Harris Tweed article in the Guardian

[Salv]

Today's Guardian newspaper carries a short article about the new owner of the majority of the Harris tweed industry, which I thought our tweed fans might find interesting:

Buyer comes to rescue of Harris tweed industry


¬? Businessman says he will revitalise famous name
¬? Scottish islanders hope to build up sales of cloth

Kirsty Scott
Saturday December 9, 2006
The Guardian


For the past 30 years, like his father before him, Callum Maclean has made a living weaving Harris tweed at his home in the far north of the island of Lewis. "It's a good life," says Mr Maclean, 58, from the village of Ness. "Hard times when the work isn't there, but when the work is there the lifestyle suits me down to the ground."
The industry has changed little in centuries, but this week the weavers and mill workers who produce the world-famous cloth are absorbing the news that the majority of the Harris tweed trade in the Outer Hebrides has been sold to a Yorkshire businessman.

Brian Haggas, a textile entrepreneur, has bought out the Stornoway-based KM group, which produces more than 95% of the islands' cloth. The business, which employs 100 mill workers and 150 home-based weavers, had been on the market for a number of years.
Derick Murray, managing director of the KM Group, said he was sorry to be relinquishing the business, but he believed he was leaving it in safe hands. "I just feel that they will develop the business," he said. "I think they will have a go and they are quite determined."

Mr Haggas previously owned John Haggas, a Yorkshire textile firm founded in the 1700s which recently ceased trading. He said yesterday that it had fallen foul of the general decline in the textile trade.

Mr Haggas, who plans to visit the islands next week, said: "We know exactly what we want to do. I have written a little piece I am going to send to the weavers saying we have bought the business with the aim of trying to revitalise the name and build up the sales of Harris tweed. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but that's our aim. I would love to think that when I fade away Harris tweed will be thriving in the islands and it will be a name even better known than it is now."

At the height of the industry in the 1960s the islands' weavers were producing 7m metres of cloth a year, largely for the American market. Clint Eastwood sported a Harris tweed jacket in the Dirty Harry movies. By the mid-1980s the average was 4.5m metres, but the bottom fell out of the US market in the late 1980s.

In recent years the industry has been boosted by renewed interest among designers and film stars.

In 2006 the weavers will produce around 1m metres of cloth, the best output for nine years.

"The fear was if no one bought it [the KM group]," says Mr Maclean. "The alternative was just unthinkable. We knew it was going to be sold. As far as I am aware I'm happy enough with it. Time will tell.

"As long as [Haggas] understands that the industry is different, that Harris tweed has to be handwoven. It is a unique type of product." Only cloth that has been handcrafted by islanders from wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides qualifies for the Harris tweed orb, the stamp of authenticity, and the industry is protected by an act of parliament.

 

[scotrace]

Thanks Salv, we find it very interesting indeed!

 

[Salv]

There's a great photo in the print edition of a weaver named Iain MacKay with a bolt of raw cloth over his shoulder. Just behind MacKay is an area of scrubby grass leading to a beach, and in the background the land slopes gently uphill and you can just make out a couple of cottages in the lee of a hill. I'll try to scan it this afternoon when I get home from work and add it in.

 

[jimmy the lid]

Interesting article -- and looking forward to the photo. Harris tweed is truly a classic.

 

[Salv]

Here's the scan - it came from a newspaper so the quality isn't brilliant, but I kept it quite large so you can see some detail.

 

[Fletch]

the bottom fell out of the US market in the late 1980s.

Now why is that? I'd've thought it was a small, select, but steady demand, mostly from "traditional" soft-shoulder men's shops. You know the kind - in middle sized cities and ritzy suburbs - carry brands like Southwick, Kenneth Gordon, Farrell Reed - lots of dark paneling, bullion blazer crests, and lime green Irish linen in the spring.

Though personally, I'm fonder of my Donegal tweed than my Harris. Richer colors, softer hand.

 

[AlanC]

That's a great picture. Thanks for the link and the scan.

 

[Tomasso]

Though personally, I'm fonder of my Donegal tweed than my Harris. Richer colors, softer hand.

Me too. Sorry to say but Harris tweed ain't all that.[huh] There's much better stuff on the market.

 

[Briscoeteque]

That picture kept me and my roommate amazed for several minutes straight. Harris tweed is one of my favorite fabrics ever.