Fibershed Galas - Fibershed

2019 Fibershed Gala: The Practice of Belonging

On Saturday, September 28, 2019, Fibershed hosted its fourth biennial Gala, cultivating mindful textile cultures by honoring soil-to-soil practice. Presented amidst the expansive views and fragrant gardens of Chileno Valley Ranch, a 150-year-old farmstead just 20 minutes west of Petaluma, CA, the Fibershed Gala illuminated the pathways of participation in regional fiber and dye systems that restore our climate, working landscapes, and our relationships in the community.

2017 Fibershed Gala: Climate Beneficial Fashion

On September 23, 2017, our Fibershed community showcased the explorations, developments, and garments that transform our clothing into a means of building soil and reversing climate change. Many of the garments created by the designers in the evening’s show were made with the first finely woven Climate Beneficial Wool that our state has ever produced. Bare Ranch is the source for the Rambouillet wool that was woven by our region’s first mechanical weaving mill—Huston Textile Company opened their doors in May of 2017. The project represents a strong potential for how we can grow value for protein fiber producers in our state with a material that has for too long been disregarded as an economic by-product. This project to create a fine wool cloth not only restores economic value to regionally produced and raised fibers, but addresses the land management associated with those fibers. (Photos by Paige Green)

Fibershed Climate Beneficial Fashion Gala, photo by Paige Green

2015 Fibershed Gala: Grow Your Jeans

The Grow Your Jeans project culminated in a fashion show and gala hosted at the Mann Family Farm in Bolinas, CA, in September, 2015. Designers from the Northern California Fibershed community had been paired with fiber farmers and ranchers to create unique garments featuring local fiber materials, to complement the locally sourced and made jeans highlighted at the event. The event included hands-on activities, fiber processing demonstrations, and a marketplace of local fiber products, with locally sourced food and refreshments. (Photos by Paige Green)

Grow Your Jeans Gala, photo by Paige Green

2013 Fibershed Fashion Gala

Fibershed’s inaugural Fashion Gala in 2013 celebrated our regional ‘soil-to-skin’ design, utilizing raw farmed fiber from our local ‘Greater Bay Area’ farm and rangelands. Groups of local designers and farmers created some spectacular garments for the fashion show that beautifully express the language of our landscape, and are made entirely of wool and organic cotton grown on local farms, and dyed with locally grown natural dyes. Given the state of our synthetic and exploitative fashion industry, the a Fibershed Fashion Gala is a vital articulation of a working alternative to ‘fast fashion’ that models support for our local artisans, farmers, ranchers, and the health and wellbeing of our community of wearers. (Photos by Paige Green)

model on the runway at the fashion gala, photo by Paige Green