Tweed kilts

[RockyR]

Matt,

I think this is a great thread idea. I have 1 Charcoal tweed kilt (and jacket and vest), 1 "dusty blue" tweed kilt (and vest) and a olive green tweed with 2.5" dark gold squares on it on order (jacket / vest on order along with material for my kilt). The green and gold one will look like the one on HAMISH (above), but will be an olive color with gold SQUARES.

Here's a pic of the charcoal ensemble:



For anyone thinking of a tweed kilt from Matt or any vendor, I'd say go for it... ESPECIALLY if you already have a tartan. The tweeds allow you to wear a whole differrent range of shirts if you want (Stripes or print shirts... even TARTAN shirts) and are also versatile enough with a matching jacket / vest to REALLY look smart.

I do have a question though... (sort of on topic). Wasn't the Harris Tweed Corp bought by an English mill (there are PLENTY of other tweed suppliers out there, so not to worry about getting a tweed kilt from Matt)? I read in a few issues of Scotish Life that they were. In the last issue, they talked about how the mill (I forget the name off the top of my head) will be cutting selection down from 150+ tweeds a year to 4 or 5 MASS produced and marketed ones. Since this is VERY MUCH a "cottage industry" (most Harris Tweed is woven by families in their homes and MUST be woven on the Isles of Harris or Lewis to be called "Harris Tweed"), they were thinking of striking and holding up production. I was wondering what the status of this whole "situation" was (since Matt deals with Harris tweed much more than I, perhaps he could shed some light).

Should this discussion be on another thread or should we discuss it here? I don't want to "hi-jack". If the mods (or Matt, since it's his thread) want to move this and start a new thread, please feel free.