Long Live Donegal Tweed
We did a feature on Donegal Tweed a few years back - actually, I wrote it myself. At the time, I was pretty satisfied with how it turned out. However, I couldn’t have imagined that one day I would get the chance to visit Donegal, immerse myself in the experience and not only gain a deeper understanding of the technical process behind the fabric, but also get a broader perspective on the industry and the story behind it.
Right at the start, I must admit that my original piece, written in 2019 to mark the release of Poszetka’s first-ever Donegal Tweed sportcoat, included a mistake - or, to be more generous, it was an inaccuracy that I should correct. I wrote:
Like Harris Tweed, real Donegal Tweed must come from a strictly specified place. This place is Donegal County in the north of the Republic of Ireland (and therefore outside Great Britain!), where for decades this rough and robust fabric has been woven by locals, often still on hand looms in their homes.
To my surprise, once I was there, I learned that this isn’t entirely true -although it’s generally accepted that this should be the case, there are no official measures to enforce it.
The industry agrees that real Donegal Tweed should come from Donegal. There’s a consensus on how it should look, how it should be made, and what can bear that name - but it’s not regulated by law. There aren’t any official regulations in place; it’s more of an understanding passed on by word of mouth.
While the Scottish specialty, Harris Tweed, got its own act in the British Parliament back in 1993 (along with a governing body, the Harris Tweed Authority), it's only recently that the first steps have been taken to classify Donegal Tweed as a product with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Local manufacturers, including Magee, are working together to register it and obtain European-level status, which would allow them to protect their products and officially recognize it as a regional specialty.
Even though the classification was primarily created for agricultural products (mostly food), it can successfully be applied to textiles. According to EU regulations, PDO covers products whose names directly indicate the place where they are made, and whose characteristics - shaped by natural and cultural factors - are tied to that location.
These are products that couldn’t be made anywhere else - even if you followed the same recipe in a different place, they wouldn’t be the original. For example, parmesan cheese made in Sicily would simply be parmesan-inspired cheese. The history and cultural context of something with such a long tradition are just as important as its physical traits.
The Italians know this well (it’s worth noting, by the way, that no other country in the world has register as many PDO products!) - even when they make fabrics heavily inspired by Donegal Tweed, they don’t try to call them by this name, even though, by law, they still could. In fact, they’re not afraid to acknowledge these inspirations and mention them when presenting the collection, as in the world of high-end fabrics there’s mutual respect for heritage, even the foreign one.
The Italians understand this well (incidentally, no other country has as many registered PDO products!) - even when they create fabrics heavily inspired by Donegal Tweed, they don’t try to use the name. Instead, they come up with their own versions openly acknowledging these influences when presenting their collections, as there is mutual respect for heritage, even foreign heritage, in the world of high-end fabrics.
We’re not lawyers, but if it were up to us, we’d wholeheartedly vote to elevate Donegal Tweed and give it protected status. It’s distinctive and inseparably tied to the region; its place of origin adds to its uniqueness and builds the story behind it.
Here, in the northwest of Ireland, despite increasing mechanization since the 1970s (and the overall decline of the craft, as discussed in Part I), tweed is still woven in some homes on simple, manual looms; larger producers, even factories like Magee, maintain the tradition by collaborating with home weavers. There’s also the water: it’s said that rinsing the fabric in the waters of the Eske River, which flows through Donegal Town, is crucial to the fabric’s finish, giving it that desirable texture.
Speaking of the impact of natural conditions: when recounting the story of Donegal Tweed, it’s often mentioned that its appearance mimics the local landscape. A lot is said on how the multicolored flecks, adorning the muted, often earth-colored background, are there to represent the landscape… well, that might be true, but only to a part. In our opinion, it’s more of a romantic myth. In reality, though breathtaking, the landscapes of this part of Ireland aren’t quite that colorful; it’s all about the greens, browns, greens, grays, greens, blues and more greens. Did I mention the color green?
Only the occasional spot of another color appears here and there - but it’s a totally different story when we look into the local mills’ archives. During our visit to Magee, we eagerly took advantage of the opportunity and examined what the tweeds produced here looked like several decades ago.
