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What role do UK-sourced materials and fabrics play within British heritage and local fashions?
By growing the crops such as flax and breeding livestock such as sheep and alpacas, which are needed to produce the fabrics, we can employ so many people to create the finished products, as well as maintain our gorgeous countryside. Skills are kept alive with spinning and weaving, hand sewing along with the mechanics needed for the machinery to keep everything running smoothly. Scotland for example, highlights Harris Tweed with such aplomb that although it may seem a tourist attraction, it is a way of life that has not changed much since well before the turn of the 20th century. The export of Harris Tweed today is phenomenal with Japan, America and Germany all wanting the fabulous cloth from the Isle of Harris and Lewis.
In your own experience, what have the connections between quality and item longevity been?
Let’s take the coat I bought from Really Wild Clothing this Autumn: It is made from Harris Tweed and the reason why I bought it was that the other Harris Tweed coat I owned had become too small. It was a size 10 and I am now a size 12/14. I am not surprised really because I bought that original coat in 1994 when I was 24 and now I am 53 years of age. I sold it on Vinted as it was as good as new. There was one seam I repaired in the lining, apart from that, the exterior of the tweed was even better than when I bought it. I was only ever going to be buying another Harris Tweed coat to last me another – well to last me forever.
What impact has being aware of sustainability and locally sourced materials made on your day-to-day life and maintenance?
I am lucky that my nearest shop is a farm shop. I live in the countryside and that allows me to have locally sourced produce on my doorstep. I moved to the countryside thirteen years ago, but for as long as I can remember I have never bought plastic items with free produce inside. I refill, reuse, restore and repair. I restored my 1964 Series2a Land Rover and now I am going to be doing the same with my 1974 Honda XL350 motorbike. Over the past week, I have repaired my grandmother’s trunk with new hand-printed lining paper and repaired all the fastenings – I am going to pop my spare duvets and pillows in there for my house guests. I know that I am doing something to help reduce waste. My petrol car and bike might pollute the air – but I am ensuring I do not buy mass-produced food with contents from halfway around the world. We all can do something – just something.
What is something you wish people knew about sustainable fashion?
Sustainable fashion to me means natural fibres and from people who can make a living to keep the cogs turning with the economy. I know many products now come from recycled plastic – but to me, that’s just popping a plaster on the issue. Why not start from the land up? Wool, flax, linen, cotton.. they last, with people making the materials such as Harris Tweed, from shepherds to shearers, to weavers to mill workers to tailors and interior designers – that is a whole environmental and financial ecosystem in one lesson- the sheep are sheered, the fleece is carded, spun, dyed, woven, milled to a cloth bolt and made into clothing and homewares. The whole problem with the Harris Tweed industry in the past was that it lasted and no one needed to repeat buy it. Fortunately, now it is more widely known and everyone wants their slice of sustainability. Which is brilliant.
You can find the publication ‘Harris Tweed, from land to street’ by Lara Platman here: Harris Tweed, From Land to Street
Lara regularly gives talks about her time living on the isles of Harris and Lewis for the creation of her publication about Harris Tweed, so if your organisation would like to have Lara visit for a talk, do please contact her.
Lara Platman – @photo.feature
