07-06-20 Developing a Sustainable Textile Industry for the 21st Century
Guest Amy DuFault, Sustainable Fashion Journalist & Organizer, Southeastern New England Fibershed
How deeply do people consider the environmental impact of their clothing purchases? Eco-conscious fashion change makers are working to solve the environmental problems created by the “fast fashion” approach that has dominated the clothing industry for the past 50 years. Fast fashion is characterized by trendy, cheap, synthetic clothing produced overseas, marketed by mass media and sold by big-box retailers to spur mass consumption and mass disposal. This episode begins with a walk to the former site of the Greenwich Bleachery, an Industrial Era textile mill.
The show’s featured guest, Amy DuFault, has been a sustainable fashion journalist for over a decade. Amy focuses on regional supply chains, natural dyeing and human rights issues. She is also Sustainability Director for natural dye supplier and production house Botanical Colors and Communications Director for seed to shirt certified t-shirt company TS Designs. Amy takes her love of this work and puts it into action locally running the Southeastern New England Fibershed, which is part of the nationwide Fibershed network. A Fibershed is a regional fiber system centered around local fibers, local dyes and local labor. The Southeastern New England Fibershed is based in a geographic radius surrounding the historical textile processing centers of New Bedford, MA, and Providence, RI. The organization’s goal is to reinvigorate a once-thriving New England textile industry with environmentally-sustainable practices.
INFORMATION RESOURCES:
Story Walking Photo Blog and Learning Resources – https://netwalkri.com/blog/f/eco-detective-at-bleachery-falls
Creating Sustainable Fashions Blog and Learning Resources – https://netwalkri.com/blog/f/creating-sustainable-fashion
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