Designer Harris Tweed

“Dashing Tweeds”

ONE of the UK’s iconic handbag makers has struck a deal with a Harris Tweed mill to produce the handmade cloth in its own unique design for a premium range of bags.

Radley + Co has secured its very own tweed which is being produced at the Carloway Mill of Harris Tweed Textiles, based on the west of Lewis.

One of the most successful and fast-expanding handbag companies in the UK, Radley is a mid-level manufacturer supplying all the major multiples and every quality independent handbag store in the country as well as its own chain of stores and online shop. It has grown in four years from one store in London’s King’s Road to 15 in the UK and another in New York.

On a visit to Carloway to see Radley’s own tweed being made, Natalie Bolton, the company’s design director, explained that its founder was very interested in Harris Tweed. However, they had put the idea on the back burner until now.

“We were putting together our latest themes and had a very strong inspiration from the 1920s’ Bloomsbury group which is all about arts and crafts and the painting and literary set. There was a wealth of information about tweeds and we thought why not try to get proper Harris Tweed. We talked to our designers, Dashing Tweeds, who came up with an exclusive design and that is when we contacted the mill here at Carloway.”

”Radley + Co”

Now Radley can talk directly to the mill about the colours in its palette whenever they want to go down the Harris Tweed road again.

Radley + Co has been around for about 12 years. That was when everything was black. Natalie says: “Radley really was a reaction to that and colour was, and still is, a key element of the brand. We’re known for being colourful – detailing, colour and handcraftedness are the elements of our bags. It’s an ethos of ours the whole way through.”

The bag using Harris Tweed is known as the Grosvenor which uses top-grade leathers and very fashionable styling. It is exclusive to Radley’s own stores and its website and retails at £185, with a matching holdall available at £300.

Before a sightseeing tour of Lewis, Radley senior designer Ben Patton said: “Radley +Co is a British company so it’s nice to link up with a British product we can use. Harris Tweed is handmade like our bags so it is a very good fit for us. We make bags that will last many years and Harris Tweed is like that. It is not just good for a few months.

“Harris Tweed”

“We have a very seasonal colour palette which changes from year to year. Next winter will be nothing like this year’s. It will be fantastic to have a mill that we can keep updated on whether it is going to be a massive blue season or pink or whatever. The Bloomsbury range is a premium range of ours but I am sure there will be many other opportunities as well to use the tweed.”

Carloway Mill general manager Ann MacCallum said: “It is exciting for me to build a relationship with a major handbag company that will hopefully use the tweed in many different ways and in many different patterns and colours. Although Radley is a fairly new company, it is already an iconic name in the world of handbags. So we have two iconic names working together, which is fantastic.
“Although there are smaller companies making handbags on the island, Radley is the first mass-market manufacturer of accessible handbags that we are working with.
“Harris Tweed is a bit like that too. It is known for quality but now accessible because it is not too expensive.”

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