Contrary to appearances
You wouldn’t know it to look at them, but our standard wardrobe picks leave a carbon-emissions wake larger than the aviation and shipping industries combined. Churning out the latest jeans or moisture-wicking shirts en masse takes a whole lot of water, chemicals, and underpaid labour—realities that go unseen by most of us in North America.
Harder to ignore, since no body or waterway can escape it, is the problem of microplastics pollution caused in large part by polyester’s growing ubiquity in clothing.
Consumers are purchasing at five times the rate they did two decades ago and tossing at a rate of one garbage truck every second. Not exactly a recipe for a livable planet or a fulfilling way to relate to our goods.
Weaving an alternative
Fibresheds are a response to this. Like a watershed, a fibreshed is a network of producers and processors supplying their region with local and sustainable garment materials.
Pioneered in California in 2011, fibreshed organizations now exist across the US, Canada, Europe, and beyond. Everyone from shepherds, flax growers, and spinners to natural dyers, mill owners, and designers are collaborating to build a sustainable garment system that develops local livelihoods and stewards the air, land, and water.
Tailored approach
“Fibre,” under this model, might be linen (from flax), hemp, cotton, silk, hides, wool, or any other plant or animal material appropriate to the place and conducive to a “soil-to-soil” cycle. At this smaller, more intentional scale, seed varieties and animal breeds can be chosen for local hardiness and compatibility with the bioregion.
Cultural fabric
Fibresheds also help develop the deep repositories of skills and knowledge required to grow natural fibres and turn them into usable textiles. There is a need for infrastructure (small-scale mills, for example), and for human experience with different materials and processes―challenges that are best tackled collectively.
The goal is to have thriving cottage industries and local economies, plus the resilience of knowing how to clothe ourselves sustainably amid whatever environmental, economic, or political disruptions occur.
What you pay for
The truth is that this “farm-to-closet” approach doesn’t come cheap. The first step toward affordability is, of course, to consume less. Mending and repurposing are equally essential.
If you do invest in a wool sweater, linen pants, or a pair of buckskin moccasins made ethically from the land and people of your region, you’re bound to hold that item dear and, chances are, it will be a very long time indeed before you toss it. Even then, it can return to the soil with no harm done.
by Jackie Skrypnek