine Harris Tweed must be handwoven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool that was dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides. Not woven in a factory. Not woven on the mainland. Handwoven on a treadle loom, in a weaver's own home, on the islands of Lewis, Harris, the Uists, Benbecula, and Barra. Nowhere else on earth is allowed to call its cloth by this name.
A short history
Islanders wove tweed for their own use for centuries. The turning point came in 1846, when Lady Dunmore, widow of the Harris landowner, had the cloth woven in her clan colors and promoted it to her aristocratic circle. Demand exploded. To protect the real thing from imitations, the Orb trade mark was registered in 1910 and first stamped on cloth in 1911. Production peaked at 7.6 million yards in 1966. And in 1993, an Act of Parliament made the protection permanent, the only textile in the world to hold such recognition. The Outer Hebrides have since been named a World Craft Region for the cloth.
The Orb mark
The Orb is the most important detail on any piece of Harris Tweed. The Harris Tweed Authority inspects and stamps every finished length, and the Orb on the label is your guarantee that the cloth was made the right way, by the right hands, in the right place. No Orb, no Harris Tweed. It's one of the oldest and most trusted marks of authenticity in all of fashion, and every yard I use carries it.
The colors, and why they look alive
Harris Tweed's color is its signature, and it comes from a process called dyeing in the wool: the wool is dyed before it's spun, and many different colored fibers are then blended together to make a single yarn. Look closely at a good tweed and you'll see a dozen colors flecked through what reads from across the room as one. Historically those dyes came from the islands themselves, from plants and from lichen such as crottle, and the palette still mirrors the Hebridean landscape: heather purple, peat brown, moss and bracken green, lichen rust, the grey of the Atlantic, the blue of a clear sky, the near-black of a coming storm. The land is woven into the cloth, literally.
How I use it at Black Bear Brand
I work directly with Outer Hebrides weavers, and every yard I use is genuine, Orb-certified Harris Tweed. My Ultimate Wool Chore Coat in Golden Harris Tweed is handwoven for me by islanders, then lined in fine Japanese diamond quilting, a deliberate collision of two of the greatest craft traditions on earth: Scottish handweaving and Japanese making. I've also had Harris Tweed woven in unexpected, almost psychedelic colorways, because I wanted to show how alive this old cloth can be. It's all in my factory store.
What Harris Tweed means to me
Harris Tweed is one of the last fabrics on earth where a human being still sits at a loom and weaves it by hand. You can feel that when you put it on. It has a depth machine cloth never gets near. When you wear it, you're wearing the weather of those islands, and that's exactly the kind of thing I want to build my life and my brand around.
Frequently asked questions
What makes Harris Tweed special?
It's the only fabric in the world protected by its own Act of Parliament (1993). By law it must be handwoven by islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides from pure virgin wool dyed and spun there, and certified with the Orb mark.
Why is Harris Tweed so colorful?
Because it's dyed in the wool: fibers are dyed before spinning, then many colors are blended into each yarn. The result is a flecked, multi-tonal cloth whose palette echoes the Hebridean landscape of heather, peat, moss, and sea.
Keep on keeping on - Josh