Dolce & Gabbana Fair Isle knitwear - - image by Catwalking.com
Clothes issues can make common cause for us all. How else to interpret The Economist’s sudden interest in (and defense of) the Scottish Fair Isle sweater? Investigating perhaps the smallest niche in the UK fashion industry, the mag has taken up the cause of the Shetland knitters, whose signature snowflake designs have been co-opted — horrors! — by the high fashion industry without proper accreditation. Where’s the British Fashion Council when you need them? This seems an issue designed just for them.
According to The Economist:
“No Scottish politician has taken up the case—so big retail chains can advertise “gorgeous heritage-inspired Fair Isle knitwear” that is machine-made elsewhere.”
And Dolce & Gabbana thought their only legal problems were with the Italian tax authorities!
Admittedly, things have not gone that far — right now, the complaints from Fair Islanders are limited to verbal slings and arrows — but my bet is we’ll see a government lobbying group soon enough. After all, as Teresa Fritschi, the American founder of web site Thistle & Broom, points out, ”Harris Tweed” is a trademark — ditto champagne, and no one else can use it (hence the advent of Prosecco and Cava, not to mention Sparkling Wine).
So why not Fair Isle? Especially given the fact that David Cameron’s government has a clear appreciation of the fashion industry — he’s just made Jimmy Choo’s Tamara Mellon and Anya Hindmarch, of the eponymous brand, ”global trade envoys” — and is working hard to support/publicise it as a UK success story (well, his wife did used to work at Smythson). In an age of austerity, riding to the rescue of traditional artisans on a small Scottish Isle might be the perfect political narrative for Christmas. Who wants to start a write-in campaign?
Vanessa has been the FT’s fashion editor since 2003, and is based in New York, though she lived in London for 12 years.