Cairngorm vs harris tweed?

[Jmc0369]

Any one know the differences?
Thanks,
Jon

[RockyR]

Harris Tweed is an iconic brand, indicating that the tweed was woven on the outer isles of Harris or Lewis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Tweed

Cairngorm is a range of tweed produced by Marton Mills as part of their tweed ranges (they have other tweed ranges aside from Cairngorm).

[Jock Scot]

No doubt a weaver will correct me if I am wrong, but.

All tweed is , tweed and without getting too technical is broadly made in the same way out of the same stuff, wool., and woven by many(getting less) mills.

So Harris Tweed is tweed, but it is also a registered trade mark of tweed(the world renowned Orb) that is sewn into the cloth that is exclusively woven on the Isle of Harris and a few others of the Scottish Western Isles.

[Jmc0369]

Rocky / Jock thanks for the speedy replies.

So other than Harris being an icon, any difference in quality?

[Jock Scot]

This is where things could get technical! So without getting technical and broadly speaking, Harris Tweed seems, to my eye at least, slightly more loosely woven than other tweeds, but top quality tweed is top quality tweed from wherever it comes from and rubbish is well, rubbish. However, it is a difficult job to compare like with like when cloth weights, style of weaving, textures etc., etc., are taken into account. One thing is for sure though, if the "orb" logo is sewn into the garment, then the quality of the cloth is assured, but that does not mean that other mills from outwith the Western Isles do not make a first rate product too.

[Nathan]

Harris Tweed must also be woven by "hand", or at least by a manual process. Here is a video of a rather large scale production of Harris Tweed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6HLIBMS8Tk

Here is another nice video about weaving the Harris Tweed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idr4NMn2Qcg