Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
The idea that regenerative grazing systems have the capacity to restore carbon to the soil has been proven by Rebecca Burgess in California. Fibershed’s Climate Beneficial Wool Program measures soil carbon storage so that wool coming from regenerative grazing landscapes can be verified as climate-beneficial.
Clothing that is being made this way, specifically for you, by people that know and love you, from fibres that are to be found in your own landscape, is the way clothing has been made for most of our history.
Through the organization Fashion Act Now, a growing band of dissident fashionistas want to make the clothing industry more ecologically responsible, relocalized, and culturally in sync with this moment in history, especially with respect to climate change, economic justice, and decolonialization.
Responsible producers like Ria are teaming up with regenerative farms such as Fernhill to spearhead a new appreciation of wool as a healthy, sustainable and valuable material.
Whilst awareness around the environmental impacts of global food systems and their sustainable counterparts appears to be growing, there is a widespread disconnect of perception between the state of the environment and the garments we clothe ourselves in.
People need to eat. People need to have clothes to wear. So it’s important, it really is. For me, it’s about preserving that in whatever way we can.
By learning about sustainability at FIDM and being introduced to Fibershed’s perspective— that’s really grown my design philosophy. Since then, I have been making zero-waste products made only with sustainable materials.
Listening to Bonnie share her history, this shift from personal studio to studio and store seemed inevitable. Bonnie is a gentle but persistent catalyst for building fiber communities.
Closely weaving together habitation, community, and society, Arnie pays attention to how culture was and is created.
The systemic failures brought to light by the pandemic have created an uptick of interest in the same local supply chains Mendocino Wool and Fiber Inc. is helping to build. The world — at least a portion of it — seems to be learning along with the Gilberts.
While there are a number of points that could benefit from further exploration, perhaps the two greatest barriers to expansion of the industrial hemp industry are the availability of viable seed and the rigidity of the current regulatory structure in regards to hemp fiber production.
This rich intertwined story of an heirloom seed, an age-old tradition, and a bright future all began when Sharon Gordon Donnan, an experienced filmmaker and textile conservator, spotted an old blanket while browsing at an antique sale in Washington, Louisiana.
