Harris Tweed; fascinating (well, to me ) prog about manufacturing, lost skills etc.

fc123

Haven't got time to comment at the mo...will pick up tonight...but Haggas saw the route to saving HT by creating a mass market product......his tale has been cleverly edited throughout ep 2 + 3.

Except, he chose the wrong product.

The man had so much arrogance, it was painful to watch, esp during ep 3 when he spent a million quid on something...made me want to scream.

Bearded guy was Savile Row tailor (I called him dashing guy) and I watched another 4 hours of telly some time back that he was involved in about the decline in Savile Row....also had his independent weaver (the old couple who are filmed a lot) on that show too.

I am glad you didn't find it dull DS.;-)

ninky_2

isn't harris tweek now japanese owned? i used to have a 3 piece HT trouser suit - kind of androgenous in a miss jean brodie sort of way but saved by a nipped in waist. glad for the quality lining as it can be a little itchy. i also have a 3 piece tweed skirt suit bought off ebay. the tweed isn't harris but another scottish island. the good thing with tweeds are they are very sustainable unlike the manmade fibres that are basically plastic bags you wear.

kennyboy66_2

fc123 wrote: »

.

Sheep fleeces are only worth £1 nowadays and are often just burnt as it costs more to shear the sheep than the fleece is worth......so much for our love of Chinese Made Acrylic/Poly blend yarns.:rolleyes:

Pretty sure this is because of the UK breeds of sheep which are for meat not wool.

Compare this with Australia were about 90% are Merino sheep for meat & wool. Thus the saying there "built on the sheeps back"

Most UK wool goes to make carpets not clothing.

lostinrates

kennyboy, we have hugely diverse british sheep breeds, some wool breeds, some meat breeds, some dual purpose.

Some interesting stats

3% of world fibre sales are wool
http://www.britishwool.org.uk/pdf/Factsheet4.pdf should be a link to a pretty picture of world wide sheep populations, wool production nd the destintion of british greasy wool.

and a statement from the site:
BRITISH WOOL British Wool is a superior, natural fibre, thanks to a special combination of bulk, resilience, softness and warmth. British wool is used predominantly and recognised worldwide, as a quality carpet fibre. It is also ideal for casual, country style knitwear and tweed fabrics, knitting yarns, bedding and household products

.A further statment on apparel quality :apparel Centuries of selective breeding have produced more breeds of sheep in Britain than in any other country and many of them produce speciality wools. Some have a lustrous sheen, some are chunky and hardwearing for sportswear or country pursuits; some are fine and soft; others are naturally coloured and produce distinctive effects with artificial dyes. All are outstanding for quality knitwear, handknitting yarns and clothing.

(eta, the picture of the horse was there, not a rndom one I've stuck in. The people re wearing jumpers, but the horse, quite cleary isn't). An interesting point is up until fairly recently, wool rugs were still quite common for horses (as day rugs, winter travelling, or over the quaters in exercise). Racing fanes might remember the common red/brown/gold stripe one that was refered to as a Newmarket rug. well, the pattern live on, but the rugs are made from fleece now. (similarly poly fabrics have replaces canvas and jute rugs too.) This is one place where modern wins for me.

http://www.britishwool.org.uk/apparel.asp?pageid=68

dopester

lostinrates wrote: »

and a statement from the site:
BRITISH WOOL British Wool is a superior, natural fibre, thanks to a special combination of bulk, resilience, softness and warmth.

Everyone is trying to sell something.. aren't they. I have my doubts on how superior British wool actually is, sorry.

Similar to the higher-end Harris Tweed local industry... in January 2009 when the story broke about Iceland sending in containers of Icelandic jumpers as donations to UK pensioners - I decided to do a little research.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/7859635.stm

Some of the patterns in the photos I quite liked.. for a hat, gloves, and maybe a jumper, or socks. It is quality wool for clothing.. (and retail prices to match).

Icelandic sheep is a unique breed.
For over a thousand years, total isolation and absence of contact with other breeds have protected the purity of the strain. Icelandic fleeces are among the rarest in the world, grown only in the high mountains. The rugged sheep brought over by the Vikings in the year 874 A.D. have maintained the same gene pool, making them truly one of the purest breeds in the western world. The number of sheep in Iceland decreases every year, making this exquisite fiber increasingly more rare.

Outnumbering the human population by almost 3 to 1 the Icelandic sheep have been bred for almost 1,100 years, grazed on virgin land and untouched by pollution.

Icelandic sheep are dual coated animals. The long outer guard hair gives strength to the yarn, while the short down gives the softness and warmth to the yarn. Icelandic wool is great for spinning and felting. Using different spinning methods, yarns are perfect for either knitting or weaving.

The Icelandic wool is made up of two types of fibers, coarse and fine. While the former are long, glossy, tough and water resistant, the latter tend to be softer and more insulating, providing a high resistance to cold and possessing a unique texture and natural colors. Not only is Icelandic wool wonderfully light and flexible, but also tremendously warm. No other wool is lighter, warmer, or more water-resistant.

Iceland's unique yarns
Until the late nineteenth century, Icelanders processed all their wool by hand. The fleece was washed the wool in volcanic hot springs, separated the tog from the thel during the long summer evenings, and carded and spun and knitted during the winter. Everyone in the family was involved, from the littlest to the eldest. Children as young as four were taught to knit, and even the men were expected to card and spin.

