{"id":203426,"date":"2024-12-28T01:43:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T01:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/28\/irelands-weavers-fight-to-save-donegal-tweed-from-foreign-imposters\/"},"modified":"2024-12-28T01:43:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T01:43:26","slug":"irelands-weavers-fight-to-save-donegal-tweed-from-foreign-imposters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/28\/irelands-weavers-fight-to-save-donegal-tweed-from-foreign-imposters\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland’s weavers fight to save Donegal tweed from foreign imposters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Weavers of Ireland’s famous Donegal tweed have called for a special protected status for their product, as the craft industry battles a raft of cheaper imitations branding themselves as “Donegals”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Urgent efforts are under way to take advantage of a change in EU policy, which could see non-food and drink products receive the same protected designation as champagne or parma ham.<\/p>\n

Currently, a textile manufacturer anywhere in the world can produce fabric and call it Donegal tweed, often vastly undercutting the genuine producers.<\/p>\n

“It’s not great,” says Kieran Molloy, a sixth-generation weaver at Molloy & Sons.<\/p>\n

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\n Weaver Kieran Molloy says the unrestricted use of Donegal in tweed sales is a problem
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He says the unrestricted use of the term Donegal “is making people think it’s a craft product, when in fact maybe it’s coming from an enormous mill in the UK or in China or Italy”.<\/p>\n

“When people maybe think of Donegal, and they’re thinking of mountains and sheep and the craft, a lot of the time that’s not what they’re getting.”<\/p>\n

Donegal tweed is a woollen fabric with neps – or flecks – of distinctive colours spun into the yarn as its main characteristic.<\/p>\n

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\n \"Samples\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The industry hopes to be awarded a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) following a 2022 decision by the European Commission to widen the categories of goods that could be protected. This would mean only fabric produced in Co Donegal could be described as a Donegal tweed.<\/p>\n

Patrick Temple is CEO of Donegal’s largest tweed producer, Magee Weaving, and also chair of the Donegal Tweed Association.<\/p>\n

He says the glut of foreign imposters “does detract from the business,” adding: “It also creates a mixed message for the consumer.<\/p>\n

“The wonderful thing about a PGI, if we’re lucky enough to obtain it, is that it creates a pure message to the consumer and they know they’re buying a genuine fabric woven in Donegal.”<\/p>\n

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\n \"Patrick\n <\/div>
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\n Patrick Temple says a PGI would help Magee protect its business
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Magee has celebrity fans like Sex And The City actor Sarah Jessica Parker, a regular visitor to Co Donegal.<\/p>\n

In some ways, the tweed is a victim of its own popularity, which means larger international brands can put reproductions on the market for far lower prices than the Donegal producers.<\/p>\n

Marks & Spencer has a range of men’s wool clothing marketed with the word “Donegal”, which features small flecks of colour.<\/p>\n

A blazer, with the fabric woven in England and constructed in Cambodia, retails for \u20ac205 in Ireland<\/strong><\/a>, less than half the price of many of Magee’s authentic Donegal tweed blazers.<\/p>\n

Mr Temple examined the M&S jacket for Sky News. “It’s a pleasant blazer, in a natural wool,” he says.<\/p>\n

“It’s emulating, trying to be a Donegal. But unfortunately, it’s not woven in Donegal, there’s a small fleck there but we can’t call it a Donegal tweed.”<\/p>\n

“It undercuts our position in the region of Donegal, as the genuine weavers of Donegal tweed,” he adds.<\/p>\n

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Marks & Spencer stops short of describing its clothing as “Donegal tweed”, and does not claim the fabric is made in Ireland, but did not respond to repeated requests for comment.<\/p>\n

The Donegal weavers have enlisted the expertise of colleagues in Scotland, where the famous Harris tweed has enjoyed protection from an act of parliament passed in 1993.<\/p>\n

The legislation means that only wool handwoven on the Outer Hebrides can be described as Harris tweed within the UK.<\/p>\n

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\n \"An\n <\/div>
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\n An example of a Donegal tweed blazer, woven by Magee in Co Donegal. Pic: Magee
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Lorna Macaulay, the outgoing CEO of the Harris Tweed Authority, has held several meetings with the Donegal weavers, and says the geographic protection is vital.<\/p>\n

Without the “absolutely pivotal” 1993 law, she says “we have no doubt that this [Harris tweed] industry would not have survived… it simply couldn’t have”.<\/p>\n

“The protection it has brought has forever secured the definition of Harris tweed.”<\/p>\n

Ms Macaulay says an appreciation of the shared culture has led to close cooperation between the weavers in Scotland and Ireland.<\/p>\n

“When the Donegal people approached us, we didn’t consider ourselves as rivals or competitors, and in fact a really strong handwoven sector lifts all boats. There is a real will to work together,” she adds.<\/p>\n

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The Donegal weavers hope the Scottish input will strengthen their campaign. They want the incoming Irish government to help press Brussels for the coveted protected status.<\/p>\n

It could take 12 to 18 months, admits Mr Temple, “but it’s really gaining momentum, and we hope it’ll be sooner rather than later”.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Weavers of Ireland’s famous Donegal tweed have called for a special protected status for their product, as the craft industry battles a raft of cheaper imitations branding themselves as “Donegals”.\u00a0 Urgent efforts are under way to take advantage of a change in EU policy, which could see non-food and drink products receive the same protected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/12\/768x432\/skynews-kieran-molloy-donegal_6780743.jpg?20241219175345","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10570,4822,33,147231,8461,1119,159970,73429],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203426"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":203428,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203426\/revisions\/203428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}