Harris Tweed

The industry is bought by John Haggas of Yorkshire, and we all breathe a sigh of relief that it is secure.

Release that breath.

Now single-width looms are to be phased out and the mill in Shawbost is closed. Some of the competition were bought up at the same time (no doubt in a very nice deal for them) and the capacity closed, and the building put up for sale.

Anyone who had any doubts about his intent (and I was one) need only look at the incorporation of the company Harris Tweed Scotland Limited (number: 05987374) on 2 November 2006 with a Registered Office at Haincliffe Road, Keighley, Yorkshire, where Brook Taverner are headquartered.

I would guess that this is the new parent company for the Kenneth MacKenzie group of companies, and the ability of the HTA to prevent a Yorkshire company using the trademark protected name, shows just how toothless the body actually is.

The future? Like too many of our assets, they have been sold to off-islanders to exploit mercilessly, with profits going elsewhere and with the weavers - once again - getting the shitty end of the stick.

As the product range is "slimmed" (read: slashed, with no investment in anything other than the bog-standard, mass produced, unexciting range for the aspirant generation with no interest in tradition) the skills will be lost, and the industry will chug along doing nicely, but without any real prospect of significant growth. I'll almost guarantee that profits will rise in the short-term as risk and the range drop, but that in the medium term the industry is doomed.

Someday I'll recount HIE's role in making this happen in the guise of "rescuing the industry".