Besides being generally heavier - fabrics have gotten lighter over time due to warmer homes and offices - they were, perhaps surprisingly, bold and vivid. In the past, especially in the 50s and 60s, brighter colors were used; it’s easy to forget when viewing old black-and-white photos or faded color films. It wasn’t that everything was drab and gray back then!
The colors were always present. You could say they were used not to depict the landscape, but to enliven it - to add a cheerful touch to the more muted surroundings. Yes, there’s a connection to nature, but it’s less direct than some would like to think.
Although we’ll get into the technical details of production in Part III, which will be fully dedicated to our visit to Magee, I can’t leave this post without explaining what makes Donegal Tweed’s surface, covered in countless tiny, colorful flecks, so unique and its texture so three-dimensional.
It’s not an intricate pattern or a special weave; it’s magic that happens much earlier. Contrary to what you might sometimes read, the texture isn’t created by the weaving process, but by the spinning process.
Yarn is an intermediate product in textiles, but it’s crucial to the final look. Simply put, yarns are thin strings made up of many fibers, and fabrics are made by weaving these yarns together (the weft and warp - more on that next time!). Donegal Tweed is made with a special yarn, also known as Donegal Yarn, which consists of fibers of varying lengths. The longer fibers, making up the majority, create the base color and a strong core, while a mix of shorter, irregular fibers in various colors is added for aesthetics. To enhance the effect, partially felted wool fibers are used, standing out on the fabric’s surface as distinct, three-dimensional neps.
The unsung heroes here are the spinners, who are rarely talked about. They usually remain in the shadow of the weavers, whose names are on the labels of jackets. Unfortunately, spinners too have been affected by the decline of the wool industry in Ireland, but thankfully, some have survived and are still going strong.
Without them, to put it bluntly, there wouldn’t be anything - without access to yarn produced here in Donegal, Donegal Tweed wouldn’t be genuine Donegal Tweed.
Going back to the fabrics - when weaving them, for a melange effect, you can use yarns in several colors, intertwining them together, not necessarily in a fancy pattern; you can simply combine one color of the weft with another color of the warp in a plain weave and blend the color nuances of both.
A great example is Magee’s Donegal Tweed “Midnight,” which we used for our suit - it blends navy with black; red and blue specks with orange, yellow, and green ones; it mixes a fairly calm yarn with a fairly crazy one. It’s a fascinating detail we learned during our visit to Magee, as it’s impossible to fully grasp such a complex fabric on your own!
You can also mix Donegal yarn with “regular” colored yarn—to make it more subdued, or, as with the Gamefeather Tweed we chose for the blouson and body warmer, to elevate it. Adding alpaca brings a touch of luxury and softness to the delicate fibers.
Now we’re getting into finer nuances - first, you can blend other fibers during the spinning process. Second, depending on the weave, the mill can decide whether it wants to emphasize or tone down the texture. There are many options.
Donegal yarn isn’t just used for Donegal Tweed; it’s also been traditionally used for knitting in Donegal, to make sweaters, hats, and socks. Anything woolen from northwestern Ireland can come in a flecked version; it’s pretty common to find these not only as a tourist souvenir, but also as an evryday product for locals.
Yarn is also exported - producers outside of Ireland, like those in Scotland (where our accessories are made) and home knitters around the world eagerly use it. Irish influences spread far, inspiring products that, while not necessarily traditional, are still tradition-inspired.
As mentioned earlier: the strength of Donegal Tweed lies in its distinctiveness. Upon seeing a flecked fabric, most people interested in menswear will immediately think “Donegal!” Similar fabrics are instinctively compared to it, making Donegal a kind of “gold standard” in the industry - a point of reference.
It’s something completely timeless, available in so many colors and patterns that it’s easy to incorporate it both into traditional outfits inspired by British Country style and into modern, even streetwear-adjacent looks. It seems that after a turbulent period, the king of Irish fabrics has regained its throne and for at least the next few years, it can enjoy some peace.
Long live Donegal Tweed!
In the next installment of our Irish series, we'll visit Magee's weaving mill - the largest producer of Donegal Tweed, with a 150-year history. See you next week!
If you haven't read the previous part, which details our journey and the places we visited, check it out here: Greetings from Donegal, Ireland