Harris Tweed Hebrides New York

Harris Tweed Hebrides throws a party in New York 27/7/11
The Orb Trade Mark's 100th birthday has been celebrated with an event in New York at which Harris Tweed Hebrides welcomed 200 high-level guests from the worlds of fashion, design and media.

A reception in Crosby Street Hotel, SoHo, to mark the centenary and "honour the place of the United States of America in the history of Harris Tweed" also featured the launch of a new promotional film aimed at the American market.

The guests were welcomed by the Shawbost-based company's chairman, Brian Wilson; chief executive Ian Angus Mackenzie; sales manager Roddy Martin and creative director, Mark Hogarth, who produced an event which featured models displaying some of the latest uses of Harris Tweed by leading fashion houses as well as HTH's own collaborations with Scottish designers.

Ian Angus Mackenzie said: "As far as I am aware, there has never been a Harris Tweed event like this in New York which is pretty amazing really, given that this is undoubtedly the most important city in the whole history of the industry. We are never going to get back to the quantities of Harris Tweed that used to come here but there is a definite revival of interest and we are delighted with our range of US clients."

The UK Consul-General, Sir Alan Collins, added his welcome for the event. He said: "Harris Tweed is one of our most iconic exports with a particularly strong heritage in the United States. It is very appropriate to mark the centenary of the Orb Trade Mark with an event of this kind and I am delighted to see a resurgence of Harris Tweed in a contemporary context".

New York-based film-maker Caspar Zafer was commissioned by Harris Tweed Hebrides to make a ten-minute film aimed at the US market and it was given an enthusiastic reception when previewed to the invited guests. Caspar visited weavers and Shawbost mill earlier this year and followed the production process through to top end stores in Fifth Avenue.

The Hebridean atmosphere was helped along by two of North America's leading traditional musicians, piper Chris Layer from Indiana and fiddler Paul Woodiel from New Jersey, both of whom have toured and taught at feisean throughout the Highlands and Islands. A selection of photographs by Murdo MacLeod, the award-winning photographer from Shawbost, provided the visual backdrop and The Macallan laid on a whisky tasting to help proceedings go with a swing.

Harris Tweed Hebrides chairman, Brian Wilson, said: "At present, things are going extremely well with the mill and weavers working to capacity. However, it is essential to look to the future and that's what this event is all about - we need to introduce Harris Tweed to new markets, new ideas and the widest possible range of creative forces. There is nowhere better to do that than in New York."

The event was supported by the Harris Tweed Authority, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Royal Bank of Scotland.