Simon A
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2012
- Messages
- 174
- Reaction score
- 237
It won't be due to a "problem" with the yarn, it is an issue of consumers demanding something from this artisanal supply chain that it was never meant to deliver. It's from the same sheep, raised much the same way as 60-70 years ago, the wool is processed into top pretty much the same way as ever. If the market wants 350-400g handloomed tweeds made from single ply thread now, when 2 generations ago they wanted 650-1000 g tweed made from twin-ply thread, then the spinning mill will respond to what the weavers ask for. The downside, less durability and less ability to resist bagging/losing shape when woven. I have asked weavers in Harris and Lewis if they could make short runs of 900-1000 g overcoating, and they responded that they can make it with heavier thread imported from the Mainland, but it can't be branded "Harris Tweed".Fair, but I think some people have basically inferred that that declining quality in the cloth overall is due to root issues with woollen yarn available at the start of the process and not necessarily the manufacturing of the cloth itself.