The way we produce and consume clothing needs to be transformed
Even if you don’t see yourself as a fashionista, consider this: the fashion industry — all the phases responsible for getting us dressed each day — creates more CO2 emissions than international flights and maritime shipping, combined. The pace of production and consumption has accelerated so quickly that one garbage truck of textiles goes to the landfill or incinerator every second. We call this fast fashion, and it has created a culture of clothing that is practically single-use.
Our clothes shouldn’t come at the cost of people or planet. By connecting with your fibershed, you are invited to get to know a geographic designation that provides your natural fiber and dye resources and therefore presents a consumption boundary too. Supporting local fiber, local dye, and local labor creates a path toward taking responsibility for the benefits and harms of the fashion system.
The current cycle emphasizes a take-make-waste model with little accountability. Fibershed envisions a circular, soil to soil material culture that engages every wearer, producer, and designer. As a network of regional, regenerative “sheds” come to life, each new soil-to-soil garment or good holds the potential to become Climate Beneficial™.
Join us on the journey to slow fashion in 4 simple steps:
- Wear natural fibers:
“fresh carbon” fibers and dyes are biodegradable while “fossil carbon” sources are known to pollute our food, water and physical bodies. - Avoid plastic clothing:
synthetic textiles are responsible for a significant portion of microplastic pollution, which is now present in 94% of US drinking water. - Choose quality garments over quantity:
on average, we buy 60% more clothing than we did in the year 2000. A clothing budget can be redistributed to fewer goods that will last longer and provide fair wages to farmers and workers. - Keep clothing in use for as long as you can:
more than half of garments produced these days end up in a landfill within one year, yet extending the life of a garment by just 3 months reduces its carbon & water footprints by 5-10%