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Harris Tweed is a cloth 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 the Outer Hebrides. Harris Tweed is protected by the Harris Tweed Act 1993, which strictly outlines the conditions in which the cloth can genuinely be made. Authentic Harris Tweed is issued with the Harris Tweed Orb Mark after inspection by the Harris Tweed Authority, the industry's governing body. ==History== For centuries the islanders of Lewis and Harris, the Uists, Benbecula and Barra have woven cloth by hand calling it Clò Mór in the original Gaelic or 'The big cloth'. As the Industrial Revolution reached Scotland, mainland manufacturers turned to mechanisation but the Outer Hebrides retained their traditional processes. Lewis and Harris had long been known for the excellence of the weaving done there, but up to the middle of the nineteenth century, the cloth was produced mainly for home use or for local market. Originally this handmade fabric was woven by crofters for familial use, ideal for protection against the colder climate of the North of Scotland. Surplus cloth was often traded or used as barter, eventually becoming a form of currency amongst the islanders. For example, it was not unusual for rents to be paid in blankets or lengths of cloth. By the end of the 18th Century, the spinning of wool yarn from local raw materials was a staple industry for crofters. Finished handmade cloth was exported to the Scottish mainland and traded along with other commodities produced by the Islanders, such as dry hides, goat and deer skins. The original name of the cloth was ''tweel'', Scots for twill, it being woven in a twilled rather than a plain pattern. A traditional story has the name coming about almost by chance. Around 1830, a London merchant received a letter from a Hawick firm about some ''tweels''. The London merchant misinterpreted the handwriting, understanding it to be a trade-name taken from the river Tweed that flows through the Scottish Borders. Subsequently the goods were advertised as Tweed, and the name has remained ever since.〔Dunbar cites Scots philologist W. F. H. Nicolaisen's suggestion that this "too plausible" explanation may be folk etymology, noting a use of "twedlyne" in 1541, and suggesting "tweedling" in parallel to "twilling" as the origin of "tweed"; see John Telfer Dunbar, ''The Costume of Scotland'', p. 150.〕 When Alexander 6th Earl of Dunmore inherited the North Harris Estate from his father in 1836, production of tweed in Outer Hebrides was still entirely manual. Wool was washed in soft, peaty water before being coloured with dyes from local plants and lichens. It was then processed and spun, before being hand woven by the crofters in their cottages. The result was a tweed cloth with favourable tactile qualities and possessing a complex blend of colours. Traditional island tweed was characterized by subtle flecks of colour achieved through the use of vegetable dyes, including the lichen dyes called "crottle" (''Parmelia saxatilis'' and ''Parmelia omphalodes'' which give deep red- or purple-brown and rusty orange respectively).〔Fraser, Jean: ''Traditional Scottish Dyes'', Canongate, 1983〕 These lichens are the origin of the distinctive scent of older Harris Tweed.〔J.C.T. Uphof, ''Dictionary of Economic Plants'', Hafner, New York, p. 210, cited at (Bibliographical database of the human uses of lichens ) retrieved 20 May 2007〕 Upon the death of the 6th Earl of Dunmore in 1843, responsibility for his estate on the Isle of Harris passed to his wife, Lady Catherine Herbert. It was Lady Catherine who noticed the marketing potential and high quality of the tweed cloth produced locally by two sisters from the village of Strond. Known as the Paisley Sisters, after the town where they had trained as weavers, the fabric woven by the girls was of a remarkably higher quality than that produced by untrained crofters. In 1846 the Countess commissioned the sisters to weave lengths of tweed in the Murray family tartan. She sent the finished fabric to be made up into jackets for the gamekeepers and ghillies on her estate. Being hardwearing and water resistant, the new clothing was highly suited to life on the Dunmore’s estate. Lady Catherine was quick to see that the jackets worn by her staff would be ideal attire for the pursuit of country sports and the outdoor lifestyle that was prevalent amongst her peers. The Countess took every opportunity to promote the local textile as a fashionable cloth for hunting and sporting wear. It soon became the fabric of choice for the landed gentry and aristocracy of the time, including members of Queen Victoria’s inner circle. With demand established for this high quality "Harris Tweed", Lady Catherine sent more girls to the Scottish mainland to better their weaving skills. She improved the yarn production process to create a more consistent, workable cloth and by the late 1840s merchants from Edinburgh to London were supplying the privileged classes with hand-woven Harris Tweed. From this point on the Harris Tweed industry grew, eventually reaching a peak production figure of 7.6 million yards in 1966. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Harris Tweed」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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