UKFT member Harris Tweed Hebrides has launched a fully-traceable wool fabric in partnership with British Wool and FibreTrace.

Harris Tweed Hebrides is the first woollen textile producer to introduce a traceability technology that connects the digital to the physical – authenticating fibre origin, fibre quantification and full supply chain custody with real-time verification.

In collaboration with British Wool and FibreTrace, Harris Tweed Hebrides has processed wool from wool growers across Scotland into a specially designed handwoven Harris Tweed® supplied directly to the Scottish based retailer the House of Bruar.

The initiative demonstrates the true proactivity and passion of the UK luxury community to put local wool suppliers at the forefront of sustainability and have their efforts at farm be globally recognised by brands and consumers alike.

“Our partnership with FibreTrace is an opportunity for Harris Tweed Hebrides to truly champion British wool and support local suppliers who are committed to best practice and reducing wool’s local environmental footprint,” said Margaret Ann Macleod, Sales Director at Harris Tweed Hebrides.

She added: “Despite the importance of the sheep farming sector to many of our most rural and remote communities across the UK, the relative scale of the wool industry has made it more challenging for British sourced wool to participate with established globally recognised sustainable certifications to trace wool back to its origin. This project is a fantastic step forward to help us all support the many UK farmers and Scottish crofters who supply the wool fibre to produce Harris Tweed which is always handwoven using 100% pure new British wool.”

FibreTrace’s technology begins at the raw materials stage when the luminescent pigment is embedded into the fibre at the scouring. The product is scanned at each step of the supply chain – from spinning, to weaving, to garment construction and beyond, with every audit recorded on the blockchain to provide access to secure and irrefutable data. This data builds a unique passport telling the story of the item from farm to shelf and sharing this irrefutable storytelling with the end-consumer via a QR code.

FibreTrace provides brands and retailers with true custody of supply, the ability to quantify and audit fibre content and access primary impact data for all natural and man-made solutions. The partnership marks a global first for FibreTrace to launch fully traceable wool into the global market, sharing the entire lifecycle of sustainable UK wool products with consumers for the very first time.

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Harris Tweed Hebrides is a UKFT member. Interested in membership? Find out more here.