AW18 Stone Island x Harris Tweed Review
Updated: Jun 4, 2020
We got our hands on the new Harris Tweed Polymorphic Ice Jacket, have a read about what we thought.
Harris Tweed is the most iconic of all tweed material produced, since 1846 the islanders of the Outer Hebrides have woven and dyed the fabric using the same techniques from the very beginning. For such a historic brand in the area of textile production and research it was only natural for Stone Island to find common ground and blend the two companies styles into this amazing garment we see today.
“The mark of the Orb, pressed onto every length of cloth and seen on the traditional label affixed to finished items, guarantees the highest quality tweed, dyed, spun and handwoven by islanders of the Outer Hebrides.”
We linked up in Norway with Lars Vada (aka @van_vada1986 on Instagram) to take a look at the new release for ourselves. The Tweed is an exclusively made design developed by both brands just for this release. It uses 8 hand selected colours of wool, spun together into a single yarn which is then woven into the finished fabric. The jacket itself has a marked feel of heavy quality and heritage from the use of the Harris Tweed. It's a jacket you know you are wearing that's for sure. But it also it sits and wears well and is very warm and comfortable even in the cold November of Norway.
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The innovation of the new Polymorphic Ice material is causing a stir among Stone Island fans. The Ice material relatively unchanged since its first outing in 1986 has been transformed to incorporate the 8 different colours used in the tweed weave, these colours become visible as the temperature changes from high to low and vise versa giving an amazing multicolored finish. The colour change goes in patches starting from a light grey when warm through to a multicoloured blue/red/purple/gold finishing with a dark grey when sub zero. This colour change is designed to replicate the 8 colours used in the Harris Tweed weave, and it certainly does as you watch it change in person.
The Polymorphic hood is detachable and is funneled to block wind and rain it also folds down to create a high neck collar. The front pockets also in Polymorphic Ice material are attached to the down liner and have a modular system working with the outer Harris Tweed jacket. This allows the pockets to be attached via Velcro through two zip openings on the chest. The modular system works well and gives a nice feature and functionality to the outer piece.
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We love this release, it makes a huge change to the more hyped collaborative releases in recent years. A return to the roots of the brand with quality, fabric design and research at its core! The £1575.00 price tag is well worth the money when you look at the tech and quality involved in this release. It is still available here if you want to grab one.