Paisley and Harris Tweed

Scotland’s famous Paisley and Harris Tweed

Scotland has a rich textiles heritage and many of the traditional methods used to create the country’s iconic fabrics are still in use today. During the Year of Creative Scotland discover more about two of Scotland’s well-known exports - Harris Tweed and Paisley.

Harris Tweed is one of the country’s most famous fabrics and it is still hand-woven in the Outer Hebrides. The luxury cloth only qualifies for the distinguished Orb trademark of quality if it is hand-woven on Lewis, Harris, Uist or Barra using local wool.

There are three tweed mills in the Outer Hebrides that use the skills of the locals to produce authentic Harris Tweed material - known in Gaelic as Clo Mhor, meaning ‘the big cloth’. All of the mills are on Lewis, however, rather than Harris as you might have expected.

In recent years the status of Harris Tweed has risen after being chosen by Nike to feature on a range of five ladies’ trainers. Luskentyre Harris Tweed, run by Donald John Mackay, secured the fantastic deal in 2004 which involved creating 9,500 meters of tweed for the project with the help of other tweed companies.
Paisley is a delicate cloth with a distinctive tear-drop shaped pattern that originated in Persia and India. It takes its name from the Scottish town which was the major producer of the cloth in the distinctive form of delicate woollen shawls. Paisley remains popular and still features regularly in today’s fashion.

Paisley is an important part of woven textiles history in Scotland and The Paisley Shawl Collection is a Recognised Collection of National Significance to Scotland. Cared for by Renfrewshire Arts and Museums Service you can view the unique shawl collection in the Paisley Museum.