Slow Clothes
Farming & Fashion
As an organic farmer and an artist, I can say that these two professions are much more than a livelihood, they are a unique and rewarding lifestyle. Unfortunately I have had to depend on selling produce to sustain my lifestyle and put my art on the back burner, as not everyone needs art, but they do need food. Lately, there’s a new market developing where art and agricultural are merging, and for some, their creativity has found a viable, new client base. These farmers with “kitchen crafts” and entrepreneurial skills have made their way into the world of haute couture and a new movement called Slow Fashion.
The concept of Slow Fashion borrows heavily from the Slow Food Movement founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986. Slow Fashion, sometimes referred to as Slow Clothing, is much more than a fashion trend; it is a global movement and a philosophy quickly gaining momentum. It is a way of thinking about, buying and wearing clothes and accessories. Your clothes become much more than just a fashion statement; they bring meaning, appreciation and joy to your everyday life.
The term Slow Fashion was first coined by Kate Fletcher, from the Center for Sustainable Fashion. It is based on the premise that clothes do for us on the outside what food does on the inside. Similar to the soil food web (the complex living system in the soil, and its interactions with the environment, plants and animals), the Slow Fashion industry is looking at a “circular economy” for a more sustainable future that connects people, the environment and the economy.
After the Rana Plaza tragedy in 2013 in Bangladesh that killed over 1100 garment workers and wounded over 2200 when the 8-story structure which had been constructed with substandard materials collapsed, consumers all over the world began questioning who makes the clothes we wear and in what kind of conditions. With retailers selling the latest fashion trends at very low prices, consumers are easily swayed to purchase more frequently than they need. But this overconsumption has come with a hidden price tag, and it is the environment and workers in the supply chain that pay. Contrary to the current high speed, deadline-driven production of the fashion world, using unsustainable, sometimes toxic materials, Slow Fashion represents all things ethical, green and thoughtfully made. It has become associated with art, passion, creativity and global respect for our world and its people, focusing on using local materials and resources whenever possible, and supporting the development of local businesses, cultures and skills wherever they are sourced. Farmers, artists and designers are now teaming up to benefit from the growing interest in sustainable fashion that has not only intrigued the business world but spurred the entire fashion industry to take a closer look at the sustainability trend that has reached into every aspect of our lives.
Consumers’ interest in organic clothing is increasing, but buyer beware! Organic and biodegradable by no means implies sustainable in the clothing and textile world. These terms are cleverly used to market claimed sustainability benefits. The cradle-to-grave-to-cradle loop must be truly connected to fit all the criteria of a sustainable textile. Organic and biodegradable are two terms that immediately bring sustainability to mind, but really they are only referring to the raw materials from which the garments are produced and their potential for eco-friendly disposal. Deceivingly, this perspective only covers the cradle and the grave of a textile’s life and does not look at everything else that goes on in the textile supply chain, one of the longest and most complicated supply chains of any industrial product. The toxic effects of the wet processing stages in textile preparation (dying and finishing) must be considered if the textile is to be considered sustainable, but it is still much more complicated than that, as the impact the entire textile process has on a society that produces it (pollution and unhealthy and unsafe work environment) must be considered, too.
The core concepts that seem to underpin sustainability in textiles are a cradle-to-cradle cycle and biomimicry. Cradle to cradle describes a system that enables all materials in the textile process to be used in continual cycles of use and reuse, a system inspired by mimicking the process of nature. To complete the cycle, the end of the product life must rejoin the beginning of a new product life. This is the point at which the circle closes. Simply put, there are only two basic materials in nature: materials that grow, are biodegradable and regrow; and materials that are finite and do not regrow.
One of the biggest issues in producing fibers for sustainable textiles is that large, mono-crop farms are unable to produce a truly full-cycle product. To accomplish this, the fiber being made, whether from a crop or livestock, must begin by being produced on a mixed farming operation where true sustainability can be accomplished, opening the door for a new niche market for small farms. Many designers are sourcing these materials directly from small farms.
