Harris Tweed marks 10th birthday at Glasgow awards
HARRIS Tweed was the centrepiece of the glittering Scottish Style Awards held in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday March 31.
The 10th birthday of Harris Tweed Hebrides, the Shawbost-based company credited with pulling the industry back from the brink, was celebrated with a stunning fashion show which confirmed the style and versatility of the fabric.
It was the first in a series of events to mark 10 years of Harris Tweed Hebrides, which took over a derelict mill at Shawbost when the industry was at its lowest ebb and now gives employment to around 250 mill-workers and weavers in Lewis and Harris.
Over the decade, Harris Tweed Hebrides has won numerous awards for both the quality of its product and for exporting.
Around two thirds of output goes overseas with Japan, Germany, Italy and North America as the biggest markets.
Harris Tweed Hebrides guests for the evening a fortnight ago included Scotland rugby star Finn Russell, who has become a great ambassador for the Harris Tweed look.
Chief executive Ian Angus Mackenzie said: ‘Every client is important to us but it is crucial to the status of the fabric that we continue to work with top-end clients who add to the richness and diversity of Harris Tweed’s reputation.’
Ian Angus has led the company from its inception along with principal investor Ian Taylor and former UK trade minister and HTH chairman Brian Wilson, who said: ‘It has been a great journey and a credit to everyone involved. The age profile of weavers and mill-workers has been transformed, new markets opened up and Harris Tweed now has a great future as well as a glorious past.’