A Brief History of Tweed

Tweed, an icon of British country life, nothing is perhaps more instantly recognisable as British fashion than a classic tweed woven garment.

A HW45 Thelma Hat (Biscuit) and LTW09 Ladies Field Jacket 

The story of tweed is an amusing one, many would think it is after the river tweed that flows through Scotland, however it is quite comical to learn the fact that the name owes it's inception to a simple error in misreading an invoice! Tweel was the original name as a Scottish take on the word twill - its genesis being the fabrics twilled pattern, in 1826 William Watson hailing from Hawick to a London trader James Locke, due to a legibility error or some other factor, Locke misread the name as Tweed rather than tweel and thus the name Tweed as we know it was born. 

W221 and W226 Blazer and Waistcoat respectively (C001L Harris Tweed)

However the style of tweed and its association with gentry, aristocracy came about mid 19th century with the British nobles bringing about what was called estate tweeds. It was common practise amongst the classes of nobility to purchase estates purely for hunting and game keeping, the tweed would protect the wearer from the cold and moist and is considered informal wear by the social classes who adorned it in those days and would often be worn with Wellington's (when hunting) or with tanned shoes when not in the fields. 

The hunting estates coupled with the typical wearing of tweed hence gave birth to what was known as estate tweeds, the staff that would look after the estate were also clad in estate tweed to follow Highland traditions and also to ensure their staff were appropriately shielded from the elements,  

http://pages.rapha.cc/stories/tweed-the-original-performance-fabric

The Highland tradition of specific patterns serving as a distinct identity of each clan surfaced by each twilled pattern specific to an estate as a part of staff uniform. From the 1830's onwards, tweed had become a widespread fashion throughout all estates, and aristocrats would not be seen as genuine had they not followed trend.

LTW09 Ladies Field Jacket, HW57 Helmsley Cap, LTW08 Gilet (Light Green)

In the 1840's the countess of Dunmore introduced Harris Tweed amongst her circles and promoted it heavily to the extent that tweed is now synonymous with the quality and commanding stature of Harris Tweed.

We at Oxford Blue sell a wide range of Harris Tweed garments from blazers, waistcoats, hats and many more, one can always tell a genuine Harris Tweed garment by its smooth feel even though typically tweed is characteristically coarse, visit www.oxfordblueonline.co.uk for more.