South Korea has been earmarked as an important market for the biggest producer of Harris Tweed this year.
Harris Tweed Hebrides is predicting "another growth year" for the industry and is looking eastwards from Lewis for further expansion.
The Shawbost-based company, which accounts for more than 80% of Harris Tweed production and was named Scotland's Textile Brand of the Year in 2011, says orders are already running 25% ahead of the same stage last year when they ended up turning away work due to weaver capacity constraints.
Chairman Brian Wilson said this week: "It is important to get the message out to the weavers and their families, as well as our own workforce, that everything is looking very positive for Harris Tweed and we are anticipating another growth year.
"Many of our customers have realised that it is now advisable to order earlier than they were used to doing in the past. There was no quiet period or mill lay-offs and we went straight from last season's orders into building stock for the next cycle."
Japan was the company's biggest market last year, overtaking Germany for the first time.
Mr Wilson said: "We had doubts about whether demand from Japan would hold up because of economic conditions there, but no orders were cancelled and we have the benefit of an excellent agent. Our chief executive, Ian Angus MacKenzie, made an important visit in November to spread the 'order early' message and that is exactly what they are doing".
He added that South Korea was also beginning to feature as a major market and that the company would be making a big push there this year.
"There is a tendency for South Korean fashion to follow the lead from Japan, so we are already seeing steady growth."
Mr MacKenzie said the move towards early ordering had taken seasonality out of the Harris Tweed industry for the first time in years.
"It has been a very encouraging start to the year and we are confident it will continue".
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