Zara ordered to remove Harris Tweed from website

Fashion conglomerate Zara is no stranger to controversy. The collections, which walk a fine line by being 'inspired' by ready-to-wear brands, often contain design details that are 'directly interpreted' from the season's trends. It has often been

whispered that Zara, a high street power house that doesn't advertise, uses its advertising budget to ward off lawsuits for copying.

Therefore it comes as no surprise that the Harris Tweed Authority, the custodian of the historic Scottish Harris Tweed fabric, has ordered Zara to change the descriptions of one of the garments on its website.

On Zara's website, a jacket was described as a “Harris Tweed Blazer”, but it was not labelled as such on the actual garment but most importantly it didn't actually use the official Harris Tweed fabric.

The Harris Tweed Authority said that ITX, Inditex' online division, had stepped into legal territory because it hadn’t actually used Harris Tweed and therefore may not use such description to sell its garments.

The Harris Tweed Act was passed in 1993 to safeguard the Harris Tweed industry. Harris Tweed is defined as cloth that has been handwoven by the islanders of Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra in their homes, using pure virgin wool that has been dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.

Image: Harris Tweed