Step into our family’s story, woven deeply into Harris Tweed’s history. The Campbell family’s tradition of weaving spans decades on Harris, where each generation passes down the craft. From spinning wheels by the hearth to bustling shops today, our family’s passion for quality and heritage is the heart of everything we do.
Trusted family retail stores on Harris and Inverness, serving Harris Tweed® customers worldwide.
Handwoven and sourced directly from the Outer Hebrides; no imitations, guaranteed origin and quality.
A tweed protected by an Act of Parliament; ensuring authenticity, origin and strict standards.
Trusted family retail stores on Harris and Inverness, serving Harris Tweed® customers worldwide.
Handwoven and sourced directly from the Outer Hebrides; no imitations, guaranteed origin and quality.
A tweed protected by an Act of Parliament; ensuring authenticity, origin and strict standards.
Trusted family retail stores on Harris and Inverness, serving Harris Tweed® customers worldwide.
Handwoven and sourced directly from the Outer Hebrides; no imitations, guaranteed origin and quality.
A tweed protected by an Act of Parliament; ensuring authenticity, origin and strict standards.
A striking black-and-white photograph of Jane at her loom features regularly today as an emblematic image of Harris Tweed craftsmanship; it is one of the treasured visuals for Harris Tweed’s iconic past. Jane was Katie Campbell’s mother, Katie being mother to Catherine Campbell. Jane grew up in the traditional crofting community weaving on an original wooden loom, carrying out every stage by hand to turn local wool into the famous handwoven cloth. Tragically, her life was cut short by her passing at the age of 34 years. Jane’s memory lives on through the skills and values she imparted, and the dedicated continuity of weaving in her family.
In the same year that the Harris Tweed Association was formed, Marion Campbell was born in a small crofting village – Plockropool, in the Bays of Harris. The year was 1909. Marion was taught by her mother and older sister how to work the loom, a tradition amongst the women of the island, while the menfolk would fish the Atlantic waters. Marion immersed herself in the island’s self-sufficient way of life and its traditional crafts, little knowing that her deep respect and love for the Harris Tweed heritage was preparing her for a lifetime rich in a dedication to the craft of weaving, its colour and its design.
Marion personally handled every stage of production, from shearing the sheep, to washing and dyeing the wool, and weaving the yarn into a finished length of tweed. Proving to be a prodigy in this painstaking process, just before her 21st birthday she won the coveted first prize and 20 guineas at the Harris Tweed Association design competition. She was recognised for having an exceptional eye for colour and pattern, often favouring natural dyes to achieve the rich, earthy tones characteristic of her tweeds. These traditional pigments were sourced from her environment such as peat soot, plants, and lichens to dye her wool, resulting in a beautiful cloth, brought to life from the surrounding Hebridean landscape.
By the 1960’s and 1970’s media reporters were regularly travelling to Harris to interview this charismatic, engaging lady and to witness her work firsthand. Marion was becoming a living symbol of Harris Tweed’s enduring authenticity in an era of increasing industrialization. As such she became an unofficial ambassador, one of the first weaving influencers for Harris Tweed.
Tour buses would also make the rocky journey to Plockropool and visitors could watch Marion weaving, on her original wooden loom. Marion was intensely proud of the weaving craft and welcomed visitors, sharing with them the beauty of the process and finished cloth. Without realising it she was promoting Harris Tweed’s reputation more than any formal advertisement could.
In 1985 as part of the Queen’s New Year Honours list Marion was awarded the British Empire Medal for her devotion to preserving traditional weaving and promoting the cultural heritage of the Western Isles. In true form, Marion insisted the medal was not for her, but the generations of weavers before her, and turned down the trip to Buckingham Palace. Instead, the medal was brought to Harris and was presented to her here.
A passionate weaver, Marion continued at her loom into her mid 80’s; she passed away at the grand age of 86. Today, she is revered as an icon whose work left an indelible mark on Harris Tweed – a legacy of craftsmanship, community and cultural pride that endures to this day. The Drinishader School that Marion, and later her great grand niece Catherine attended, is now an exhibition centre, devoted to the Campbell family’s contribution to the heritage of Harris Tweed. Visitors can still see Marion’s original loom, dye pot, crotal spoon, and other artefacts on display, while the Clò-Mòr Harris Tweed exhibition next door places her work in the context of the industry’s history.
Alasdair “Mòr” Campbell was born and raised in Plockropool, next door to his aunt Marion. Such a textile rich environment could not fail to have an impression, and Alasdair who found the fishing life took him away from his family for long periods of time felt the pull of home, and he gradually turned to weaving as a new livelihood. He married a local girl, Katie MacDonald in 1960 and together with guidance from Marion the couple pursued their craft. Alasdair earned widespread respect for his skill and dedication to authentic Harris Tweed craftsmanship. By the 1970s he had exchanged his fishing boat for a Hattersley pedal loom, weaving tweed for the mills.
