Journey through the rich history of Harris Tweed, the cloth that emerged from humble island cottages to conquer the world of fashion. From its origins as “clò-mòr” (the big cloth) woven for clan and croft, to its establishment as a protected industry and global luxury, Harris Tweed’s past is as textured and enduring as the fabric itself.
On the Isle of Harris, craftsmanship and trust woven into every Harris Tweed® piece.
A tweed protected by an Act of Parliament; ensuring authenticity, origin and strict standards.
Handwoven and sourced directly from the Outer Hebrides; no imitations, guaranteed origin and quality.
On the Isle of Harris, craftsmanship and trust woven into every Harris Tweed® piece.
A tweed protected by an Act of Parliament; ensuring authenticity, origin and strict standards.
Handwoven and sourced directly from the Outer Hebrides; no imitations, guaranteed origin and quality.
On the Isle of Harris, craftsmanship and trust woven into every Harris Tweed® piece.
A tweed protected by an Act of Parliament; ensuring authenticity, origin and strict standards.
Handwoven and sourced directly from the Outer Hebrides; no imitations, guaranteed origin and quality.
Harris Tweed’s history is steeped in island traditions, beginning around peat fires in stone cottages. It started in the Outer Hebrides, where for generations local artisans wove a woollen cloth for their own use, calling it “clò-mòr,” meaning the big cloth in Gaelic. In 1846, this rustic handwoven cloth caught the eye of British aristocracy – none other than the Countess of Dunmore, who saw the potential in the beauty of Harris Tweed. She commissioned island weavers to craft tweeds for her estate and society friends. Soon, what was once a humble cloth of crofters became a fashionable fabric for hunting suits and estate attire, treasured for its durability and unique character.
As we reached the 20th century, the industrial age threatened to mechanize and outsource what had always been a home craft. In response, the island community banded together to protect their livelihood and traditions. They established the Harris Tweed Association in 1909, creating the famous Orb trademark in 1910 to safeguard the purity of their cloth. By the 1920s, spinning moved to mills for efficiency but as decades went on, competition from new materials and the decline of heavy woollen fabrics led to a drop in demand. The industry had to adapt to survive, updating the definition of Harris Tweed in 1993 via an Act of Parliament, modernizing but crucially maintained that all production must take place in the Outer Hebrides.
A small globe topped with a Maltese cross, was granted in 1910 and became the world’s first mark of its kind for cloth – a promise that any item bearing it was the genuine article, handwoven in the Outer Hebrides to exacting standards. Suddenly, the tweed wasn’t just a fabric; with the orb stamp, it became an exclusive product. The label design has changed throughout the decades, vintage models seen incorporated with manufacturer branding, this created a unique connection with the artisan. Although the current labels no longer include these details, they continue to guarantee a sign of luxury quality and authenticity you can trust.
From raw wool to finished cloth, discover how Harris Tweed is made – a process that marries old-world techniques with just a touch of modern efficiency. Every step, whether steeped in tradition or refined by innovation, happens here in the Outer Hebrides, resulting in a fabric of legendary quality and character.
Harris Tweed® has always been woven at the home by hand, but as the mills began to refine the dyeing/spinning process for increased efficiency, the looms evolved too. These changes brought weavers greater output, comfort, safety and consistency, sustaining livelihoods while preserving the handwoven aspect of weaving. Harris Tweed® began on simple small homemade wooden looms ( Beart Bheag) meaning small loom in Gaelic. The shuttles were made from sheep bone and passed through the warp by hand. Around 1890 large wooden looms were introduced (Beart Mhor) big loom in Gaelic. It stood tall, was pegged together with a hanging beater, wooden beam and heddles laced with cord. Instead of passing the shuttle by hand, a mechanised flying shuttle with wheels was fired back and forth across the loom This significantly increased production speed, it was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving.
In the early twentieth century, the Hattersley Domestic single-width loom arrived: a compact, treadle-driven loom with fly-shuttle boxes, picker leathers and pirns that delivered fast and consistent weaving. Patterns were created by using tappets (and later peg chains), allowing impeccably matched checks and designs. It was powered manually by the weaver using foot pedals which in turn threw the shuttle across. Accompanied by a pirn winder, the winder filled the pirns which were loaded into the shuttles to carry the yarn. The Hattersley loom provided a sustainable home-based industry for crofters and ex-service men for over a century. A loom still used to this day.
As wider width fabrics began to dominate the market, Harris Tweed had to evolve and in the 1990’s, The Bonus Griffith Rapier Loom was developed to meet commercial demand for wider and lighter tweed. This Rapier hand loom is pedal driven, carbon neutral and very quiet. Flexible rapier heads hook the weft thread and pull it across the warp, eliminating the need for traditional shuttle-driven, pirn-wound methods, making it much more efficient.
Harris Tweed now is heritage in motion: mills on the Outer Hebrides compose layered colours and prepare yarn, independent weavers at home translate pattern into cloth, finishing rooms refine the fabric and the Orb mark certifies every metre. It’s the same island story—people, place, patience—organised for today. It is still handwoven on the Outer Hebrides, carrying history forward one shuttle pass at a time.
