In these extraordinary times it might not seem like the highest priority on a list of basic needs,

but clothing is tied to everything we do. And you only have to scratch the surface to see its relationship to the environment, energy, racial justice and economic inequity. 

Clothing.

From kicks to fabulous frocks, it is with us everyday. It is used to distinguish class and gender and to transcend them. It has shaped political movements and galvanized political strife. It is a part of ceremony and tradition, it is part of the land. It has justified slavery, kept caste systems alive, and wiped out entire regional cultural traditions. It has been a source of trade, work, opportunity, identity. It can also be fabulous, creative, high art. A good pair of jeans can be a better friend than most.  

It is also one of the largest polluters on the planet. In a year it can produce upwards of 15 million tons of waste.  Its carbon footprint is greater than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. The cotton industry alone is responsible for 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides worldwide. Just to produce your jeans and t-shirt, 5,000 gallons of water were used.

Clothing.

 It is as complicated as our human make-up, and it’s high time we do some serious reimagining in our celebration and consumption of our most immediate shelter.

A brief history.

Clothing used to be made from the remains of what you killed and ate, and then what you reared and eventually what you grew.  With new materials came textiles and style, high fashion and an industry of identity. With that came the need for manufacturing, global trade and with it, exploitation. You can't talk about the history of this country without the history of cotton– and therefore slavery. The South grew it, the North manufactured it, Europe consumed it. Everyone was implicated. We'd be fooling ourselves to not see the similar implications every time we purchase something to wear today. 

(For a deeper dive, check out Dominique Drakeford's excellent lecture:

 "The Root of Exploitation in American Land Use" ) 

As these cheap clothes filled the Western closet, and as trade deals pushed production mainly to China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia (and in the US across our southern border into Mexico and further south into Honduras, El Salvador)…competing with these cheap (and mostly) exploitative manufacturers was no longer possible.  Millions of people lost their jobs. In the US, this rage toils on all the way to the ballot box. 

Most of us still don't know what it really takes to make our clothing,

what it's doing to us and the environment...

So where do we go from here?

This month we highlight Fibershed.

While many companies are touting new fair labor standards, their materials and dyes are still mostly extractive and with a huge carbon price tag. Likewise, organic natural garments are often made by exploited labor, use exorbitant amounts of water, and are shipped across the world to reach us.

Just as the local food movement has often been the best way to address labor and the environment at once, the local Clothing movement is starting to follow suit, and Fibershed has been leading its renaissance. 

Located in Northern California, Fibershed is a non-profit that networks and satellites with over 50 affiliate global peer communities. 

Fibershed is helping rethink the garment industry through developing regional regenerative fiber systems. Akin to the "farm to table" movement, Fibershed connects the dots from ranch to mill to maker to wearer, with a vision for natural fiber and dye goods that can return to the soil at the end of their life. This “soil to soil” approach encomapasses who is growing, making, and wearing the clothing by building alliances, through education and creating the Climate Beneficial™ verifications.

Fibershed has been busy. Here’s a breakdown of some of their programs:

• Regional Textile Economies Program: 

  • Including their Producer Network organizing and connecting more than 200 producers across 52 counties in Northern California; Manufacturing Assessment and Development assessing gaps in regional fiber systems and prototype economic development opportunities to address these gaps; Supply Chain Support: connecting our producers with business development and education and the Northern California Fibershed Agricultural Cooperative: a producer-owned Coop operating the Fibershed Marketplace online shop.

• Climate Beneficial™ Agriculture Program: 

  • Including their Fiber Systems Research working with academic and community partners to advance agroecological research with a focus on integrated crop and livestock systems (ICLS), hemp and other bast fibers, and indigo production and processing.

  • Carbon Farm Fund: a zero-overhead funding stream to assist producers with seed capital for implementing carbon farming practices.

  • Climate Beneficial™ Verification supporting and verifying fiber producers for annual carbon farming practices, creating a direct connection between supply chains and soil health.

  • Carbon Farming: working directly and in partnership with technical service providers to help fiber producers adopt land management practices that measurably draw down excess carbon from the atmosphere and into the soil.

• Consumer Education & Advocacy Programs: 

  • Fibershed Affiliate Network: an international, grassroots network of place-based communities organizing to strengthen regional, regenerative fiber systems.

  • Events: public educational events throughout the year to develop soil-to-soil material awareness, including our annual Wool & Fine Fiber Symposium, our bi-annual Fibershed Galas, and seasonal, topical events.

  • Education: through digital content across platforms connecting community members locally and around the world to the source of their clothing, shifting the demand long term away from fast fashion and towards ecologically sensitive, locally grown and made products.

We are proud to support an organization looking at our garments all the way from soil to skin and back to soil again- holistically and integrally. If you are not already, sign up for the CSA now to help us support them and eleven other organizations throughout 2020, highlighting a different theme each month.

A note on now.

No matter what, in this era of microplastics, climate chaos, and checks on imperial systems of exploitation, and with a little more time spent at home, it’s high time we look in our own closets.