In the 1970’s an event occurred which would prove to be a turning point in the Campbell family’s weaving heritage. Alasdair accidentally wove the wrong pattern for a mill commission but rather than pay the heavy fine he turned the mistake on its head and purchased the new pattern instead. He sent samples to several mainland dealers who loved the unique design and they promptly placed their orders. Alasdair used this leverage to set up shop with his wife Katie, next door to Marion’s loom shed. The tour buses and visitors which arrived to watch Marion at work on her traditional wooden loom would also come to watch Alasdair at his Hattersley loom.
Alasdair Campbell passed away in November 1995 at the age of 71, having woven Harris Tweed almost until his final days. His wife Katie continued to run their tweed business, later involving their daughter Catherine. In the following years, Catherine expanded the business, opening shops in Tarbert and Inverness, and also transforming the old school in Drinishader into a Heritage centre, showcasing lengths of fabric that Alasdair had woven on his Hattersley loom. Alasdair’s life’s work has left an indelible mark on the industry’s history, ensuring that the family name continues as an integral part of Harris Tweed’s rich heritage.
Growing up, Katie was surrounded by the supportive crofting life of her community. Her mother had sadly passed away whilst she was still a child, and her father soon set up a Hattersley handloom at home, weaving away while Katie and her siblings would fall asleep to the rhythmic “click-clack” of the loom, a sound she later recalled as “lovely” and “safe”. Having married Alasdair “Mòr” Campbell and setting up shop with him, they were closely mentored by Marion. Altogether they welcomed global visitors, many of whom wrote letters or returned in person to visit the family in the cosy loom sheds and to see and hear the rhythm of the looms at work.
Katie enjoyed meeting new people and invited many into her home, happily demonstrating her weaving for the visitors. She also used a twisting machine to ply the leftover yarn into hanks of knitting wool which were then washed and dried, a process that was frequently photographed by visitors as it dried on her fence at the shop. Katie became highly respected in the Harris Tweed industry for her craftsmanship and dedication. She was a skilled weaver and enjoyed taking part in various media and TV productions, promoting the Harris Tweed industry with her soft, welcoming nature.
To the thousands of visitors who came to Katie’s shop each year she remained “the epitome of a Harris weaver”. Katie continued to run the business alongside her daughter Catherine until her passing in January 2011 at the age of 75. Through the family’s ongoing work in the industry, their ancestors’ memory and influence lives on in the enduring vitality of Harris Tweed.
Catherine Campbell, the current owner of the business, is the daughter of Katie and Alasdair Campbell and the great niece of Marion Campbell. She grew up next door to Marion and remembers spending countless hours watching and helping, mesmerised as her great aunt worked at her spinning wheel and wooden handloom. Old methods of dyeing wool with natural lichens scraped from the rocks with a crotal spoon, carding the wool - a tiring process in itself, and hearing the rhythmic beating of tweed being hand-finished (waulked) on the croft. These early experiences instilled in Catherine a deep passion for the painstaking work and artistry behind every length of Harris Tweed.
Catherine grew up helping out in her parents’ Harris Tweed and Knitwear shop, simultaneously absorbing both the craft of weaving and the practical skills of running a tweed business. When her father Alasdair passed away in 1995, Katie Campbell continued to run the shop along with her daughter. Together, Katie and Catherine maintained the shop in Plockropool until Katie’s death in 2011. It was time for Catherine to carry the family legacy forward on her own.
Catherine herself was a strong adept at production, with an eye for colour and creation, and she now became aware of the other side of tweed’s journey – the world of fashion and luxury goods. Whilst her parents were still alive Catherine started experimenting with the smaller crafts, later approaching makers to produce bags and purses for her, using Harris Tweed. Her inspiration and passion led to a new era for the business. To truly expand, she needed a presence in a more accessible location. This ambition came true as she took the opportunity to move into the old Co-operative building in Tarbert, the main ferry port town of Harris.
This move provided a larger, much needed space and higher foot traffic, allowing Catherine to showcase the full potential of Harris Tweed to visitors and locals. She opened an exhibition centre and shop in the old Drinishader School, and in 2017 opened a further shop in Inverness which is managed today by her niece, Annabel Campbell. These locations have become key visiting points for tourists, establishing a presence both on the mainland and island, maintaining a unique authenticity that creates an experience which often turns one-time tourists into repeat customers and true brand ambassadors.
Catherine’s life’s work is dedicated to the enduring legacy of those members of her family and neighbours that have gone before her. The years of commitment to the weaving and design of the cloth, and the true arts and crafts nature of production in a modern industrial, age. In June 2021, Catherine was named on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List and was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), an honour bestowed for her services to the Harris Tweed Industry and to the economy of the Isle of Harris.
Whilst Catherine’s influence and passion for the Harris Tweed industry continues to flourish, she remains modest and unassuming. Her strongest legacy demonstrates that a balance can be struck between preserving tradition in its most vital form and pursuing modern designs whilst maintaining quality. ‘It’s about the care that goes into the making of the finished product just as much as the original cloth woven to produce that product’. Catherine’s children have joined their mother in the family business, ensuring that the family legacy continues. Together they are ensuring that their ongoing dedication remains a vibrant part of Scotland’s cultural tapestry for years to come.
