We are a Social Enterprise based in Skye and Kyle of Lochalsh... ...YES

I’m currently traveling to Edinburgh on the train, entertaining the seemingly incompatible; watching deer in the most intimate of environments while typing about the experience on my laptop (in the safety of the carriage) and simultaneously uploading it to the Internet through my smartphone.

If traveling on two wheels is one of the most rewarding ways to traverse the west coast, the train certainly rivals it.  On the bicycle you have to work for every yard, feeling as though you may be consumed by the landscape at any point for daring to come before her exposed.  In sharp contrast the train cuts through the landscape in stealth; piercing its heart; leaving it to pour out; in flashes, intimate moments of nature. I seldom see deer on my bike, yet I know the furtive nature of the train will often reveal them.  In this scenario it is the landscape that is exposed.

This is the longest stint I have been away from Edinburgh since moving to the Isle of Skye, and while I am excited to be going to see friends and family I am a little nervous.  The west coast has permeated my skin and its way of life has invaded my way of life.  Only this week I caught myself commenting on the roads getting very busy with all the tourists.  I heard my six-month mirrored self staring in disbelief.  Busy?  Really?  You have lived here six months and more than three cars pass you on your bike and suddenly it’s busy?

Yes choc a block thank you very much, they are disturbing my peaceful cycle to work, in fact I can’t hear myself think.  What’s more I no longer go into the Co-op at peak times as there is simply to many people in the que. Tourists eh!

What has happened to me?

I have forgotten the traffic lights, junctions and traffic jams of the city.  The thick traffic and bullying busses are a distant memory.  I have forgotten what busy is.

And this is why I’m nervous about going back to Edinburgh.  I fear I have forgotten what busy is. I am assured by the pace of life here, captivated by the open space and infinite horizon, I’ve become attuned with going to sleep while it’s still light, waking up to the noise of the Cuckoo, and cycling through the sea salt breeze.  In Edinburgh I will be going to sleep to streetlights, the Cuckoo will be replaced with car horns and sea salt will give way for asphalt.

This week some of the volunteers and staff went through to a fashion workshop in Inverness as part of the Go North programme. It is an event put on from a predominately fashion perspective, so it was interesting to contrast on the unprecedented pace and ephemeral nature of an often-fickle industry.  At Rag Tag we make clothes, love creativity and fashion for that matter, but we also would appear to have conflicting values.  We strive for sustainability, make items to last and our underlying purpose is to aid in a recovery process, which doesn’t meet deadlines.

The one thing I learned from the event, which sticks out most in my mind, is this differentiation is not only ok, but an asset. It is paramount to be yourself and reflect who you are in what you do and make. 

I’m sure many of you will have seen the film Local Hero by the Scottish Director Bill Forsyth.  It’s a fantastic film, one that depicts west coast communities with both affection and accuracy. Forsythe seems to understand (even imply) the stereotype, but he also takes us beyond this to a richer and more intricate portrait of these remote communities, revealing the unique beauty of both people and place. 

We are not a London based fashion house or Edinburgh Boutique, but a social enterprise based in a remote west coast community.

People often look to the London for inspiration, searching for the next up and coming thing or the season’s trends.  However creativity not only exists beyond the London, but also before it.  We live in a place with a deep, dark and wonderful past.  We have a rich heritage full of crofting and craft (our very shop is a converted steading) not to mention being situated in the most epic of landscapes sculpted by an ancient geological phenomenon.

Rag Tag n Textile is unique, our location is unique, our heritage is unique and I assure you the people are most definitely unique. Our products can’t help but (and should) reflect this; who we truly are; our location; our ethos and most importantly our recovery.

If you can’t measure it, does it still exist?

I love research.  It is probably my 2^nd most favourite thing in the whole wide world, and so I have made it my mission in life to promote research as one of the most fun, entertaining and inspiring uses of one’s time. (So here it goes). 

I don’t know if you have ever seen the diagram about knowledge It goes like this: there are the things you know you know, the things you know you don’t know, the things you don’t know you know and finally the things you don’t know you don’t know.

The most important box is in the bottom right.  In this box is a whole world of interesting and exciting things (and you have no idea what they are). Research is all about getting lost in this box.¹

The best way to get lost in this box is to talk to people (especially strangers).  This is why research is so interesting because fundamentally it is about telling people’s stories, and people know and do the most unimaginable things.  Mark Twain famously remarked “truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction is bound by rules”; the narratives of human life are so unbelievable that they often defy imagination.  People are a portal into the box of unknown unknowns.

