Greek Milan-based designer Angelos Bratis got some help from scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh to come up with a one-off design – Harris Tweed that gives off a scent of Scotch, specifically Johnnie Walker Black Label. The whisky scent features rich malt and dark chocolate tones with golden vanilla. The new scented designs will be available in Germany, Greece and Belgium.

The scented tweed products feature grey fabric with blue, pink and yellow highlights and is called Harris Tweed. To create the whisky aroma, scientists layered the scent into the fabric thorughout the finishing process so that it can be permanently imbued in the tweed.

“I have worked with aromas in the past but they were only meant to withstand one dry clean,” says Donald Mackay, head of the finishing department of the Harris Tweed mill.

“It’s not really a whisky smell. It’s the smell of the ingredients, the aroma of the ingredients which make up the nose of the Johnnie Walker Black Label,” said Brian Wilson of Harris Tweed Hebrides.

Harris Tweed is protected by the British Government and comes under the Harris Tweed Act of 1993 that states that the rough cloth must by “hand-woven 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 Bevrides.”

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