Vancouver Island fibreshed - what are we getting right? what's missing?

Lina Joana wrote:
I do think the price is an important issue. It too often get boiled down to “we pay too little for our clothes” which is true as far as it goes.

It's a downward spiral as well. Even the "modern" clothing at Thrift shops isn't generally as good a quality as the pieces that are clearly from 20 years ago or more judging by the style and colour.

I am not talking about one Sunday sweater, but a full wardrobe that will allow you to work, go out, and maintain modern standards of cleanliness.

I can remember reading books about early American life where women were lucky if they owned two dresses. There's a reason that closets in old homes are so narrow! We've had serious clothing bloat!
However, to reduce our clothing needs, we also have to change our attitudes to both how clothes are made and how to make practical work clothing. It used to be normal for clothing to have quite wide seam allowances, and to be generally bulky in the fit, so peoples' weight could more easily be allowed for. Belts and working corsets turned "generous clothing" into "shaped clothing".

Can small scale mills do the trick? How many people hours does it take to produce clothing through mechanization? What else is needed to make it affordable? Environmentally sustainable?

I find it very interesting that in Japan, they have small, quality walk-behind tractors that have a bunch of interchangeable attachments. In North America, not so much, although here on the Wet Coast, I have a friend who's trying to promote them. I do know of a group of people who own shares in a chicken plucker. They also pay an hourly rate for use to cover "wear and tear". They're fully subscribed! Part of the issue is that at the home scale, fiber processing would have been done as an evening/winter activity when farm demands were lower. Now we seem to think that jobs need to be done all year long, rather than seasonally.  So we not only need a change in mind-set about the clothing we buy/wear, we possibly need to change our mind-set about "seasonal work". The cost of most small modern milling equipment is seen as "not economic" but that may be partly due to the way we approach the "economy" based on quarterly profits, rather than buying simple machinery designed to still work 100 years from now!

All that said, I do consider my local Thrift shop an option for raw materials... I just scored a 100% cotton Mens XL long sleeve jersey. Shortly there will be a new thread all about converting used jerseys and sweaters into leggings to keep me warm! (Yes, I would have loved a fine wool, but you take what you can find!)

I don't know of any fibreshed that is at a point where they get the majority of residents buying the majority of their clothing from within the fibreshed.  That's a nice dream, but we are so far away from that it's not even on the table.

For me, the fibreshed is about starting with customers that already want this kind of product.  People with disposable income and/or who have a strong sense of the value of a well-made garment and how to care for it.  

Start with the demand that already exists.

Connect the parts (resource, processing, skills) to make products.

Build a proof of concept project to prove that we can grow local quality products.

Then, when the supply is finally at a point where it exceeds demand, we focus more on customer education.



I think it's really important that the goal isn't to make everyone wear only local clothing.  That's not even a good idea even if it was possible.

The idea is to make locally grown clothing available and people can choose, depending on their lifestyle, if they want to buy it.  If the product is of good quality, than people are more likely to buy.  

can remember reading books about early American life where women were lucky if they owned two dresses. There's a reason that closets in old homes are so narrow! We've had serious clothing bloat!

Which is why I specified “modern cleanliness!” I am fascinated by historical ways of living, but owning two sets of clothing is not particularly appealing. Clothes get stained and stinky, and that can happen in short order. Running a washing machine with one dress in it every few days is not practical, especially during rainy weeks. Hand washing, which I have done, is not fun long term, especially if you are dealing with a lot of stains. To each their own, of course, but I would neither tell or expect someone to go quite that minimal with their clothing. Again, what is reasonable is highly variable from person to person. For me, the day to day minimum would be 5 shirts for my day job, 5 shirts for farm work, and 2 pairs of jeans in each category, so that I can go two weeks without doing laundry if I have to. I also need at least two farm jackets because the dog always steals one to sleep on.
Of course, I have way more. Beloved family members make me clothes, and I often can’t bear to part with them even if they are impractical or outgrown. And it has been a decade since I bout a t-shirt, yet the drawer is always overflowing…

The two dresses don't include the underlayers.

The dresses would usually be wool woven in a way that sheds dirt and because it's breathable, doesn't absorb many smells.  During sunny days, the dress not being worn would be aired - put in the sun - which kills off any stinky bacteria as well as blows away any dust that might be on the dress.

An apron would be worn for any work that might put mess on the dress like baking or cleaning.  

And under the dress is where old tech really shines.  Cotton, or more often linen layers.  In a normal household setting, the layer next to the skin would be worn one or maybe two days before washing.  This would protect the dress from all the mess the human body makes like oil and sweat.  Because it was usually linen and all the layers are breathable, it wouldn't stay wet like a lot of modern clothes.  The quick drying and other antibacterial qualities of linen would prevent any stink.  A person would usually have 6-8 shifts/chamise or if they couldn't afford that many, they would do a quick wash every few days.  

There's almost nothing getting on the dress as it's highly protected from dirt.  Less washing means longer cloth life.  

Wearing historical clothing it's amazing how little stink there is.  I find I don't need deodorant or to wash the body as often as it simply doesn't get the smells we find with the modern wardrobe.


