Tweed may not be the first fabric that comes to mind when you imagine where fashion is going today. To some, the fabric can come across as antiquated or stuffy, especially since menswear has generally shifted toward comfort and practicality in the 21st century.

Indeed, tweed isn’t anything new. The tightly woven, usually woolen fabric finds its roots in 19th-century Scotland. Legend has it that the Scots originally referred to it as “tweel” (as in twill), but an English trader mistook it for “tweed” (as in Scotland’s Tweed River).

The fabric is closely tied to the British Isles, where generations of farmers have harvested the wool from their sheep and spun it into threads to be used for warm, sturdy garments. As original producers like Lovat Mill in Hawick, Scotland, reach two hundred years in business, they continue to produce some of the world’s best tweeds.

While tweed never really disappeared, the fabric is experiencing an international resurgence in the collections of the most influential designers, finding new expressions in various shapes and styles. But why now?

The Return to Sophistication

Over the last five or so years, the fashion pendulum has slowly swung back toward a sartorial mood. Whether it’s due to fast-fashion fatigue or a reaction against the hegemony of branded basics, the focus of men’s style is reorienting toward craft.

Last year’s 2025 Met Gala theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” was a major signal, bringing unprecedented attention to traditional men’s tailoring with its all-star host committee. A$AP Rocky, one of the co-chairs and the CFDA’s 2025 Fashion Icon, even used the occasion to promote the opening of his AWGE Tailor Shop.

The other 2025 CFDA honorees, Ralph Lauren (American Womenswear Designer) and Thom Browne (American Menswear Designer), also highlight this stylistic turn with their prep-adjacent sensibilities. Furthermore, the UK’s Fashion Awards highlighted designers in this realm of style, including Jonathan Anderson as Designer of the Year and Wales Bonner, the new Hermès menswear director, as British Menswear Designer of the Year.

The Tweed Takeover

This movement has been particularly friendly to tweed, which has had a major presence in many 2026 collections that have emerged thus far.

One can’t begin to discuss the fabric without mentioning the impact of Coco Chanel’s influential adaptation of tweed for womenswear in the early 20th century. In keeping with house tradition, Matthieu Blazy showed no shortage of tweed variants in recent highly anticipated debuts. It was at the Chanel Métiers d’Art 2026 show that A$AP Rocky appeared in a frayed tweed Chanel jacket as its newest male ambassador.

However, tweed made waves far beyond Chanel, appearing in Alessandro Michele’s Valentino, both of Glenn Martens‘ collections at Diesel and Maison Margiela, and Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut.

Having shown his SS26 line in October, Anderson’s Dior menswear collection contained several pieces ranging from sculpted Donegal tweed blazers to duo-tone tweed coats. Tweed also continues to be a central material in his eponymous line. Anderson noted on his website that the JW Anderson Pre-Fall 2026 tweed trousers were produced by a fifth-generation Irish family mill founded in 1866. The Northern Irish designer has also previewed new loafers crafted from green twill tweed on Instagram.

Across the pond, America’s menswear tastemakers are also tapping into the fabric’s appeal. Bouclé, speckled, and patchworked tweeds were prominently placed in Kith’s SS26 collection, taking the form of blousons, biker jackets, and coats. Noah, another East Coast label known for its premium fabrics, has also highlighted tweed in its FW25/26 lineup, even dedicating a January editorial to its tweed products from Scotland’s Lovat Mill. And as Rowing Blazers’ Jack Carlson ushers in a new era at J. Press, one can certainly expect no shortage of tweed at the century-old prep brand.

A Sartorial Signifier

Tweed began as one of the earliest “performance” fabrics, used mainly for sportswear garments worn by wealthy nobles. Due to wool’s insulating and water-resistant properties, tweed was ideal for leisurely activities like hunting.

Taking account of its social history, tweed’s return to popularity fits neatly into the evolution of the contemporary “quiet luxury” aesthetic. In contrast to high-visibility branding as a social signifier, tweed is a more subtle symbol, appreciated instead for its unique weaves and cultural classifications.

There are many types of tweed, including weaves like twill, chevron, and houndstooth, and styles like Donegal, which is known for its colorful flecks. Like fine wines and cheeses, some types of tweed are protected by special regulatory bodies.

For example, the Harris Tweed Authority oversees tweeds “handwoven by the islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides,” and “made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides.” As of late, the Harris Tweed Authority has been particularly innovative, lending its IP for footwear collaborations like the Harris Tweed x Nike Dunk Low and the Vans Premium Authentic Harris Tweed collection.

The Future of Tweed

Today, tweed has traveled far beyond its Western gatekeepers. Much like how Japan has embraced denim and mastered the casual fabric into a luxury material, there are also modern Japanese mills specializing in fine tweeds.

Tokyo-based luxury label Auralee has recently highlighted new tweed styles using fabric produced by Nihon Homespun, a Hanamaki City-based producer equipped with weaving machines from Scotland. Unlike traditional tweed, the Japanese purveyor employs a range of different textiles, including silk, rayon, recycled polyester, and organic cotton, further expanding the possibilities of the fabric.

Elsewhere, BEAMS Plus’s recent collaboration with Academy by Blackstock and Weber has a major focus on Harris Tweed, manifesting in an Ivy-style blazer and Balmacaan coat clad in patchworked navy tweed. This particular collaboration between a next-generation American label and a legendary Japanese brand, using authentic Harris Tweed, brings the fabric’s global influence full circle.

A similar cross-cultural synthesis occurs in the work of emerging British-Pakistani designer Zain Ali, who has found simple yet striking applications for bold tweeds in his jackets and shirts. Ali fuses South Asian silhouettes and details with a sartorial British flair. From chunky houndstooth to technicolor Donegal tweeds, these fabrics that may otherwise come across as matronly or quaint instead read as contemporary and even futuristic.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by @znali.co

Weaving New Meanings

To say “2026 will be the year of tweed” may seem like an ambitious statement. Perhaps some readers will roll their eyes because tweed isn’t so much a trend as it is a timeless fabric. Alternatively, another reader might see it as a remnant of history, steeped in nostalgia and belonging in the past.

Regardless of one’s personal feelings about the fabric, its resurgence answers a desire to keep craft alive and to return to clothing’s material foundations. 21st-century menswear may just be maturing out of its surface-level fashion spectacles, instead becoming more discerning about fabric and form.

The pronounced tactility and three-dimensionality of fabrics like tweed are all the more enticing in an age where much of our experience of fashion is flattened by digital images. Like the firm, weighted feel of raw denim, tweed’s noticeably hefty weave can ground a look in materiality.

If the first quarter of the century was all about taking logo-heavy streetwear and slouchy athleisure to its peak, this year and beyond may see the reinstatement of craft as a key driver of value.