The Making of Harris Tweed

**Oldhiker** · 20th March 10, 07:58 AM

Tell us the story about this Haggas fellow, something about him buying all the mills or somenthing????

**Nick Fiddes** · 20th March 10, 08:07 AM

You'll find a wee piece I wrote a while ago here:
http://blog.scotweb.co.uk/journal/20...happy-end.html

**KFCarter** · 20th March 10, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by Nick (Scotweb)

You'll find a wee piece I wrote a while ago here:
http://blog.scotweb.co.uk/journal/20...happy-end.html

I was ignorant of this story... glad to hear the situation is on the mend. I've always loved Harris Tweed but never fully understood what went into its creation. I appreciate the education, although my wallet is likely to be worse for it soon!

**Nick Fiddes** · 20th March 10, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by KFCarter

I was ignorant of this story... glad to hear the situation is on the mend. I've always loved Harris Tweed but never fully understood what went into its creation. I appreciate the education, although my wallet is likely to be worse for it soon!

I hope to help fill our the picture even more soon. As we speak I'm working this weekend on editing some video I shot too. Watch this space!

**McClef** · 22nd March 10, 04:56 AM

I found an article that may be of interest.

http://www.marketingnewstoday.co.uk/...t-yarn-robbery

**guitarmatt** · 22nd March 10, 06:08 AM

A question which you can feel free not to answer: Does this mean that all the 150 pound Harris Tweed jackets in the Royal Mile shops made their way there through Haggas' ignoble endeavour?

**Nick Fiddes** · 22nd March 10, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by guitarmatt

A question which you can feel free not to answer: Does this mean that all the 150 pound Harris Tweed jackets in the Royal Mile shops made their way there through Haggas' ignoble endeavour?

In brief, basically yes. He made so many he's had to dispose of stocks at bargain basement prices. In fact the quality of the jacket is very good, if you're tempted. That was never our gripe.

**tulloch** · 22nd March 10, 08:04 AM

Hmmmm - Haggis has a bad enough reputation around the world without this gumming up the works.

Thanks for the very interesting links. Thanks for helping to keep this treasure alive.

**figheadair** · 24th March 10, 04:41 AM

A very good piece. One bit of the story I've long disagreed with is the statement on the label that Harris Tweed is 'handwoven' - it is not. You are correct to say that it's produced entirely by human effort but the Hattersley and subsequent looms are not handlooms. The Harris Tweed Association continue to insist that the material is handwoven which is rather disingenuous.

**Nick Fiddes** · 24th March 10, 05:10 AM

Hmm... I take your point. Frankly I'm not expert enough in weaving technology and traditions to adjudicate on this. So I can only give you my own personal take, which mostly comes from my background as an academic Social Anthropologist. In essence, this is that I've long held the ultimate meaning of language to be one of shared usage, not of formal definition.

As I understand it the words hand-woven are enshrined in the Act of Parliament. So if the practice did not fall sufficiently within the generally accepted meaning of that term nowadays, I suspect it would never have got that far through the bill-drafting process, and/or legal challenges would have arisen before now. Therefore sorry, but I'll sit on the fence on this one...

However, in the video I've been working on that's almost ready for release, I do note that in this case hand-weaving actually means foot-powered. Hope that helps. :-)