Design Challenge Resources

Designers play a unique role in our fashion and textile systems, with the potential to build greater resilience, longevity and health in the regions where they live and work. This visually rich booklet gives an overview of considerations and approaches for designers to center resilient and healthy ecosystems and communities in their work.

Access Designing for Regional Resilience Zine Here.

As part of our ‘Borrowed from the Soil’ Design Challenge, we have developed a Speaker Series bridging the people and landscapes of our soil-to-soil textile system. These recordings are for Design Challenge Participants only. Please do not share them.

• ‘Designing for Resilient & Healthy Ecosystems in Our Region’ with Lani Estill (rancher and artisan of Lani’s Lana), Lauren Tucker, and Kathy Hattori (of Botanical Colors)
• ‘The Impact of Textile Systems on Communities & Human Health’ Workshop with Teju Adisa-Farrar and Mahdiyyah Muhammad

BONUS: Climate Beneficial Cotton Deep dive & New Jersey Textile Info Session with two California Cotton & Climate Coalition coalition members, Siena and Lauren. (password: cotton)

In Fibershed readers will learn how natural plant dyes and fibers such as wool, cotton, hemp, and flax can be grown and processed as part of a scalable, restorative agricultural system. They will also learn about milling and other technical systems needed to make regional textile production possible. Fibershed is a resource for fiber farmers, ranchers, contract grazers, weavers, knitters, slow-fashion entrepreneurs, soil activists, and conscious consumers who want to join or create their own fibershed and topple outdated and toxic systems of exploitation.

Access Resource Here

Western brands and activists have often acted as gatekeepers of the Sustainable Fashion universe. What counts as “sustainable” and what doesn’t is determined by groups who act in their own best interests while generally overlooking cultural context. It’s a harmful process of deciding which products and materials are “good” or “bad” → marketing those “good” items to consumers who can’t be expected to know better → and selling more and more so-called “sustainable” products, often to the detriment of truly environmentally beneficial and equitable fashion cycles.⁠ There’s a lot to unpack here, but taking the time to understand the reality of “sustainable” fashion is essential. We’re proud to present a groundbreaking collection of articles, written by writer and analyst Veronica Kassatly that shines a light on the truth behind many current claims about sustainability.

Learn More Here!

Many of us now know that the ramifications of a plastic world are dire. From the moment it’s born to the end of its useful life, plastic is accumulating in our environment; overwhelming precious ecosystems, and generating toxicity that impacts all sentient life.⁠ What many of us may not yet know is how prevalent plastic has become in our clothing. Polyester, a plastic-based synthetic textile, is found in 60% of garments being sold today, and polyester production increased by nearly 900% between 1980 and 2014.⁠ In our white paper, we’ll explain how plastic solidified its place as one of the most prominent materials in fashion, we’ll talk about what that means for all of us, and we’ll share some of the best solutions for getting us out of this mess.

Access Whitepaper Here⁠

What if you had a toolkit that actually helped you, the resource-ready fibershed, or you, the sustainability team leader at a fashion brand, introduce something so exciting and complex that it rejuvenated a team to create. Imagine pushing yourself a little harder to think about how creating a new supply chain system could actually nourish a community through the production of a t-shirt or a building material made from fiber. It’s truly a new frontier for imagining and creating.⁠ This toolkit offers the tools and framework to help fibersheds, brands, and designers bridge the old fashion industry with the new.

Download Toolkit Here

Current systems that produce the clothes we wear are now generating 100 billion garments each year. The pace of this production, the source of the materials and the sheer quantity of waste created are pushing people, land and water beyond their regenerative capacity. ⁠Hosted by Fibershed Founder Rebecca Burgess and produced by Whetstone Media, this podcast will include interviews with the shepherds, scientists, and more who are working to transform our material culture to benefit our human and larger ecological communities.

