What is Tweed?
Tweed is a woven fabric made of pure wool and is produced in the north of Scotland. The word presumably comes from the typical structure called Twill, or in Scotland Tweed.
Originally the fabrics that were hand-woven from hand-spun yarns were first called Tweed. Thus, it was rather coarse wool yarn, but also warp yarn and comb yarn, which formed the basis for the small binding patterns.
A hint that is close to our hearts: our producers support the animal welfare and that is why we only run mulesingfree wool!
The History of Tweed
The origin of Tweed is most likely in the rural regions of Scotland and Ireland. Tweed was characterized by the particularly robust design and protected the men working outside from the cold, rainy, British climate. As the sheep also adapt to the harsh climate, the wool from Scotland sheep is particularly well suited for tweed. Their wool is therefore thick, robust and impermeable to water.
Dyeing was always made with natural colours: orange was obtained from groundsel, wheat and iris provided the green and lichen the red. But soon Tweed was no longer just the fabric of farmers. After the English royal family acquired the castle Balmoral, the acquisition of a country seat in Scotland established itself throughout English society. To get away from others, landlords designed their own tweed patterns, the so-called Estate Tweed, which was worn exclusively by their employees. It's a real Scottish tradition to dress according to the clan affiliation.
Film to the history of Tweed
How is Tweed made?
The wool is dyed at the beginning of the production process. For this purpose, large loads of wool are first put into a closed tub. This is where the sanding process takes place to extract all the moisture from the fibres. Only then does the wool get its final colour. To obtain the typical tweed pattern, the individual coloured batches are shredded and then mixed.
Afterwards, the individual wool fibers are pulled through machines in the same direction and worn by a series of roles so that the fibers can be stretched. The right amount of fibers is pulled by another machine to produce a loose organized thread. So that the yarn has the strength required for weaving, it must now be spun to a strong thread. For this it turns six to eight times, which gives the yarn a much stronger tensile strength.
A Guide to Tweed
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