Fashioning Fiber Futures: The fibershed approach to revitalizing Regional fiber networks

From Firenze University Press Journal: Fashion Highlight

Paige Tomfohrde, Cornell University

Jaleesa Reed, Cornell University

Globalization under capitalism has created a vast network of players in a complex fiber and textile system of growth and production, transforming the textile industry from local natural fibers to a synthetic industry. Prior to industrialization, the American fashion industry consisted of natural fibers including flax, hemp, wool, and cotton. The role of cotton in industrializing the American South through chattel slavery is commonly known, yet the growth of textile production in the Northeast was also crucial to economic development (Rivard, 2002). Since the first synthetic fiber, nylon, was created by Du Pont in 1935, fashion companies have exploited the shorter production cycle to create more garments, diversify market offerings, and meet consumer demand (Handley, 1999). For the sake of increasing production and profit, fashion companies have become sources of dangerous labor conditions, unethical wages, environmental pollution, and resource extraction (Schlossberg, 2019). Due to a growing global middle class and increasing prosperity in the wealthiest countries, clothing production doubled from 2000–2015 (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, n.d.). To remain profitable in an increasingly competitive industry, modern fashion companies rely on synthetic fibers due to their lower production costs when compared to natural fibers, leading to negative effects on the environment (Niinimäki et al., 2020). For over 60% of synthetic fibers, the production process begins with fossil fuel extraction (World Apparel Fiber Consumption Survey, 2013). It is estimated that 342 million barrels of oil are consumed during production annually (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017). Furthermore, garments created with synthetic fibers made from non-renewable fossil fuel resources shed microplastics with every wear and wash. Through laundering and the eventual discarding of the garment, these microplastics pollute soil (Yang et al., 2021), oceans (Boucher & Friot, 2017), and bloodstreams (Leslie et al., 2022). Synthetic textiles, dyes, and finishes also contain carcinogens, neurotoxins, and endocrine disruptors that negatively impact human health (Burgess & White, 2019).LOCAL FIBERLocal fiber models serve as a foil for the modern industrial textile and fiber system. These models reclaim preindustrial localism, focusing on producing the natural fibers that have lost ground through industrialization. Producers in this model are smaller and often serve multiple roles within the system, including farmer, designer, fiber processor, textile producer, and entrepreneur within smaller communities and geographic regions (Morrow, 2023). A common fixture of the local fiber movement over the last several decades is the festival circuit. Festivals like New York Sheep and Wool in Rhinebeck, NY, draw in large crowds of designers and makers interested in local products (Adams, 2022). While these festivals draw fiber enthusiasts, the most prominent organization in the local fiber movement supporting fiber production and development is Fibershed.FIBERSHEDFibershed is a non-profit organization founded in northern California by Rebecca Burgess in 2010. The organization consists of 71 fibersheds — local networks of fiber and textile production, derived from the slow food movement and the concept of watersheds. In comparison to current textile production, Fibershed sets itself apart by considering “all the people, plants, animals, and cultural practices that compose and define a specific geography” (Burgess & White, 2019, p.7). By focusing on the ‘source of the raw material, the transparency with which it is converted into clothing, and the connectivity among all parts, from soil to skin and back to soil,’ Fibershed creates a place-based textile sovereignty aiming to include rather than exclude (Burgess & White, 2019, p. 7). “Place doesn’t always travel,” (Liboiron, 2021, p. 151) indicating that local wisdom is local for a reason; it is not universal. Fibershed’s system is strategically local. As their affiliate network grows, the Fibershed model also spreads. Its flexibility allows for a continued focus on local knowledge and needs which sets an example for the fiber industry at large.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/fh-2978

Read Full Text: https://riviste.fupress.net/index.php/fh/article/view/2978