Listen to Podcast Here

With the growing awareness around how our food and clothing are made and where it comes from, our curiosity and desire to deepen our understanding of the fiber systems that undergird our lives and the communities impacted by them grow with it. Black Material Geographies is a collection of conversations and stories using Blackness and textile material culture to explore how we can create more sustainable systems and processes amid global climate crises and lifestyles deeply entrenched in global capitalism. This show projects “Blackness” into the past to understand the material cultures of our present and the possibilities for a more sustainable future. We will explore what Black futures could be made of and who gets to make them.

Listen to Podcast Here

Knowing what is in your clothing and how it came to be made has defining implications for personal and planetary health. This guide is designed to empower the decision making process of all wearers—starting with you!

Download Clothing Guide Here

See Map Here

Slow Factory Institute is a climate innovation hub addressing the intersecting crises of environmental justice and social inequity — building community power through open education, narrative change and regenerative design. Slow Factory offers their Open Education learning lab led by today’s foremost environmental leaders, academics, designers and activists.

Here’s a link to a PDF of the resource Dan DiSanto shared at our April Launch Event.

• Regional Source Book: We’ve created a Regional Source Book for local and pan-regional farm-forward fabrics produced in California and other Western States.
  • Cloth Swatch Book available upon request (does not include all fabrics)
• Fibershed Fiber Farmers: Fibershed supports a network of small fiber farmers in Northern and Central California. To connect directly with local fiber farmers, you can explore our Producer Directory for fiber and contact information.
• Climate Beneficial Wool Pool:
  • The Climate Beneficial™ Fiber Pool was founded in 2020 to provide an economic and ecological response to the impacts that Covid-19 placed on our fine fiber ranching community. The ranches taking part in this program are actively focused on soil health and soil carbon building. The Fiber Pool offers brands the opportunity to work directly with the ranches that raise the fibers. Source Climate Beneficial Fibers here.
• California Cotton and Climate Coalition (C4):
  • In 2020, Fibershed and its partners formed the California Cotton & Climate Coalition (C4), in response to both farmers interested in on-farm scientific research on practices to prioritize soil carbon in cotton growing systems, and companies interested in Climate Beneficial™ Cotton sourced in our “backyard” – California’s Central Valley. A premium cotton price allows on-farm changes to be economically viable and provides an incentive for future acreage transition to these soil building, climate-benefitting farming practices.
  • There are a range of offerings and pricing tiers suitable for brands at all scales to join — from startups to brands with a net revenue over $1B and established manufacturing partnerships, C4 offers pre-competitive yarn development, coordination, storytelling, educational services and farm tours. To learn more or to join the coalition, visit the coalition website: www.californiacottonandclimatecoalition.com.

Regionally-grown threads are limited:

• Vreseis (Organic, Western States-grown)

Other organic cotton threads:

• Recommendations for organic thread from Lydia Wendt/ CA Cloth Foundry:
  • fiberactiveorganics.com
    • Anecot Organic Thread
    • Veggie Thread (Naturally dyed)
    • Braided Tape
  •  Contact: julie@fiberactiveorganics.com

There is not currently a dye house at scale in our Northern and Central California Fibershed region. We recommend the following resources when exploring natural dye resources and opportunities:

• California Fibershed Dyers: Fibershed supports a network of small artisan dyers in Northern and Central California. Fibershed producers have collaborated together to create small collections of locally dyed products. To connect directly with local natural dyer, you can explore our Producer Directory for contact information.
• Botanical Colors (Based in Seattle, Washington): Botanical Colors offers natural dyes and education to textile and fiber arts artisans around the world. We support regional farmers, organic farming, regenerative soil and are forever excited creating new plant-based colors out of our Seattle-based studio.
  • Dyehouse: If you are a designer or brand looking for natural dye solutions, we would be happy to discuss your needs. We specialize in natural dyes derived from plants, roots, bark and other natural materials that are GOTS (organically) certified. We provide garment and short length piece dyeing scalable from small to high volume runs. The colors are earthy, brilliant, and non-toxic and meet standard light and wash tests.
  • You can also source natural dyes and extracts from Botanical Colors.
• Stony Creek Colors (Based in Springfield, Tennessee)
  • Collaborating with farmers, chemists, mills, and brands has allowed Stony Creek Colors to champion a new way of manufacturing plant-based dyes at significant scale and succeed in our mission to make traceable, plant-based dyes that enrich farm ecosystems, fight climate change, and empower people with safer, cleaner color.

