Sustainable Fashion

Shanel is a Taiwanese-American, nonbinary, queer, maker who uses their fiber skills to entangle craft and tech. 

Amy is a sustainable textile industry writer. She works as the sustainability and communications Director for Botanical Colors as well as the  Communications Lead for TS Designs and co-runs the Southeastern New England Fibershed.

In this week’s episode, LaChaun is speaking with Lydia Wendt the Founder and Design Director of the California Cloth Foundry, who's mission is to positively change the industry one bolt of fabric and garment at a time.

Lauren B. Fay isthe founder and executive director of the New Fashion Initiative. The New Fashion Initiative is a foundation creating interdisciplinary education and communications initiatives to promote circulatory collaboration, and accountability in the fashion industry.

Kenya is a textile artist, farmer, and the alchemist behind the Traveling Miles Studio.

Cynthia Alberto is the founder and director of The Weaving Hand, a weaving and healing arts center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.We invited her back on the podcast to talk about how she’s cultivating a healing environment using weaving during a time when we could all use some healing inspiration.

Echoview is a sustainable spinning mill, knitting operation, and design house based in Weaverville, NC.

Muezart is a small business in Northeast India that focuses on making and selling handspun, naturally dyed Eri Silk to weavers, knitters, crocheters, and other fiber artists.

Kelsie’s work aims to teach the next generation of fashion professionals about design and sustainability through scientific research and experimentation of natural dyes for the commercial market.

Leigh Anne Hilbert is the Network Coordinator for the Carolina Textile District, an enterprise of The Industrial Commons.Leigh also opened The Drygoods Studios, a community driven mixed-use studio space in the heart of West Asheville, where she sells her canvas and leather bags and accessories.

In our conversation, we talk about her most recent publication “Vanishing Fleece: Adventures in American Wool.” A tale of her year-long exploration traveling to farms and mills across America in order to transform a 676-pound bale of fleece into commercial yarn.

Mary Jeanne Packer is the owner of Battenkill Fibers in Greenwich, New York. Battenkill Fibers is the last standing wool fiber mill in New York offering commercial scale carding and spinning for fiber farms and manufactures of yarn and fiber products.