Organic Tweed Kilts!

[McClef]

They look truly lovely Matt.

But this "organic" bit is a little puzzling when it comes to wool which has to grow organically on a sheep anyway?

I am not sure that even if the sheep are fed organically that it makes any difference to the final product (does our hair become "organic" if we eat organic food?). I have never heard of "organic" dyes - they may be natural ones but that's a different issue.

In the UK there has been criticism of how the word is used and what it actually means.

The tweeds can surely sell themselves on their own merits without words that have no commonly accepted definition and mean different things to different people.

[WClarkB]

only tweed mill to date to be certified organic by the Soil Association.
M

I take it that the remaining mills must be producing INORGANIC tweed?

[JamieKerr]

I...was not aware that wool isn't organic!

[Bugbear]

I...was not aware that wool isn't organic!

Sounds like this is about the dying and the processing of the wool, and possibly even the feeding of the sheep.

I don't know anything for sure though.

[tyger]

Read all about "organic" and the soil association here:

http://www.soilassociation.org/

Not to go off-topic, but here you have the presently fashionable "climate change" awareness orientation applied to agriculture. It really got its start in the 1960s. There will be a lot more of this in years to come. Don't get hung up on the fact that predictable and cyclic climate change that has been going on for at least 300 billion years (see footnote). Most folks just don't want to hear about that!

But the "organic" orientation does have merit in that farmers should be encouraged to prevention errosion, minimalize pollution, and maximize sustainable small-plot production. They also should be encouraged to earn a profit, and charge a premium for a quality product whose supply is limited. Those facets of operation are are worthy of reward. We did that quite naturally not all that many years ago.


Footnote.
+ If you ever get to visit the Céide Fields in North Mayo, upstairs in the visitors center you will find one of the most fascinating displays that illustrates cyclical climate change that has occurred over billions of years. The bogs of northwest Ireland didn't exist not so long ago. The land was covered by huge forests. Small plots of land were cleared and planted. However, something happened (climate change) and in the present era, bogs predominate. Don't forget: the Gulf Stream once poured into the coast of Spain and Portugal. The islands known as Ireland and UK were uninhabitable. As the Gulf Stream shifted toward the islands, people migrated to the land as it thawed, and settled there. The earth warms, cools, and warms. It has done it long before there were many people, or people at all.

[Jack Daw]

I went to the webby and the prices seem reasonable enough. These fabrics are darned handsome. I may be getting the itch again...a jonesing, a fever, the macinash...oy. But, not for a kilt - a jacket and waistcoat.

[pdcorlis]

How cool is that?

[Standard]

Very nice looking Matt, thanks for posting the information for us.
Will the dyes that they are using give a more "historically correct" colour scheme to the cloth?

[WClarkB]

Read all about "organic" and the soil association here:

http://www.soilassociation.org/

Not to go off-topic, but here you have the presently fashionable "climate change" awareness orientation applied to agriculture. It really got its start in the 1960s. There will be a lot more of this in years to come. Don't get hung up on the fact that predictable and cyclic climate change that has been going on for at least 300 billion years (see footnote). Most folks just don't want to hear about that!

But the "organic" orientation does have merit in that farmers should be encouraged to prevention errosion, minimalize pollution, and maximize sustainable small-plot production. They also should be encouraged to earn a profit, and charge a premium for a quality product whose supply is limited. Those facets of operation are are worthy of reward. We did that quite naturally not all that many years ago.

Soil conservation, as least as a named government program in the USA started in the 30's with the "Soil Bank" after the Dust Bowl years.

People did it then, NOT, because they had some imagined benefit to humans to be "organic" but to the sustainability of their major asset: THE LAND. The question is to my mind is NOT whether some practices could be called "organic" or any other invented or misused term but whether there is an advantage to us humans in the long run.
Should people pay more for food that is no better for them? Perhaps not. Should people be rewarded for preserving a resource for future generations to exploit. Perhaps.
Is there a benefit to "organic food;" Is it BETTER in some way. Not that has ever been shown.
Finding trace contaminants does not constitute a defect in the food. Were that so, they would have been banned. I lament the fuzzy thinking that has people convinced without evidence that "organic" (whatever that may actually mean) has a benefit for those who are asked to pay more to keep from starving.

[Hamish]

Mouth-wateringly gorgeous, Matt. What a selection! I was introduced to the Ardalanish tweeds back in July and have earmarked (!) one for when I can afford to buy kilts again!!

Take care,
Ham.