The following mills work with local natural fibers in our Northern California Fibershed region:

• Mendocino Wool & Fiber Mill
• Valley Oak Wool Mill
• Huston Textile Co.
• Shepherd’s Dream

Fibershed worked on creating this National Mill Inventory.

Note: If you know of a mill not noted on this Inventory, you can submit information here to be included.

‘Designing for Resilient & Healthy Ecosystems in Our Region’ Webinar with Lani Estill (rancher and artisan of Lani’s Lana), Lauren Tucker, and Kathy Hattori (of Botanical Colors)

Agriculture’s tremendous potential to stop and reverse climate change and Fibershed’s efforts to meet that challenge.

Read Article Here

View All Papers Here

• Organic amendment additions to rangelands: A meta-analysis of multiple ecosystem outcomes

• Invasion of non-native grasses causes a drop in soil carbon storage in California grasslands

• Impacts of organic matter amendments on carbon and nitrogen dynamics in grassland soils

• A Lifecycle Model to Evaluate Carbon Sequestration Potential and Greenhouse Gas Dynamics of Managed Grasslands

• Long-term climate change mitigation potential with organic matter management on grasslands

• Soil carbon sequestration and biochar as negative emission technologies

Carbon Farming Practices can be measured and monitored for the enhancement of permanent soil carbon storage, and therefore material coming from these landscapes can be verified as Climate Beneficial. In an initial research study by Dr. Marcia deLonge of UC Berkeley’s Silver Lab, it was shown that sheep grazed on compost-applied rangelands produced wool with a net carbon benefit. Moving that net negative footprint wool through a regional and renewable energy powered supply chain would produce a garment with a negative CO2 footprint. Comparing conventional to Climate Beneficial production shows a carbon footprint differential of over 150 pounds of CO2 per garment. See the comparison below. Download a PDF of the study: LCA-wool-garment

Textiles that are healthy for people, land and ecosystems must address and move away from the use of plastic fibers (one of the most abundant sources of microplastics in the environment) and harmful chemical treatments (like “forever chemicals,” PFAS). Learn more about these issues with our globalized textile system in these resources, including some important strategies and solutions to point us in a healthier direction.

• What You Need To Know About Microplastics and Textile: We are increasingly surrounded by plastic in our daily lives. It’s the clothing we wear, it’s the containers we eat from, furniture we sit on, and toys our children play with. Plastic has an enormous presence in mass-manufactured textiles, meaning that everything from our clothes to our curtains to our sheets are often petroleum-based. But it doesn’t have to be this way…
• The Hidden Story of Plastics in Our Clothes by Fibershed: Many of us now know that the ramifications of a plastic world are dire. From the moment it’s born to the end of its useful life, plastic is accumulating in our environment; overwhelming precious ecosystems, and generating toxicity that impacts all sentient life.⁠ What many of us may not yet know is how prevalent plastic has become in our clothing. Polyester, a plastic-based synthetic textile, is found in 60% of garments being sold today, and polyester production increased by nearly 900% between 1980 and 2014.⁠ In our white paper, we’ll explain how plastic solidified its place as one of the most prominent materials in fashion, we’ll talk about what that means for all of us, and we’ll share some of the best solutions for getting us out of this mess.
• Following the Plastic Flow: From the oil industry to our wardrobes to the ocean — A Panel Recording from the 2020 Wool & Fine Fiber Symposium, featuring Diane Wilson, author and shrimp-boat captain who has campaigned against plastic production pollution for decades; Kirstin Miller, founder of Eco City Builders, co-developer of the Closet Survey for Climate & Ocean Health Project; Diana Lin, PhD, Senior Scientist at San Francisco Estuary Institute; Moderated by Krystle Wood, technical textile consultant and founder of Materevolve

How much do you know about what’s in your clothing? While we can all appreciate the comfort of a weatherproof jacket on a stormy day, understanding the process behind many garments is usually less comforting. Harmful chemicals are often added to our weather- or stain-resistant clothing and home textiles (without us even knowing it) to repel liquids like water and oil. Learn more about these chemicals in this article.

