Paul
Walker: Designing 21st Century tweed
Tony
McGuire
1:36 pm
February 27, 2017
In a secret
green space off of Edinburgh’s Grassmarket, Paul Walker’s studio is packed with
tweeds of every imaginable pattern, colour and texture.
The Walker
Slater founder and designer thinks the hand-loomed textile can become as
diverse a fabric as the Italian denim.
“Tweed is
almost becoming the denim of Scotland. The Italian’s do denim very well and
Scots do tweed very well,” he says.
Traditional
Harris tweed lends colours from the countryside – mossy greens, ocean blues and
rugged mountainous browns are on every rail in Walker Slater’s two Edinburgh
stores.
Aesthetics
to the side for a moment, Paul remarks how tweed is equally functional and
beautiful.
“It’s warm,
it’s water repellant and it’s carelessly elegant,” he says.
Paul and
business partner Frances Slater – a textile designer from Edinburgh – came
together to “produce a melange of textiles, a partnership that you know now to
be Walker Slater.
Originally
working from the Highlands, he helped focus their efforts into tweed.
He recalls:
“There was a realisation we had a great resource on our doorstep that wasn’t
being utilised.
“I remember
going down to the Borders and seeing some of the old Gardener’s fabrics –
Gardeners was a mill at the time – and thinking ‘Whoa! These are fantastic’.
“We started
making jacketing and it all moved forward from there.”
Borders
tweed is generally much lighter a fabric than its Harris counterpart, and the
pliable fabric led Paul and Frances to create their first three-piece suit.
Their range
of clothing for men and women showcases the versatility of tweed, breathing new
life and contemporary relevance into the cloth traditionally associated with
country estates and hunting parties.
Milan,
Rome, London, Paris and New York designers are all embracing Scottish tweed.
Between 2009 and 2012, Scottish tweed output shot up from 450,000 meters to one
million meters. Much of this global interest can be linked back to Scotland,
designers like Walker Slater and the tweed industry’s own drive to stay
relevant.
“The mills
on Harris and in the Borders have done well getting the message out to the big
players [in fashion] with a product they can buy into,” he says, adding “they
buy in to a bit of Scotland with it.”
Walker
Slater has enjoyed a boost from several high-profile collaborations with the
Ryder Cup, Scottish Football and the Scottish Rugby Union teams, tailoring
unique wardrobes for our national sides with homespun cloth.
Paul
repeatedly exalts tweed’s rich colours and textures, but he also draws
attention to some of its lesser-known charms: “There are things about tweed
that you maybe wouldn’t expect.
“As a
fabric and as a way of life it has a tremendous heritage. It’s protected by an
act of parliament and specific to a sometimes-forgotten region of Scotland.
Having been up there, you realise how important it is to the local economy and
how it fits in to the way of life there.”
“Sometimes
we’ve been notified a delivery might be late due to the good weather allowing
Peat cutting to take place. The weavers go outside and cut their Peat for the
next winter, so it has this human touch to it.”
Walker
Slater designs set out to challenge the traditional tweed ensemble to keep the
fabric relevant with modern fashion trends.
Of all his experimenting with the cloth, the lavish three-piece suit
holds a special place in their history and development.
“We tried a
lot of things – the development through from the really heavy tweeds where it
didn’t work, right through to the Borders tweed using fine mixes of wool,
cashmere and cotton, developing something that was very wearable in the daytime
and for evening wear.”
“We keep to
trends that help tweed maintain relevance with shapes and fits that fit in with
our ethos which is ‘careless elegance’.
“Careless
elegance is something which is really important, not a contrived look – you can
pull it together, you can mix it up. and that’s where it becomes a bit rock and
roll as well.”
Walker
Slater Menswear and Womenswear stores can be found on Victoria Street,
Edinburgh.
Edinburgh
store: 20 Victoria Street, Edinburgh EH1 2HG / 01312 209750
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