Shawbost mill sets its sights on Korea 12/1/12
Harris tweed hebrides is predicting another growth year for the industry and have kicked off 2012 by naming South Korea as a new target market.
The firm which runs the Shawbost mill which accounts for over 80% of Harris Tweed production and was named Scotland’s Textile Brand of the Year in 2011, says that orders are already running 25 per cent ahead of the same stage last year when they ended up turning away work due to weaver capacity constraints.
Chairman Brian Wilson said this week: “It is important to get the message out to the weavers and their families as well as our own workforce that everything is looking very positive for Harris Tweed and that we are anticipating another growth year.
“Many of our customers have realised that it is now advisable to order earlier than
they were used to doing in the past. There was no quiet period or mill lay-
Japan was the company’s biggest market last year, overtaking Germany for the first time.
Mr Wilson said: “We had doubts about whether demand from Japan would hold up because of economic conditions there, but no orders were canceled and we have the benefit of an excellent agent.
He said: “Our chief executive, Ian Angus MacKenzie, made an important visit in November to spread the ‘order early’ message and that is exactly what they are doing.”
He added that South Korea was also beginning to feature as a major market and that the company will be making a big push there this year. “We have a very active agent and there is a tendency for South Korean fashion to follow the lead from Japan, so we are already seeing steady growth.”
Harris Tweed Hebrides has accepted an invitation from United Kingdom Trade International
to take part in a high-
He said: “Last year, we concentrated our promotional efforts on the United States,
which is coming back nicely, and the BRIC countries of high economic growth -
Mr MacKenzie said that the move towards early ordering had taken seasonality out of the Harris Tweed industry for the first time in many years. “I came back after the Christmas break to good orders from Germany, Japan, and Korea. It has been a very encouraging start to the year and we are confident it will continue.”
He paid tribute to the efforts made by the weavers throughout last year to keep up with demand and welcomed the arrival of “reinforcements” from the recent training courses in Lewis and Harris.
From the start of the year, Harris Tweed Hebrides has changed its status from Limited Liability Partnership to Limited Company but Mr Wilson said that this would not affect the workforce, weavers or anyone other than investors.
“We have become a healthily profitable company but every penny of profit has been
re-