Since ancient times the people living in the West of Scotland, and the inhabitants of the Outer Hebrides had made tweed cloth entirely by hand. When the Industrial Revolution reached Scotland in the 19th century, the mainland turned to mechanized weaving, but the Outer Islands continued to make tweed in the traditional way. The islands of Lewis and Harris are well known for the excellent quality of their weaving, but for a long time the cloth was produced mainly for home use or for simply the local market.²

In 1846, Lady Dunmore who was the widow of the late Earl of Dunmore had the Murray tartan pattern copied by Harris weavers onto tweed. This proved so successful that Lady Dunmore devoted much time to selling the tweed to her friends and later she improvised the process of making the tweed. This was the beginning of the Harris Tweed industry. ³

The main material for making tweed, wool, was produced locally. All tweeds are woven from bulky yarns containing short wool fibers arranged at random, so that the fabric is relatively thick and has a fuzzy surface. Part of the wool would have been used in its natural uncolored state while the rest was dyed. In the 19th century organic dyes made from vegetables were used. After dyeing, the wool was mixed, (the shade being regulated by the amount of colored wool added) and then it was oiled. The wool was also “teased”. This means that the wool was pulled apart to open out the fibers. The next part of the preparation, called carding, is when the fibers of the wool are drawn out, just before starting the spinning process. Carding was a very long procedure and was followed by spinning, which was done on spinning wheels by women. Until the turn of the century a primitive kind of handloom was used for weaving with a hand-operated shuttle. The final process is washing the tweed. This gives it a raised, dense finish. The people who washed the tweed often accompanied themselves with songs in Gaelic.⁴

As a result of the marketing efforts of Lady Dunmore, increased sales of the tweed were achieved and trade was established with cloth merchants in large towns in Britain.⁵

Between the years 1903 and 1906, the tweed making industry on Lewis Island also increased rapidly. Aeneas Mackenzie's built a carding mill in the town of Stornoway and a second mill was begun by Kenneth Mackenzie from whom one of the largest Harris Tweed producing companies in existence takes its name today.⁶

At a meeting in Stornoway in 1906 discussed an act that would end the increasing numbers of mill-spun tweed being offered for sale as authentic Harris Tweed. The act made it essential that tweed offered for sale had to be inspected and, if it was approved as being real Harris Tweed, was to be given a certifying stamp. The original description of the Harris island tweed was: "Harris Tweed is a tweed, hand-spun, hand-woven and dyed by the crofters and cottars in the Outer Hebrides". Later, a different definition made: "Harris Tweed means a tweed made from pure virgin wool produced in Scotland, spun, dyed and finished in Outer Hebrides and hand-woven by the islanders at their own homes in the Islands of Lewis, Harris, Uist, Barra and their several pertinences and all known as the Outer Hebrides". But it was still possible to add in clear letters to the Trade Mark, the words "Woven in Lewis", "Woven in Harris", "Woven in Uist" or "Woven in Barra" for the purpose of distinguishing where the tweed was made.⁷

The introduction of the Hattersley household loom in the early 20th century made it possible for the weavers to produce more cloth then by hand, and also to weave complicated patterns that could not be woven on the large wooden looms that were used for the previous 50 years. The Hattersley loom was brought to the islands by Lord Leverhulme who had owned the islands of Lewis and Harris for some years and had introduced many changes. The Hattersley loom is still used these days in the industry but is being replaced by the new Bonas-Griffith loom, which was introduced in 1996 to satisfy market demands for softer and lighter Harris Tweed.⁸

The Harris Tweed Association was the manager of the famous "Orb" Trademark. Throughout this century the Harris Tweed Association protected and promoted the Orb all over the world. The success of the industry meant that competitors tried to imitate Harris Tweed or pass off other fabrics as genuine. Much of the competition was from mainland Scotland and this led to a case at the Court of Session in 1964 that was, for a long time, the longest civil case in Scottish legal history. The final decision re-enforced the 1934 definition that tied all production processes only to the Outer Hebrides islands and this finally removed the threat of mainland competition. But in the 1980s the industry had begun to lose significance as the clothing fashions changed and the Harris Tweed jacket became less popular. The Harris Tweed Authority took over from the Harris Tweed Association in 1993 by Act of Parliament. The late 20th century was a difficult time for the British textile industry and Harris Tweed is no exception… ⁹