But, a fibreshed isn't about demanding we change our lifestyle to this new kind of clothing.  It's about providing opportunities and maybe people will try new things to see what fits into their existing lifestyle.  

r ranson wrote:
But, a fibreshed isn't about demanding we change our lifestyle to this new kind of clothing.  It's about providing opportunities and maybe people will try new things to see what fits into their existing lifestyle.  

Good - because while I enjoy period clothing at festivals, I have no interest in wearing them every day, and I would ask others to either!

Personally, even natural fiber shirts get stinky for me, and that can include tops worn with an undershirt. Irritating, but there it is.

If the goal is to make money by tapping into the “disposable income and value of local” market- I would still say that the price point will dictate whether it ends up being a fibershed (with the bulk of customers in a 150 mile radius) or a coop of high end clothing producers that ships all over the continent. Not that there is anything wrong with the latter!!
Again, I have no idea what the price point of a wool sweater would be. A department store, with the economies of scale and offshore production, will charge somewhere around $200. So small scale, all local will be - $400? $600? $800? How many customers would the area have at each price-point?
Regardless, bringing fiber production back to this continent is a great and worthy goal. I would be most excited about a vision in which people of average income could find a basic wardrobe locally - but its true, we are a long ways from that.

That's something that needs exploring.   Falls under sustainability.   Financial sustainability is a big part of that.

Right now,  using only human power,  there are several artisans selling garments.  The prices are higher than I can afford, but there is enough demand,  they cannot keep up.

Now, if we could add to this small scale mechanism,  there would be less labour,  and the price could come down.  I can see it easily matching a high end department store price.

Like fukuoka wouldn't charge more for organic polyculture oranges because it costs him less to grow than the conventional ones.

That said, it would take a while to get there.  Right now we are still at the purely human powered stage and struggling to scale up.

r ranson wrote: Right now we are still at the purely human powered stage and struggling to scale up.

There's "human powered" and there's "human powered with mechanical advantage." For example, if there are key parts of raw material processing that could be made easier and more efficient with a recumbent style bike operated machine, it would still be small scale. If you have to grind your daily wheat with a rock, a metal hand-cranked grinder seems like a miraculous time saver. The trouble is getting that next step designed and built, because many of the people who know textile skills, don't have welding as a side gig!

The spinning wheel is exactly that first step up from a drop spindle. I've seen electric spinners in pictures - does the electricity really speed up the process, or does it just take up less space?

R Ranson, you have a *lot* of experience with wool and linen. For each of these, if there was one step of the process which you think simple technology such as a treadle or crank, would speed the process, what would it be? Can you think of more than one?

I'm also not seeing this as a 'period clothing' issue. The fibershed concept, while a centuries old concept doesn't, in my view, at all bear any weight on the style of clothes chosen as the final product. I'd absolutely love to build a wide and varied fibershed, in my area - and am actively, though slowly, I must admit - working toward that end.

There aren't many examples of fully formed fibresheds in North America.  Even the original Fibershed in California has a long way to go to get there.  So I think there's some trouble envisioning what this would look like.

It might help to think about other local sourced essential needs.  Like in our area, food.

We have a strong Buy Local (food) movement and it's very easy to buy locally grown and processed food in any supermarket, most restaurants, and even beer served in clubs and pubs tends to have a high amount of local barley and yeast cultures.  But it wasn't always this way.  

When the Buy Local movement started, the local food was expensive.  There were very few farms growing food to sell locally.  The ones that wanted to, often didn't have the experience or education needed to do so efficiently, so the cost of producing a radish was more than double importing one from South America.  With education, experience, and support - mostly in the form of restaurants buying the less-than-pretty food since it's going to be cooked anyway and it tastes better than the imported stuff - the farmers found their footing.  As people found out how good local food tastes, there was more demand for it.  

Now we are at a stage where local fruit and veg in the shop is comparable or cheaper (and fresher) than the imported products.  Quality same or better.  Price same or better than the equivalent.  I hear even Walmart carries local produce.

However, there is no request for everyone to eat every meal from only local ingredients.  That would be an ecological disaster.  There's no demand to change buying habits, it happens naturally as the quality and the price improve.  

What the Buy Local movement has done is to provide opportunities for people to add some local leeks to their winter soup because it's half the price of an onion or for people to enjoy a tasty meal at a fancy restaurant made from many local ingredients.  


That's what I'm hoping for with our fibreshed.

Here's what I mean when I talk about concrete examples: https://fibershed.org/backyard-project/



this hoodie was made partnering with North Face.  

The Backyard Hoodie
150 miles grown and sewn (from The North Face headquarters in Alameda)
100% compostable garment (minus American-made metal zipper)
No fossil fuel based dyes
Sally Fox’s color grown cotton from her certified organic farm (100 miles from San Francisco)
Gary and Mari Martin are Sustainable Cotton Project Farmers (137 miles from San Francisco)
Use of the last remaining family owned cotton mills in the Carolinas
Cut and sewn in the Bay Area
Supporting over 100 American-based manufacturing jobs
Supporting independent and family-based farms and value-addition businesses

It looks like it was a limited run, but it got good reviews.

