Harris Tweed controversies

[michaelbeeman]

That would be tragic if it were to go away. I've always loved the feel and look of Harris Tweed.

[Pleater]

My Dad was not a suit wearing fellow and always wore a tweed jacket and flannels to be 'dressed up' - as did a lot of his contemporaries.

The hand weavers of Harris and many other crafters should - if I had any say in it, all be designated National Treasures, to be maintained, protected from commercial pressures, encouraged, and even studied and assisted in their work by suitable acolytes so that their skills and knowledge be not lost to time and neglect.

I still make knitted garments on a domestic knitting machine, but years ago I did cashmere jerseys, for a firm who must have done small orders for exclusive shops.

China moved in on the cashmere market, the yarn was no longer available to buy, the fleeces were spun and made up into garments in China and exported. The quality of the yarn is nothing like that which I used to use, and although there are now cashmere sweaters on sale in supermarkets for affordable prices, they are very poor things compared to what was available, for a lot more money, but a far superior product.

Mr Haggas seems to be doing the same thing with the Harris tweed, the cloth is now no longer available to buy, and I suspect that once the 'real' cloth is no longer available that some other tweed cloth will be found and used for the China made jackets, and there will no longer be production of cloth in the traditional manner, just as there is no more production of cashmere yarn from the traditional sources.