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Historic tweed mill recreates Victorian designs to mark 200th anniversary

News imageKirsty Anderson/ Lovat Mill A green tweed being woven on a loom. There is pattern of brown, orange and yellow through the fabricKirsty Anderson/ Lovat Mill
Lovat Mill is the last tweed producer in the Scottish Borders

A historic textile mill which produces tweed for international fashion brands such as Chanel has recreated Victorian designs for the 200th anniversary of the woollen fabric.

Lovat Mill, in Hawick, Scottish Borders, was saved in 1999 by two entrepreneurs who were working for another tweed producer.

It has since produced cloth for Madonna, the King and Taylor Swift.

To celebrate the anniversary of the weaving technique, it has now revealed 17 new designs inspired by archives in 19th-century notebooks found in the attic.

Tweed was created in Scottish Borders textile mills in 1826 after a misreading from a London tradesman of its previous name, tweel.

News imageGetty Images Taylor Swift wearing a short asymmetrical brown tweed skirt, with a blue short-sleeved top. She is carrying a brown hand bag and looking to the right of the camera. Getty Images
Taylor Swift is among the celebrities who have worn tweed from Lovat Mill

Lovat Mill was the last operating mill in the region, and was bought by textile experts Alan Cumming and Stephen Rendle in 1999.

Since then it has become popular with global fashion houses and takes commissions from Milan and Japan.

News imageKirsty Anderson/Lovat Mill Two grey-haired men in a room surrounded by bales of tweed fabric. A large, old book is on a desk in front of them. Kirsty Anderson/Lovat Mill
Stephen Rendle and Alan Cumming saved Lovat Mill in 1999

Cumming and Rendle both attended the Scottish College of Textiles, in nearby Galashiels, and had careers at Allied Textiles, designing and exporting cloth for the international firm.

After a business meeting in Milan, a contact suggested that they buy a textiles mill in order to continue working in their craft, and the pair raised capital to buy Lovat Mill.

In the late 1990s, they discovered 15 Victorian archive books in the mill's attic, which inspired 17 anniversary cloths released for the anniversary, including Shepherd's Check, originally created for shepherds on individual estates.

Cumming, the mill's design director, said: "We opened those books and realised we were sitting on the very DNA of Scottish tweed. Hundreds of designs, all handwritten, all still usable.

"It was like the mill tapping us on the shoulder and saying, 'Well? What are you going to do with this?'"

News imageKirsty Anderson/Lovat Mill Four books with bits of fabric pasted inside. The pages of the books are yellowing and have handwriting in them, though it is not clear what it says. Kirsty Anderson/Lovat Mill
The designs were found in old books found in an attic
News imageKirsty Anderson/ Lovat Mill About a dozen rolls of tweed fabric in various colours. They are sitting on two shelves. Kirsty Anderson/ Lovat Mill
The old designs have been recreated for use by fashion houses

The pair worked through the night producing samples, and drove in a Peugeot 406 to Lake Como in Italy, to meet industry contacts.

Rendle, the chairman of Lovat Mill, said: "We arrived the next evening with new cloth in the boot. That meeting nailed a critical relationship."

Dolce & Gabbana was the first major client to take an interest and requested 11 yards (10m), followed up by a request for 2,100 yards (2,000m) of cloth.

Mr Rendle said: "We thought they'd lost the parcel. Then the fourth order came back at 2,000 metres. That was the moment we knew we were in the game."

Global brands including Chanel and Gucci sought out its fabrics, and the King also commissioned the Dumfries House Tweed, as well as a new cloth for the coronation.

Designer Ruth Duff, 36, who worked on the Dumfries House Tweed, said: "You don't need to go to Milan when Milan is coming to Hawick."