What I like most of all with this hoodie, is it looks like something I could find in my closet already.  There's nothing special about it.  If I am buying clothes, I seek clothes that blend in.  

Now, our fibreshed doesn't do great with cotton.  But we do grow other things well like linen and wool.  

Agreed! There's also something to be said for keeping your money local. If we can support our local farmer/ producers, processors, and artists, they'll be better able to support us, in turn. We try hard to do this, whenever/ wherever we can, including small businesses that would love to better support the local producers, but are stuck, usually because of cost &/or availability, buying from abroad instead. Talking to them, letting them know that we understand their predicament, and will do our best to support them, as they try to let go of their other-side-of-the-world ties.

I know many fiber farmers, processors, spinners, weavers, crocheters, knitters(including machine knitters), and felters, and several are expanding into nålbinding. But each of these processes takes time and effort, and none can do it for free, and many have no inclination whatsoever, to turn it into an industry. With the exception of the farmers and processors (in this instance, I mean those who take the raw fiber and turn it into something spinnable or feltable, be it roving, batts, top, etc), these folks are nearly 100% hobbyists - and don't want to, or physically can't do more. This is my struggle. I could very likely get everyone moving toward each of us having a piece or two - but, an entire wardrobe? That's a whole different ballgame. And from there, expanding to serve the whole area? I don't see it happening anytime soon, and possibly not in my lifetime. But, It will definitely not happen, if no one strives toward it.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed reading this thread! Why am I so fascinated about making clothes from my local community? I don't think I fully answer this question, but I am very inspired by this fibre-shed movement. I wonder what is going on in my fiber shed? I will have to do some research, get involved, and Report back! Thanks for the inspiring work, R Ranson!

Vancouver Island is far away from me. But I know about the Fibershed movement. I was involved in the first try to start a 'Fibershed the Netherlands', which didn't really come alive (although a wool-spinning project is some kind of 'remains' of it).

Now a new Fibershed the Netherlands has started (2021) and I stay in contact. Mostly through e-mail/newsletters. They have a totally different approach: they focus on the producers of textiles, doing their best to support their efforts to produce from local sustainable materials. They organise events for designers, artists, farmers and (small) industries in the first place, not so much for the clients (although they are welcome too).

And more local news about the trouble with wool
https://www.timescolonist.com/islander/mountain-of-wool-fleece-piles-up-as-prices-tank-mills-shut-down-6529554

With wool selling for only 10 to 70 cents a pound, sheep farmers say it makes more financial sense to burn or compost it rather than pay to clean, bag and transport it to the Lower Mainland, then Alberta or Ontario for processing

The Island’s largest sheep farmers, with about 300 ewes, are sitting on mountains of wool — but the market price for sheep fibre has hit the floor.

Wool is fetching 10 to 70 cents a pound today, depending on the type and quality, down from $2 to $5 a decade ago, and much more historically. Since 2018, the price of wool on the world market has slid more than 65%.

John Buchanan said those prices don’t come close to covering the costs of ­shearing or even the heavy burlap bags needed for shipping, not to mention the labour ­associated with picking out the poop and packing the wool — and certainly not the transportation costs over to the Lower Mainland to deliver it to depots and ­eventually mills in Alberta and Ontario.

r ranson wrote:And more local news about the trouble with wool

Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone built a wool insulation plant on the Island? Then they wouldn't need to import as much toxic gick based insulation and it would save much of the transportation costs. If it was at least being used, maybe, just maybe, someone would start skimming off the better quality wool for higher value options, like clothing.

Maybe people just aren't yet willing to learn how to care for wool clothing - we've got an entire generation who have been raised to just clothing in the washing machine. Then again, most labels insist that wool clothing needs to be dry cleaned. I'm guessing you would disagree? But if the label says that, those of us who don't know better, might think - dry cleaning uses yucky chemicals - better to buy clothing that can be washed at home? It's a vicious circle we need some way to interrupt on a bigger scale.

I know they do a spinning demonstration at the fall fair. Do we need a "how to wash your woolies the easy, non-toxic way" demonstration?

Here's an example of what our local fibreshed can produce.


please pop over to see the Free Yarn to Treasure video and leave a thumbs up to help my channel grow.

The yarn that inspired this project was leftover from the mill.  From what I heard, it is from calibrating the spinning machines so there is a lot of different fibre and texture to that yarn.  It would usually be considered waste, but the mill owner gave these few cones away for people to play with.  

The rest of the yarn is my own handspun, from various parts of our island and the surrounding archipelago.  The different animals, dyers, farmers, and processes.  We have so many wonderful resources here.  It was wonderful to have a chance to bring it together in one project.  And also a bit sad.  

Anyway, the video goes into more depth on these deep thoughts.  

I want to mention, I've been hearing a lot of good work with plant-based fibres on our island these last couple of years.  Mostly linen, but some experiments with others as well to see if it can become a viable crop.