Weaving a community: securing the intangible cultural heritage created by Harris Tweed.

Steed, Josie; Cross, Karen; Wilson, Bethany

Abstract

Scotland’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is diverse with many situated in rural and remote northerly peripheries, today still retaining human idiosyncrasies free from the uniformity created by mass-globalization. They include textile craft practices such as Harris Tweed® weaving, which, as protected by an Act of Parliament, can only be produced on the Western Isles of the Outer Hebrides. The chapter discusses a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project between Harris Tweed Hebrides and Robert Gordon University that supported the future growth of this unique intangible cultural heritage by exploring new product opportunities and new international markets, with the aim of providing year-round and sustainable business demand for the Harris Tweed Hebrides brand and the home weaver industry on the isles of Lewis and Harris. Second, the Augmented Fashion research project explored leveraging immersive technologies to secure global interest and demand by preserving traditional textile cultural practices such as handwoven Harris Tweed®, to facilitate a new future for the industry in the minds of contemporary consumers. In a time when authenticity is increasingly sought after, the inherent provenance and human hand behind Harris Tweed’s® all-wool product, localized place of manufacture and short-run, handwoven production adds value to the product in the eyes of the consumer and preserves employment for the mills, community and heritage of the home weavers located on the islands of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. The research project considered how the use of digital media could enhance the Harris Tweed® brand profile by communicating its unique production in novel ways, facilitating new understanding of handwoven fabric, acting as an antithesis to the globalized fast fashion industry and seeking to encourage more responsible clothing consumption habits.

• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2025
• Pages: 121-137
• Book Title: Intangible cultural heritage and new methodological frameworks: media, performance and the public space
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003415329-11
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2834324