This report exposes the hidden supply chain links between major global fashion brands and retailers and Russian oil used to make synthetic clothing, focused on two of the world’s largest polyester manufacturers. The report calls for complete transparency with regard to the use of synthetic fiber use and a commitment to phase them out due to their contribution to plastic pollution, climate breakdown, and now war.

Read Report Here

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a type of legislative policy that holds the producer of a product responsible for the costs involved with its end-of-life management (e.g. collection, recycling, safe disposal). When well designed, EPR policies can incentivize better product design for less waste and environmental burden. EPR has already been established in California to improve the safe handling and disposal of products such as pharmaceutical waste, mattresses, and carpets. EPR for textiles could help address textile waste and pollution and incentivize better material and design choices. However, textile is a complex category including widely diverse materials, making efficient collection and recycling challenging.

France is currently the only country with an EPR program for textiles, although there are new programs in development in the European Union. In 2023, California’s legislature is considering a bill on textile EPR (SB 707). This bill has the potential to set a global precedent, and we’ll keep our community informed as discussions about the bill move forward.

To learn more about EPR for textiles and its potential to help alleviate the global burden of textile waste and pollution, read the EPR position paper by our colleagues at the OR Foundation in Ghana. You can take action on this issue right now by endorsing the position statement that accompanies this new report.

Find the report and take action here.

Of the 112 million items of used clothing shipped directly from the European Union to Kenya each year, up to one in three contain plastic and are of such a low quality that they are immediately dumped in the environment or burned. This toxic influx is creating devastating consequences for the environment and communities. This report documents these impacts and sources, while making recommendations to inform needed updates to the European Union Textile Strategy to shift incentives and regulations.

Read Report Here

“A new analysis concludes what many in African-American communities have long experienced: Low-income, black Americans are disproportionately exposed to toxic air pollution from the fossil fuel industry.

More than 1 million African Americans live within a half-mile of oil and natural gas wells, processing, transmission and storage facilities (not including oil refineries), and 6.7 million live in counties with refineries, potentially exposing them to an elevated risk of cancer due to toxic air emissions, according to the study.”

Continue Reading Article

“According to Fumes Across the Fence-Line, a report from the NAACP and the Clean Air Task Force—an advocacy group dedicated to reducing air pollution—black people are 75 percent more likely to live in so-called “fence-line” communities that are next to industrial facilities. These facilities release a toxic stew of pollutants—including formaldehyde, which has been linked to cancer, and benzene, which has been linked to brain damage, birth defects, and cancer. Using the data on how many Americans are affected by toxic air pollution that CATF compiled for their Fossil Fumes and Gasping for Breath reports, the new study focuses on the specific impact of pollutants in the air on black Americans.”

Learn More Here

Read Article Here

Compostability: Utilization of natural fibers and dyes that begin and end with the soil, including notion material choices such as threads and closures.

• Design for Decomposition (Biomimicry Institute): The Nature of Fashion report identifies decomposition as a critical part of nature’s material cycles that is missing from current industrial thinking, and “design for decomposition and dispersal” as the quickest route to a regenerative and equitable fashion industry.

• Book: Zero Waste Fashion Design by Timo Risannen and Holly Mcquilken
  • Written by two industry-leading pioneers, Timo Rissanen and Holly McQuillan, this book offers flexible strategies and easy-to-master zero waste techniques to help you develop your own cutting edge fashion designs.

• Fibershed’s virtual On-Demand workshops
• Graham Keegan block printing and natural dye tutorials 
• Maiwa School of Textile’s workshop on inks and dyes