News & Press

Harris Tweed Hebrides triumphs at Style Awards

Press – Stornoway Gazette

02.11.09

It was a great night for Shawbost-based Harris Tweed Hebrides at the Scottish Style Awards in Glasgow on Saturday when the company carried off the premier award for Outstanding Contribution to Style in 2009. The award recognised the company’s success in forging links with leading designers and its role in revitalising the Harris Tweed industry. Earlier this year, Harris Tweed Hebrides won the Textile Brand of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards.

Creative director Mark Hogarth—who has led the company’s collaborations with designers—and two young members of the HTH management team, Kelly Jenkins and Alison Mackenzie, accepted the award on behalf of the company.

In their well-received acceptance speeches, Mark described Harris Tweed as “the champagne of fabrics” and said that every person who values style “should have at least one piece of Harris Tweed in his or her wardrobe”. Kelly added that the award was for “the weavers, the darners and everyone else involved in the process.”

One of HTH’s main design partners, Deryck Walker, carried off the Designer of the Year award for the second year running with a collection based mainly on Harris Tweed. Indeed three of the short-listed designers in this category—Deryck, Judy Clarke and Viddler & Nixon—featured tweed from Shawbost in their catwalk shows.

There was another accolade for the fabric when Vivienne Westwood, who was given the International Style Icon Lifetime Achievement Award, spoke about her love of Scottish fabrics “starting with Harris Tweed”.

Harris Tweed Hebrides chairman, Brian Wilson, said: “We did not enter or apply for any awards so it is good to know that the transformation of Harris Tweed’s fortunes has been so widely noticed and appreciated.

“Our aim is to ensure that Harris Tweed Hebrides is synonymous with style, quality and good taste whether in fashion, interiors or accessories so this piece of recognition is particularly welcome.”