There is a reason I have chosen to divulge in a moment of topical preference.  A core part of my job this year at Rag Tag n Textile is to complete a research project.  More specifically I must complete a Social Impact Report; this basically involves attempting to analyse the activities of Rag Tag n Textile, proving the impact and subsequent value this has on the communities and individuals involved.

Rag Tag 'n' Textile is a social firm working with people who have mental health issues, teaching traditional textile skills in a therapeutic environment.

However (my line of enquiry goes) do the activities and environment at Rag Tag, improve your mood, your feelings about life and the world you live in?

I know this does – for me – and many other people, but how can I be sure?

There exists a collection of stories and narratives that reveal the secrets of Rag Tags value and impact.  In my short time here I have had the privilege to hear numerous moving stories of people who have been impacted by the activities of Rag Tag, experiencing an improved sense of wellbeing through actively partaking in their recovery journey here.  But how do you measure this?

I may know this; have seen and experienced the effects of this; but this is different to measurable, objective value.  How do you measure a story?

Life is messy and so are people.  Work at Rag Tag is embedded in both people and life.  It doesn’t follow a linear path that can be lined up against a yardstick; measured; quantified; and valued.

We have stories, and if stories are data with a soul, we will listen to the stories, measure the data and share our soul.

So we can show the powers that be, objectively something most people already know.

Rag Tag works.

1.     1. If I jog my memories back to secondary school science class, I appreciate the purpose of experiments was to prove a hypothesis i.e. something you think you already know. However I would argue that the most interesting research in science occurs when the results don’t fit into the hypothesis and you are forced to confront the unexpected i.e. something you do not know

To find out more bout the work of Rag Tag n Textile pleas visit our website www.ragtagntextile.org.uk

It may be hand made but it’s never ever average

Step 3 Making Everything

We have become acutely aware during the continued aftermath of the financial crisis; the power and effect our expenditure as consumers has on the economy.  I have to confess only ignorance and confusion with regards to the intricacy of our economy, however I have come to appreciate that it is burgeoned by consumerism.  These events and our recent history illustrate the power and heights the activity of consuming has obtained (and therefore the consumer).  However Far from being debilitating this is an empowering thought, we are all consumers and collectively have the ability to force tremendous change (and have often exercised this power), however I do not wish to pontificate on the choices one makes as consumers, as followers of Rag Tag n Textile I imagine you are well versed in the arts of responsible consumption and the services we offer in this vein.

I wish to instead postulate on someone who could exercise even more power than ourselves; as the objective consumer, and that is you and me; would be creators.  To be able to extract yourself from the accepted role of consumer, to the active role of creator is a powerful thing, a defiant act of confrontation.

As Ghandi so wonderfully illustrated, making your own clothes is a political and often totalitarian government toppling activity, his understanding of the cotton supply chain allowed him to undermine the most powerful people of the time.  Can we echo these thoughts 60 years later, can a modern understanding of the supply chain of your underwear, and a little education in how to make some, have the same undermining effect?

One of my favorite projects over the last couple of years is by a man named Thomas Thwaites entitled ‘The Toaster Project’.  In the Toaster Project Thwaites set himself a somewhat unique challenge to build a toaster from scratch (scratch being defined not simply as assembling a toaster from other existing components, but extracting and processing the parts completely by himself). 

Through his journey of Opus Dei DIY, Thwaite’s project reveals much about the modern world.  At the first stage he is defeated by the task of smelting metals something first practiced 8000 years ago! The secrets have been hidden in contemporary specialization.  The scale and convoluted nature of modern production have veiled the origins of our products construction; modern culture no longer has a need or knowledge of how to make things.

And why should it?

Why put yourself through the time consuming process of learning to make your own underwear, what could possibly persuade you to devote endless hours of learning, in order to produce a pair of pants, when you can purchase a pair for a pound.

Why on earth attempt to make your own toaster from scratch?

For maybe (I think) we are bored consumers:

Frustrated bit part producers, bullied advertising viewers

and most importantly would be creators.

So let us rise against the mass production lines of mutual pastiche, the Ikea coffee table, and the Argos toaster, not to mention the Primark Pants

Let us move from passive consumers to active creators (and topple the totalitarian powers of our time).

I wish to finish with a photo of Thomas Thwaites toaster.  It’s a complete failure.  It’s a completely wonderful, beautifully inspiring failure; full of charm and narrative; a defiant failure; a mocking failure, against the mass-produced machine.

It may be hand made, but it is most certainly not average.

(Thank you to Will Stopha for the tittle of this blog and general inspiration and Thomas Thwaites likewise)


This Post was updated on the 4th June following inaccurate and impertinent information, anyone who had the unfortunate chance to read this please receive our sincerest apologies.