Why Regen Textiles?
Book made by Fiona Barrett at Kingston University
Imagine looking out into the fields of bright green stems and leaves of flax plants swaying in unison in the breeze with pretty blue flax flowers. Or perhaps you see long green hemp stalks growing towards the sky, fanning their finger leaves, defiant they are once again standing tall. Around these fields and hedgerows, stinging nettles border the crops unassuming with delicate lace flowers ready to sting if mishandled.
A series of events starting in October 2022 began the unfolding of this passion project. I've never considered myself a farmer, but I always loved watching plants grow from seed, especially in our garden. Standing in the field during a field trip in Faversham, Kent, to Elvis & Kresse waste entrepreneurs' farm initiated a sense of fresh air in the fashion business.
The next stop in the journey later that week was attending Anthropy UK led by John O’Brien MBE at The Eden Project in Cornwall in November 2022. The last conversation at the event was meeting a regenerative farmer who asked me if I could help them figure out how to process hemp into textiles. My initial reaction was, "No" don't get involved; you know nothing about hemp. However, the words came out of my mouth - I probably can help! The seed was planted in my brain, and events unfolded, leading to this passion project creating a regenerative textiles ecosystem.
Building on previous reading, I learned about the Fibreshed Global Movement from Rebecca Burgess's book describing how soil-to-soil textiles create a sense of place, community, and climate-beneficial materials. Justine Aldersey-Williams of Northern England Fibreshed connected me with an emerging UK Bast Fibre Network within the Fibreshed movement led by Zoe Gilbertson. Other primary research that informed this project unfolded from these initial conversations. Learning how to grow, spin and weave flax at Flaxland in Stroud. Foraging nettles after seeing The Nettle Dress Documentary and experimenting with Nettle textiles. Joining the Future Fabrics Expo in London and Regenerative Textiles Scotland Symposium's inaugural meeting in Edinburgh in July 2023. Last but not least, I participated in the Hemp for textiles Harvest at Contemporary Hempery, Suffolk, in August 2023.
Generative AI Nettle - Fiona Barrett
Rediscovering the value of Bast fibres, specifically Flax, Hemp, and Nettle grown regeneratively from organic seed, can transform the fashion business into a modern-day seed-to-compost textile economy. Do you know enough about your clothes, their creation, and what happens when you pass them along? Most people don't know that oil-based fibres can decompose for up to two hundred years and often end up in a landfill. If you know where your clothes fibres are grown, how they are processed, the actual value of the production cost, and its soil-to-soil journey, you become a product steward versus a "consumer". You will more likely connect with the place and community producing your clothes and may even become a clothes gardener or farmer telling your textile stories.