Organic, natural colored cottons, flax and natural fibers have a rapidly expanding market mainly due to consumers becoming aware of the toxic processing methods and the environmental disregard used to make the fabrics for the clothing we wear. Mushrooms, milkweed, natural dye plants, yucca, silk, pineapple waste, banana and bamboo, sheep, alpaca, yak, angora goats and even musk ox fibers now substitute synthetics, hides and conventionally-grown cottons in sustainable fashion. Synthetic fibers have become less attractive to consumers who realize that these fibers come from raw materials such as petroleum-based chemicals or petrochemicals. Did you realize that the t-shirt you’re wearing is most likely “Round-up Ready”? Commercial GMO cotton products dominate the cotton industry. Eighty-five percent or more of the world’s cotton acreage is believed to be planted with genetically modified seed. Many processing stages also result in large amounts of untreated toxic wastewater being carried into drinking water sources.
Commercial wool, in contrast to small farm operations, is not much better. It can be full of pesticides and washed in vats of sulfuric acid to dissolve the vegetable matter. Even with these negative qualities, wool is considered the most environmentally friendly of all textiles. With the invention of synthetic fabrics during the late 1930s, wool sales declined, but it has made a big comeback and is on the forefront of sustainable fashion where it should be. Natural, renewable, biodegradable wool is the most versatile fabric on earth.
Over the past few decades the market for “rare breed” wool has expanded dramatically with the renaissance of fiber crafts (textiles, weaving, knitting, needle felting, wool painting, felting and natural dying, to name a few). In the past wool had always been considered a seasonal fashion fiber, limiting its year-round use, but in 1992 a fiber artist from New South Wales, Australia, came up with a technique to turn wool into a sheer fabric that could be worn in sub-tropical climates. She called it nuno felting. It’s a light and airy fabric with drape created by bonding loose animal fibers, usually wool, with silk. An explosion of nuno-felting techniques by fiber artists around the world followed with a coinciding rise in backyard fiber farming to supply the demand.
I have been raising rare breed sheep for 14 years and selling their fleece to fiber artists and designers. I’ve seen a huge rise in the demand for “covered” and clean fleece. I have returning customers from all over the world who reserve my fleeces a year or two in advance. It seems to be unanimous that the smaller US livestock farmers are producing some of the best, clean wools in the world.
I was so intrigued by the work that was being created with my fleeces that I asked for guidance from felt designers who had bought my wool. To my delight they happily shared their knowledge. That was the beginning of my magical journey into felting. It didn’t take long before I became totally obsessed with the process like everyone else who gets involved. I’ve been creating Slow Clothes ever since. Although the process of creating a new piece may take weeks to prepare—pulling long locks from a fleece, cutting and dying silk, creating and enlarging patterns, and then the actual making of the piece—it is incredibly fulfilling. The finished piece is always unique and one of a kind and brings a sense of appreciation into peoples lives.
All around the world people are designing sustainable clothes from felt. Felt designers are strutting their stuff on runways in Milan, Paris and New York. In Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine, where they are known for centuries of traditional wet felt making, they have seized the nuno felting technique and run with it to places no one had ever gone. The creations are stunning. Their work is more than fashion, it is art. The beauty of the designs, texture and the thought that goes into the garments is exquisite. All created with nothing more than wool, water and soap.
Leather made from pineapple; jeans made with aloe that practically wash themselves, saving water; winter coats insulated with milkweed, helping monarch butterflies to survive; runway shows are now promoting sustainable resourcing of their fabrics and fashion house production is being slowed down to adapt. Appreciation for sustainable clothing and textiles is on the rise and slow fashion is now helping to keep traditional methods of garment and textile making as well as natural dyeing techniques alive and helping small farms to survive and flourish.
Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” I see a world where sustainable clothes will be born from a designer’s inspiration, the chosen fabrics grown in an ecologically and ethically sound environment, used and appreciated for many years and returned from whence they came, the soil ultimately assisting the next crop of textiles. What you put on your body for clothing might be the least talked about aspect of the sustainability movement, but it is most definitely worth thinking about. These days, slow has never been so chic!
