The World’s Favourite Tweed
Scotland’s Harris Tweed is the best-loved, most famous brand in the world, exported from the Outer Hebrides to France and Japan.
If you’re weekend shopping at car boot sales, garage sales and charity shops, sooner or later, you’ll find a Harris Tweed jacket on the rack, instantly recognisable from Peaky Blinders and Doctor Who.
Doctor Who’s Harris Jacket
Matt Smith wore vintage Harris for his debut as the doctor; you can still find 1950’s and 1960’s mens’ jackets if you search.
You’ll see Harris Tweed all over The Crown, too – it’s the ‘Brit It’ brand that was popularised by the late Queen.
Her Majesty held a Royal Warrant for Campbell’s of Beauly, a tailoring specialist that supplied the Royal Family with Harris Tweed garments.
Often imitated, it’s never been bettered and it’s a staple of secondhand shops, at a fraction of the price.
Hand Woven for Paul Smith
Harris Tweed has also made it into Dr Martens (another ‘Brit It’ brand) and the catwalks, thanks to Paul Smith.
Bought new, Harris is pricey, reflecting the fact that it’s hand-woven on a treadle loom, at home, by Harris Tweed staff.
You are unlikely to find the exquisite handbags in a charity or thrift store, but mens’ jackets are easier to come by.
The Harris wool comes from Cheviot and Scottish Blackface sheep and the old-fashioned colours (and smells) of the original tweed garments, were produced by the lichen dye.
Sniffing an old Harris jacket is one way to tell if it’s authentic; another is to check the label stitched on the inside of the coat.
Cushions and Table Lamps
If you want to furnish your home in Harris, the official international shop is online, offering cushions and table lamps.
You can dress head to foot in Harris if you wish and then recline on a matching armchair.
The hats and caps (the Peaky look) long ago replaced the Trumpy baseball caps on the heads of fashionable men.
Women’s purses, capes and gloves are as distinctive as the hats. There are Harris Tweed laptop bags and hip flasks; scarves, backpacks, make-up bags and glasses cases too. Even little girls can wear delightful, feminine, smocks and pinafores.
Chanel and Vivienne Westwood
Harris Tweed clothing is for chilly autumn and winter, no doubt about it, but it is as sought after in Japan as it is the US.
Protected by an Act of Parliament to stop imitations, it made its name in Asia through the designs of Chanel and Vivienne Westwood. In fact, the Westwood trademark orb is a nod to Harris.
Another way to check you have a true Harris tweed jacket in your hands, when you search the secondhand, vintage and charity shops this weekend? The buttons.
They are usually made or rams’ horns or thick, natural leather.
Button up and buy, if you are lucky enough to find a jacket in the right size. Ebay and Etsy are also happy hunting grounds for the world’s favourite tweed.
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