Brian Haggas's nag, trained by his son, won the Edinburgh Cup (3.10 at Musselburgh) yesterday.
http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Edinburgh-Cup-favourite-Harris-Tweed.6343660.jp
"The horse Harris Tweed is owned by Brian Haggas, father of the trainer and a controversial figure in the industry, who happily admits he uses the horse to promote the clothing products he makes. Despite the heat at Musselburgh, he was wearing a natty tweed jacket – Harris, of course."
"New car,caviar; think I'll buy a football team' New money and horses usualy equals a trainwreck and I give him 2 years.
If I may, a nod to Peter @ Booksters. Yes, some of his patterns look like A german flying circus. But he has given a lease on mills I never heard of in my american ignorance beyond Harris and Donegal. And Peter knows horses more than this twit ever will. And moreso, you don't have to bribe Fergie to email him.
I can't say I'm an expert number cruncher on the Tweed industry but I'd have thought with increased, improved and efficient indoor heating around the globe plus the availability of cheap, durable and effective technical material for outdoors wear, I'd be willing to accept the market for heavy rough tweeds can't be revived.
Disclaimer: I still have two Harris (largely un worn) and one Donegal (regularly worn in winter only) jackets. I can't ever see myself buying a new one.
The Achilles heal of techno clothing is on our TV screens floating into Louisiana bayous. Longterm, it will prove far to expensive both in extractive impact and useability. There is a reason Bookster got started selling vintage on EBAY while one use goretex and pile went into landfills. Try wearing techno clothing 24/7 and it simply doesn't hold up. A niche outdoor book; The Winter Wilderness Companion by the Conovers goes into the issue with pros and cons of both. Our ever changing world, sped up by our own foolishness may see a resurgence in artisan materials; wool silk,leather,cotton. The stuff served us well for millenia up until @ half a century ago.
I'm betting some of our descendants will be in tweeds, perhaps mine in what I pass down. They better appreciate I eliminated fishtails and working cuffs after seeking advice here.
Last edited by ckav (2010-06-07 11:23:36)
^When I went through my jungle expedition phase, which resulted in my neck injury going acute somewhere atop a jungle tepui in Yanomani country, I sported Rohan expedition gear. Fully man made polymer materials, nothing natural. Impossible to destroy, other than by fire and if you follow that root, a mere whiff has the same effect as being gassed at Ypres.
Ckav is right though, tweeds are guaranteed to be passed down to the next generation.
I knew a fellow masters candidate who went down to Yanomani territory. I commented "It's been done, haven't you read the book?" She came back after 3 months with a profound dislike for yanomani's . Between a cobbled together thesis on migrant farm children of the new Mixtec indians replacing mexican farm workers and sleeping with a few profs she got her degree.
She teaches in some L.A. inner city school with barbed wire.
Someone remind me why anyone would want a Harris tweed jacket?
A online acquaintance was on a small commercial flight 'back of beyond' wearing a 3 piece tweed suit. The plane overshot the runway, went into water, broke up and caught fire. He got out, slipped on the wing and went into the waist deep water.
The tweed kept him from being burned, his core body temperature above the hypothermal threshold and a broken rib from moving enough to puncture a lung.
Harris, or any quality tweed in colder climes beats synthetic jogging pants, cargo shorts, tshirts and all the other crap passing for clothing. Clothing was, after all a creation to survive our enviroment before modesty and personal adornment took over.
Last edited by ckav (2010-06-08 16:16:50)
We should start a 'ckav challenge' with a prize for the best result.
Here is how it would work. You mention an item of clothing - or we could extend it to something else maybe - and we see who can coax the best ripping yarn out of the man.
For instance, you say 'I hate knitted ties'. Ckav avoids the obvious response like tourniquet for a terrible accident in the desert, or makeshift sling shot to keep a gang at bay. He unpicks the tie which he then uses to help him find way out of the biggest maze in the world when he had an urgent appointment that he was in great danger of missing..