Grass to garment is the textile revolution the world needs.
It is the core of our farm’s philosophy. We believe the healthiest thing for people and the environment is for garments and other textiles to be made of 100% natural, organic, biodegradable materials that do not cause cancer or endocrine disruption for the wearers, manufacturers, and innocent wildlife.
Synthetic fibers, like polyester, take immense amounts of oil and petroleum to produce, shed microplastics when washed, and can take literally hundreds of years to break down. This doesn’t account for the hazardous dyes or chemical treatments that are frequently applied to textiles for performance or convenience, regardless of the fact that they can be endocrine disrupting or cancer causing.
By transitioning to bast fibers (linen, cotton, hemp, other fibers made from plants) and protein fibers (such as wool and mohair) we can significantly improve the health of our planet and the people and animals who reside on it. These fibers are biodegradable and their production contributes significantly to carbon sequestration, helping the planet instead of harming it. Moreover, no heavy metals or toxic chemicals are needed to produce these fibers — just sunshine, plants, and water — which means that there is little risk for ecological damage or negative human health outcomes.
By engaging in sustainable farming practices and raising animals for fiber with high animal welfare standards, we are not only honoring millennia long traditions and making a positive impact on climate change, we are also saving animals from extinction. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that 17% of the world’s livestock breeds are actively at risk of extinction at the time of this writing, and hundreds of species have gone extinct in just the last fifteen years alone.
Even with the ecological and health improvements for all involved with this shift in fiber source, there is still more we can do. We focus on taking the raw material and turning it into roving, yarn, fabric, or other finished goods — all on the same land as it was grown — so that we can eliminate the additional environmental impacts of transportation which, in the textile industry, usually takes place between every step of the process and frequently involves global shipping. We currently do this at a micro-scale, spinning yarn by hand and weaving on floor and table looms.
