The Herringbone tweed is a variant of twill (diagonal striped fabric).
This characteristic is due to the twill weave; in this case, the loom for weaving is prepared by weaving diagonally.
This creates a sort of “chevron” which makes up a classic V-shaped pattern.
In England, this process takes the name of Herringbone, precisely because of its particularity of being zigzag which is reminiscent of the herring spine.

This plot has very ancient historical roots.
The most famous herringbone Tweed in the world is the cloth of the Holy Shroud.
Other herringbone fabrics, with a horsehair base, were discovered in Ireland, around 600 BC, before the arrival of the Celtic populations on the island.
The oldest examples, however, come from Northern Italy, where a six-foot-long (182cm to be exact) piece of linen cloth was found, worked in twill with a herringbone pattern.

This piece is presumed to have been found in the third millennium BC.

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