Tweed is a rough, woollen

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not ...

, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave,

twill Twill is a type of textile weave with a pattern of diagonal parallel ribs. It is one of three fundamental types of textile weaves along with plain weave and satin. It is made by passing the weft thread over one or more warp threads then ...

or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manu ...

may be obtained by mixing dyed wool before it is spun. Tweeds are an icon of traditional Scottish, Irish, Welsh and English clothing, being desirable for informal outerwear, due to the material being moisture-resistant and durable. Tweeds are made to withstand harsh climates and are commonly worn for outdoor activities such as shooting and hunting, in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. In Ireland, tweed manufacturing is now most associated with

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrcon ...

but originally covered the whole country. In Scotland, tweed manufacturing is most associated with the Isle of Harris in the Hebrides.

Etymology

Tweed making at the Leach family woollen mill at Mochdre

The original name of the cloth was ''tweel'', Scots for

, the material being woven in a twilled rather than a plain pattern. A traditional story has the name coming about almost by chance. Around 1831, a London merchant, James Locke, received a letter from a

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one ...

firm, Wm. Watson & Sons, Dangerfield Mills about some "tweels". The merchant misinterpreted the handwriting, understanding it to be a trade-name taken from the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the R ...

that flows through the Scottish Borders textile area. The goods were subsequently advertised as Tweed and the name has remained since.

Traditions and culture

Traditionally used for upper-class country clothing such as shooting jackets, tweed became popular among the

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

middle classes who associated it with the leisurely pursuits of the elite. Due to their durability tweed

Norfolk jacket A Norfolk jacket is a loose, belted, single-breasted tweed jacket with box pleats on the back and front, with a belt or half-belt. It was originally designed as a shooting coat that did not bind when the elbow was raised to fire. Its origin is u ...

s and plus-fours were a popular choice for hunters, cyclists, golfers and early motorists, hence

Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is most famous for '' The Wind in the Willows'' (1908), a classic of children's literature, as well as '' The Reluctant Dragon''. Both books ...

's depiction of

Mr. Toad Mr. Toad, of Toad Hall, is one of the main characters in the 1908 novel ''The Wind in the Willows'' by Kenneth Grahame, and also the title character of the 1929 A. A. Milne play ''Toad of Toad Hall'' based on the book. Inspiration The inspiratio ...

in a

Harris Tweed Harris Tweed, (''Clò Mór'' or ''Clò Hearach'' in Gaelic) is a tweed cloth that is handwoven by islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in th ...

suit. Popular patterns include houndstooth, associated with 1960s fashion, windowpane, gamekeeper's tweed worn by academics, Glen plaid check, originally commissioned by

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

, and herringbone. During the 2000s and 2010s, members of long-established British and American land-owning families started to wear high-quality heirloom tweed inherited from their grandparents, some of which pre-dated the Second World War. In modern times, cyclists may wear tweed when they ride vintage bicycles on a Tweed Run. This practice has its roots in the British

young fogey "Young fogey" is a term humorously applied, in British context, to some younger-generation, rather buttoned-down men, many of whom were writers and journalists. The term is attributed to Alan Watkins writing in 1984 in ''The Spectator''. However ...

and hipster subcultures of the late 2000s and early 2010s, whose adherents appreciate both vintage tweed, and bicycles.

Musical instruments

Some vintage

Danemann Danemann Pianos is a British manufacturer of pianos, originally based in Islington, London. From 1893 to 1980 they produced a wide range of pianos from small to large uprights, 5' 2" grands, 6' 8" grands and 9' 6" concert grands. Their actions ...

upright piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

s have a tweed cloth backing to protect the internal mechanism. Occasionally, Scottish

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, ...

were covered in tweed as an alternative to

tartan Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

wool. The term "tweed" is used to describe coverings on instrument cables and vintage or

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

guitar amplifier A guitar amplifier (or amp) is an electronic device or system that strengthens the electrical signal from a pickup on an electric guitar, bass guitar, or acoustic guitar so that it can produce sound through one or more loudspeakers, which ar ...

s, such as the

Fender tweed Fender tweed is a generic name used for the guitar amplifiers made by the American company Fender between 1948 and 1960. The amplifiers are named for the cloth covering, which consists of varnished cotton twill, incorrectly called tweed because o ...

and

Fender Tweed Deluxe The Fender Deluxe guitar amplifier is a range of non-reverb guitar amplifiers produced by Fender. The amplifiers were originally produced from early 1948 to 1966 and reissues are in current production. Its predecessor was the Fender Model 26 " ...