Icelandic fleece colors
Icelandic wool has a wide range of natural colors that include white, brown, gray, black, and a mix. When spun these yarns become a beautiful tweed that accepts dye readily. However, the variety of natural colors in Icelandic wool is so rich that there is little need to use dyes. Nothing matches the richness of natural-colored wools, which the Icelanders themselves prefer.

lostinrates

dopester wrote: »

Everyone is trying to sell something.. aren't they

marketing board certainly are.;)

As a mixed breed myself, part of one of the other countries who would give me a passport are renowned for sheep production. My loyalty to sheep is a bit torn (and I don't like sheep as people generally).

Afriend_2

lostinrates wrote: »

Some of the most intelligent people I have known have been either incredibly obtuse, or buffons. The buffons are the cleverist, because they pretent to be obtuse and arrogant when really they are not, possibly quite the opposite. Acting the fool requires intelligence: itherwise it wouldn't be ''acting''. being a fool is something else entirely.

There is another set of intelligent folk. The media aware /spin doctors. Those whom what you see is far from what you get. Tony Blair (as a person) and Tesco (as a company) are great examples of this.

They are far worse than the buffoon Boris Johnson IMHO.

dopester

fc123 wrote: »

Bearded guy was Savile Row tailor (I called him dashing guy)

In part 3.. the Harris Tweed Authority woman was taken aback by his rangey handsomeness when they finally met for the first time. The voiceover then saying he'd recently been voted one of the 50th best dressed men on the planet.

I thought his speech to the weavers and local industry people was well pitched. He secretly thought they might be too close to their own work, to fully appreciate how others in the world saw it. He tried to instill in them how others saw it's pureness, heritage and quality. It seemed to go down well.

The Harris Tweed in some of those limited edition Alfa Romeos was pretty well done.

fc123 wrote: »

The isles have tourists visit to see the weavers etc...and they cannot buy anything made of HT on the island...nothing at all...not even a souvenir purse.

The charity shop was about the only source. I just wonder how many visits they get there from tourists? It was busier with flights in/out than I initially imagined it would be (where are these people getting all their travelling money from? Including the designer.. flying to Japan. I guess there is good money when you're getting it done right.)

Yes the Harris Tweed Authority should have set up some area for tourists to at least see Harris Tweed original items... and to buy.. I'm just not sure about the footfall / designs to offer / what premiums could be commanded. No store there could be like one of the Saville Row shops.. but it would probably tick over nicely in it's own right.

fc123 wrote: »

Some of it made me shout at the screen esp the woman employed to 'promote' Harris Tweed......you just want to die watching her do her 'job'.

She seemed to have more get-up-and-go, real-world savvy, than many other locals I saw on the show - who were locked in an old-world timewarp. She still fell a bit short though. Going to France for that trade-fair. The Columbian couple were nice. They sort of had one mind, really intune with each other, and were big fans of Harris Tweed. How would you have pushed it better?

The Yorkshire man (Haggas?)... he seemed to think he knew everything about everything.. including brochures, models and photography. 75,000 jackets knocked up, hoping to sell at £300 a pop... then struggling to shift any. That was an expected £22.5 million of stock not moving from the warehouse. That film he made... just lol. Cringe. He is lucky the documentary showed as much of it as they did, because I can't see how it would get aired in full elsewhere.

He could be the enemy of Harris Tweed if that pitch is misinterpreted as the dominant view of Harris Tweed. The high-end independents seemed a lot more switched on.. but even the Glasgow designer, with his new designs.. felt slighted, when they asked him to showcase just 4 instead of 8 on the catwalk show they did. He said something like he's experienced less catty politics in a gay club.

Difficult times.. some opportunities. So many pitfalls, risks - although big profits too when you get it right, in this industry. A lot more complexity than I could cope with.

lostinrates

dopester wrote: »

. I just wonder how many visits they get there from tourists? .

Oooh, now that would be a fun place for an MSE debate forum meet up.

fc123

Dopestar ; She seemed to have more get-up-and-go, real-world savvy, than many other locals I saw on the show - who were locked in an old-world timewarp. She still fell a bit short though. Going to France for that trade-fair. The Columbian couple were nice. They sort of had one mind, really intune with each other, and were big fans of Harris Tweed. How would you have pushed it better?

The problem is that there isn't currently a mass market (as yet) for HT in any product. All the tailors and nichey designers aren't going to sell enough volume of product to support the islands weavers therefore you aren't going to get youngsters interested in learning the trade as it yields too small an income ....even though there are tax credits nowadays.


The car was inspring as I could see HT pitched at high end upholstery/interiors producers...except, Ms In Charge from her shed didn't seem too clued in about 'end product' in any way....apart from her hobby of Gonks and the obvious jackets.

As it is an expensive fabric (I don't know how much it is per metre? I will google now to find out), whole garments may not be commercially viable for a more mass market consumer, but as a fill in or trim, there is def a future...or at least enough to be able to top up demand slightly and up production to keep it going until the fabric becomes fashionable again.

If I were Mrs In Charge, I would donate several metres to Royal college of art for a project and see what the students throw up (they have furniture+ shoe design as well as garments) and I would grab some grant money to show in Japan...available from Govt exports agency (cannot remember the proper title).
Cath Kidston uses old rugs from Yorkshire to upholster banquette type things in her shops....give her some tweed for free.

And somewhere like John Lewis....offer them some bolts on SOR to sell in their fabric department.

If she is on a fixed salary then she can potter about with the copyright bits and bobs...I would put her on commission only + min wage and see what she comes up with.