Sun, Dec 05, 2021 page12

• Tweed weaves its way to catwalks

  • By Pauline Froissart / AFP, ISLE OF LEWIS, Scotland
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  In the cluttered workshop of his home off the coast of northwest Scotland, Ian Mackay patiently weaves a bright green wool, surrounded by bags of fabric, spools and tools. He makes a steady clatter as he pedals his machine in the shed of his croft on the village of South Shawbost on the Isle of Lewis, watching closely for any defects.

  “It’s handwoven ... or rather foot-woven,” the 51-year-old weaver joked.

  Mackay spins wool for 10 hours a day, resting only on Sundays, when most shops and services are shut on the religiously conservative islands.

  

  Harris tweed weaver Ian Mackay tends to sheep in South Shawbost on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, on Wednesday last week. The fabric is made from pure wool.

  Photo: AFP

  Once complete, his handiwork — authentic Harris tweed — could be shipped to the other side of the world, as the rough woolen fabric becomes more popular than ever.

  Long associated with the windswept Scottish islands, the textile’s ecological and sustainable properties have inspired designers to be more environmentally friendly.

  “It doesn’t really matter how bad the weather is outside if you are weaving,” Mackay said as an icy wind whipped across the ocher-colored moor where sheep were grazing.

  

  Harris tweed weaver Ian Mackay works on his pedal-powered loom in his weaving shed in South Shawbost on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, on Wednesday last week.

  Photo: AFP

  “There’s no point in being really fast, doing mistakes. You are better doing slow, quality work,” he said.

  Such is its status, Harris tweed, traditionally made from 100 percent pure virgin — unrecycled — sheep’s wool, is the only fabric protected by an act of parliament.

  The Harris Tweed Act 1993 stipulates that it “has been handwoven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.”

  A distinctive Orb stamp globe with a cross on top certifies the fabric’s origin and authenticity.

  Harris tweed, mostly woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure, was originally associated with Britain’s aristocracy and gentlemen farmers.

  Jackets and plus-fours made from the durable fabric that can withstand harsh climates were a must for traditionally outdoor upper-class pursuits such as hunting and fishing.

  However, British designer Vivienne Westwood turned that image on its head by integrating it into her punk wardrobe in a subversion of culture and tradition.

  Now other major brands, including Chanel, Christian Dior SE, Yves Saint Laurent and Hermes International SA, are making it a key element of their collections.

  “Recently we have been working extensively with Polo Ralph Lauren in the USA,” Harris Tweed Hebrides sales director Margaret Ann Macleod said.

  Seventy people work at the company’s lakeside factory, where the wool is dyed and spun, then sent to about 120 home weavers, where skills have been passed down for generations.

  Once woven, it is returned to the factory 29km from Lewis’ main town of Stornoway to be washed, dried and finished in Shawbost Mill.

  One-third of the Shawbost factory’s output goes to the UK, while two-thirds is exported to all corners of the world.

  “We export extensively to France, Germany, Italy and a lot of other countries in Europe,” Macleod said. “We also have a big export business in South Korea, Japan and the USA, and increasingly China has become a new export market for us as well.”

  In total, about 160 home weavers live in the Outer Hebrides, working hand-in-hand with three factories that produce a total of 1.5 million meters of the fabric every year.

  Tweed, immortalized by Mr Toad, one of the main characters in Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 classic novel The Wind in the Willows, is used to make jackets, trousers and coats, but also shoes, handbags, armchairs and even teddy bears.

  Fifteen years ago, sportswear brand Nike Inc chose Harris tweed for a collection of trainers — a huge publicity coup for the Hebridean craftsmen.

  More recently, the public has rediscovered the fabric in its dozens of different patterns and shades through popular television series.

  From the aristocrats of Downton Abbey to the gangsters of Peaky Blinders and the royal family in The Crown, virtually everyone wears tweed.

  “We start with about 60 colors and we blend each of these colors to create over 180 different yarn shades and they would reflect the landscape and the seascape of the Outer Hebrides — the rich browns are the tones of the moorland, the blue of the Atlantic Ocean,” Macleod said.

  “Young designers are coming and are looking for the colors. They are looking for authenticity, the fact that we are hand-weaving [and] creating our own yarns is really important to them,” she said. “They want to capture a little bit of the island, of the Outer Hebrides in their creations as well.”
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