Quote Originally Posted by Pleater View Post
Yesterday there was a program on TV about Savile Row - about the gentlemen's outfitters there.

One of the men they followed went to the isle of Harris to buy tweed, and it was explained that the industry had been taken over and 'streamlined' so that there was no source of yarn from the original mill other than for the manufacture of a very limited range of tweeds.

I supose that the Harris tweed, being a narrow width, is not all that economical as a kilt fabric - but I could almost hope that someone might set up to weave kilt lengths of tweed material and create a new industry elsewhere.
Yes and no. Harris tweed cloth must, by definition, be made from yarns spun on the Isle of Harris & Lewis, or their outlying islands. There was in recent years only a single yarn mill operating on the islands supplying yarn to the Harris tweed weavers. That mill was recently bought by a company planning on using the famous yarns only to produce cloth for a limited range of clothing for an English manufacturer.

This put the whole Harris Tweed industry in a bit of a conundrum. However, the most recent news I have heard is that a formerly closed down yarn mill has been purchased by locals on the islands and is in the process of reopening so that the Harris Tweed weavers will once more have a steady source of yarn. So the future sill looks bright!