BESPOKE TWEED

For us a great part of the adventure has been tracking down the artisan weavers and master craftsmen who are passionate about what they do. Most of the tweed we use comes from a small mill in the Borders in Scotland that has been involved in the production of fine fabrics for nearly two hundred years. The shuttle operated looms that they still use today are the same as they would have been in the mid 1900’s and because of their artisan nature, they are flexible and able to do small production runs of bespoke tweed for customers like us.

DUTCH WAX

Called Kitenge in East Africa, Ankara by some in West Africa, the 100% cotton that we use for linings is actually printed in Holland. Although often assumed to be African fabric, the cloth is in fact an imitation of Indonesian hand batik printing (hence the wax of the name), and was originally copied by Dutch textile manufacturers in the nineteenth century. On their way back to Indonesia to trade these fabrics, they then discovered and cultivated an enormous market for them in West Africa. These six yard lengths of cotton are prewashed by us to avoid shrinkage and totally colourfast. Like any cotton they will soften with wear and work beautifully with the natural wool fibre of the tweed. The Nigerian-British contemporary artist, Yinka Shonibare uses Dutch wax in his art and installations, explicitly for its colonial and post-colonial associations – the unexpected twist he gives to familiar stories is something that resonates with us at Settlers. Yinka – we salute you.