. Despite the common terminology, these coverings were cotton twill, and not actually tweed.

Types of tweed

: A handwoven tweed, defined in the Harris Tweed Act 1993 as cloth that is "Handwoven by the islanders at their homes in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coas ...

, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides". *

Donegal tweed Donegal tweed is a woven tweed manufactured in County Donegal, Ireland. Originally all handwoven, it is now mostly machine woven and has been since the introduction of mechanised looms in the 1950s-1960s. Donegal has for centuries been producing ...

: A handwoven tweed which has been manufactured for several centuries in

, using wool from locally-bred sheep and dye from indigenous plants such as

blackberries The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family (biology), family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus' ...

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are ...

(whins), and

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ...

. * Silk tweed: A fabric made of

raw silk Raw Silk was an American dance band, which originated in New York. History Raw Silk first signed to West End Records, which was once a popular garage label, where they recorded moderate hits. Their songs were remixed by post-disco/ R&B produ ...

with flecks of colour typical of woollen tweed. * Saxony tweed: Originated in Saxony, Germany. It is a fabric made from the wool of merino sheep. It is very smooth and soft.

Gallery

File:Harris-Tweed 1.jpg, Logo of the

authority File:Glen plaid.jpg, Glen plaid, Glenurquhart, or Prince of Wales check, frequently used to make

overcoat An overcoat is a type of long coat intended to be worn as the outermost garment, which usually extends below the knee. Overcoats are most commonly used in winter when warmth is more important. They are sometimes confused with or referred to as ...

s and sportcoats in the 1950s File:Herringbone.jpg, Example of the herringbone pattern, a popular choice for suits and outerwear File:Hundtandsrutor.png,

Houndstooth Houndstooth, hounds tooth check or hound's tooth (and similar spellings), also known as dogstooth, dogtooth, dog's tooth, (), (), is a duotone textile pattern characterized by broken checks or abstract four-pointed shapes, traditionally in black ...

, the basis of the keeper's tweed popular among the upper classes from the 1860s until the 1930s File:Tweed jacket edited.jpg, Grey

sportcoat A sport coat, also called a sport jacket (or sports coat or sports jacket in American English), is a men's smart casual lounge jacket designed to be worn on its own without matching trousers, traditionally for sporting purposes. Styles, fabrics, ...

File:Sherlock holmes pipe hat.jpg, A

deerstalker hat A deerstalker is a type of cap that is typically worn in rural areas, often for hunting, especially deer stalking. Because of the cap's popular association with the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, it has become stereotypical headgear fo ...

made of district or gamekeeper's tweed (contrasting mustard, green and brown checks) File:Man's silk and wool twill frock coat c. 1820.jpg, Windowpane tweed popular in the late 19th century and again in the 1970s File:The Crown Prince of Prussia and Prince Wilhelm II. at Balmoral Castle. - Oct. 1863.jpg, Frederick III with his young son

Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

wearing

highland dress Highland dress is the traditional, regional dress of the Highlands and Isles of Scotland. It is often characterised by tartan (''plaid'' in North America). Specific designs of shirt, jacket, bodice and headwear may also be worn along with cla ...

including tweed

kilt A kilt ( gd, fèileadh ; Irish: ''féileadh'') is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish ...

jacket File:Gustav V: fältkikare, sittkäpp, skjorta, slips röd t - Livrustkammaren - 86096.tif, Hunting apparel belonging to

Gustaf V of Sweden Gustaf V (Oscar Gustaf Adolf; 16 June 1858 – 29 October 1950) was King of Sweden from 8 December 1907 until his death in 1950. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau, a half-sister of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxe ...

, 1930s. File:Harris Tweed Nike.jpg, Harris Tweed Nike File:Charlie Hunter - 1863.PNG,

Charlie Hunter Charlie Hunter (born May 23, 1967) is an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. First coming to prominence in the early 1990s, Hunter plays custom-made seven- and eight-string guitars on which he simultaneously plays bass lines, chords, a ...

(''left'') watches as

Old Tom Morris Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died ...

plays a shot in 1863 at Prestwick. Both of the players are wearing the traditional tweeds.

Notes

References

* * *
National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE
(archive films relating to tweed manufacture in Scotland) * Anderson, Fiona (2016). ''Tweed''. London: Bloomsbury Academic Press. .

External links

* {{Authority control Wool Woven fabrics Scottish clothing