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Tweed is a rough,
woollen Woolen (American English) or woollen (Commonwealth English) is a type of yarn made from carded wool. Woolen yarn is soft, light, stretchy, and full of air. It is thus a good insulator, and makes a good knitting yarn. Woolen yarn is in contrast t ...
fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...
, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or
homespun Home spun literally refers to hand spinning, see spinning (textiles). Homespun may refer to: * Homespun fabric, especially that worn by American colonists who were boycotting British goods * "Homespun", pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin in ''The Ha ...
, but more closely
woven Woven fabric is any textile formed by weaving. Woven fabrics, often created on a loom, are made of many threads woven in a warp and weft. Technically, a woven fabric is any fabric made by interlacing two or more threads at right angles to one anot ...
. It is usually woven with a plain weave,
twill Twill is a type of textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and d ...
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 ...
may be obtained by mixing dyed wool before it is spun. Tweeds are a staple 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 Ireland, tweed manufacturing is now most associated with
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
but originally covered the whole country. In Scotland, tweed manufacturing is most associated with the
Isle of Harris Harris (, ) is the southern and more mountainous part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Although not an island itself, Harris is often referred to in opposition to the ''Isle of Lewis'' as the Isle of Harr ...
in the Hebrides.


Etymology

The original name of the cloth was ''tweel'', Scots for
twill Twill is a type of textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and d ...
, 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 ( ; ; ) is a town in the Scottish Borders council areas of Scotland, council area and counties of Scotland, historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east o ...
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, 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 River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...
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 jacket A safari jacket or bush jacket is a garment traditionally made of khaki color lightweight cotton (drill or poplin) with a self-belt, epaulets, and four expandable bellows pockets. Also known as a sahariana, it was originally designed for going ...
s, tweed became popular among the
Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
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 ...
s and
plus-fours Plus fours are breeches or trousers that extend four inches (10 cm) below the knee (and thus four inches longer than traditional knickerbockers, hence the name). Knickerbockers have been traditionally associated with sporting attire sinc ...
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. He is best remembered for the classic of children's literature ''The Wind in the Willows'' (1908). Born in Scotland, he spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in ...
'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. Inspiration The inspiration for Mr. Toad's wayward mischievousness and boastfulness was Kenneth Grahame's only child Alastai ...
in a Harris Tweed suit. Popular patterns include
houndstooth Houndstooth is a pattern of alternating light and dark check (fabric), checks used on fabric. It is also known as hounds tooth check, hound's tooth (and similar spellings), dogstooth, dogtooth or dog's tooth. The duotone pattern is characterized ...
, associated with
1960s fashion Fashion of the 1960s featured a number of diverse trends, as part of a decade that broke many fashion traditions, adopted new cultures, and launched a new age of social movements. Around the middle of the decade, fashions arising from small poc ...
, windowpane, gamekeeper's tweed worn by academics,
Glen plaid Glen plaid (short for Glen Urquhart plaid), also known as Glenurquhart check or Prince of Wales check, is a woollen fabric with a woven twill design of small and large checks. It is usually made of black/grey and white, or with more muted colou ...
check, originally commissioned by
Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...
, 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 The Tweed Run is a group bicycle living history ride through the centre of London, in which the cyclists are expected to dress in retro style traditional British cycling attire, particularly tweed plus four suits. Any bicycle is acceptable on ...
. 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 subculture The 21st-century hipster is a subculture (sometimes called hipsterism). Fashion is one of the major markers of hipster identity. Members of the subculture typically do not self-identify as hipsters, and the word ''hipster'' is often used as a pe ...
s of the late 2000s and early 2010s, whose adherents appreciate both vintage tweed, and bicycles.


Musical instruments

Some vintage Danemann
upright piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temper ...
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, N ...
were covered in tweed as an alternative to
tartan Tartan or plaid ( ) is a patterned cloth consisting of crossing horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours, forming repeating symmetrical patterns known as ''setts''. Originating in woven wool, tartan is most strongly associated wi ...
wool. The term "tweed" is used to describe coverings on instrument cables and vintage or retro guitar amplifiers, such as the Fender tweed and Fender Tweed Deluxe. Despite the terminology, many of these coverings were not considered tweed but cotton twill due to the cover's design, which caused this misidentification of the design.


Types of tweed

* Harris 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, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides". * Donegal tweed: A handwoven tweed which has been manufactured for several centuries in
County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...
, Ireland, using wool from locally-bred sheep and dye from indigenous plants such as blackberries, gorse (whins), and moss. * Silk tweed: A fabric made of raw silk 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 Harris Tweed authority File:Glen plaid.jpg,
Glen plaid Glen plaid (short for Glen Urquhart plaid), also known as Glenurquhart check or Prince of Wales check, is a woollen fabric with a woven twill design of small and large checks. It is usually made of black/grey and white, or with more muted colou ...
, Glenurquhart, or Prince of Wales check, frequently used to make overcoats and sportcoats in the 1950s File:Herringbone.jpg, Example of the herringbone pattern, a popular choice for Suit (clothing), suits and outerwear File:Hundtandsrutor.png, Houndstooth, the basis of the keeper's tweed popular among the upper classes from the 1860s until the 1930s File:Tweed jacket edited.jpg, Grey Donegal tweed sportcoat File:Sherlock holmes pipe hat.jpg, A deerstalker hat 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, German Emperor, Frederick III with his young son Wilhelm II, German Emperor, Wilhelm wearing highland dress including tweed kilt jacket File:Gustav V: fältkikare, sittkäpp, skjorta, slips röd t - Livrustkammaren - 86096.tif, Hunting apparel belonging to Gustaf V of Sweden, 1930s. File:Harris Tweed Nike.jpg, Harris Tweed Nike File:Charlie Hunter - 1863.PNG, Charlie Hunter (golfer), Charlie Hunter (''left'') watches as Old Tom Morris plays a shot in 1863 at Prestwick. Both of the players are wearing the traditional tweeds.


See also

* 1920s in fashion * 1950s fashion *
1960s fashion Fashion of the 1960s featured a number of diverse trends, as part of a decade that broke many fashion traditions, adopted new cultures, and launched a new age of social movements. Around the middle of the decade, fashions arising from small poc ...
* 1970s fashion * 2000s in fashion * 2010s in fashion * British Country Clothing *
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 ...
* Sport coat * Woollen industry in Wales


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