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Highland romance or Viking saga? The contradictory branding of Orkney Tweed in the twentieth century.

Pedersen, Sarah; Peach, Andrea

Authors

Andrea Peach



Abstract

Few have heard of Orkney tweed today, but in the mid-twentieth century it was as well known as Harris Tweed, and praised for its soft and light characteristics. This article investigates the rise and fall of Orkney tweed and suggests that its decline in the 1960s can be attributed to a variety of factors, including the advent of synthetic, ready-to-wear clothing, but also problems inherent in the mixed marketing messages around the textile. While the main producers of Orkney tweed emphasised the Viking connections of the Orkney islands and their product, the fashion media and overseas customers were more comfortable with positioning Orkney tweed within a stereotypic context of Scottish romanticism, in which Orkney tweed became interchangeable – and replaceable - with all Scottish tweeds. Contemporary attempts to re-establish tweed production on the Orkney Islands have rejected both approaches, focusing instead on the ‘natural’ properties of the fabric and the production of easily portable souvenirs.

Citation

PEDERSEN, S. and PEACH, A. 2019. Highland romance or Viking saga? The contradictory branding of Orkney Tweed in the twentieth century. Journal of design history [online], 32(3), pages 263-279. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epy046

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 12, 2018
Online Publication Date Dec 14, 2018
Publication Date Sep 30, 2019
Deposit Date Jan 7, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of design history
Print ISSN 0952-4649
Electronic ISSN 1741-7279
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 32
Issue 3
Pages 263-279
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/epy046
Keywords Textile design and manufacture; Branding; Scotland; Twentieth century; Cultural nationalism; National identity
Public URL http://hdl.handle.net/10059/3250

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