Wool herringbone. Strictly speaking herringbone refers to a weave and not a particular fabric, but in common use this term refers to wool and wool suiting blends. Tweed, by the way, generally used to signify the hairy type of wool, is a term commonly supposed to be derived from the river Tweed. Evidently this is not so, and the word is a 19th-c. corruption of an old Scots word "tweel" meaning "cloth". Harris Tweed, the best of these fine woollens, is very soft and fine, not scratchy, and its manufacture is regulated by act of Parliament. "Harris Tweed must be made from 100 per cent pure virgin wool dyed, spun and finished in the Outer Hebrides and hand-woven by the islanders at their own homes in the islands of Lewis, Harris, Uist, Barra and their several purtenances."
