Resources - Understanding the Clothing Industry and Visioning a Better Future

Historically, making clothing at home would have been cheaper than buying ready made garments. With the off-shoring of clothing production over the latter part of the 20th century, in the Global North it is now cheaper to buy a garment, or even a wardrobe of garments made overseas, than to make something ourselves or have it made-to-measure by a local tailor or seamstress.

With the loss of making comes the loss of connection with and appreciation for the qualities of raw materials and the skills and knowledge needed to process them. Since we stopped making our own clothes we have never paid their true cost, however the scale of exploitation within the globalised textiles and fashion supply chain and the speed with which it has escalated over the last two decades is unprecedented. Wool is used in vast industrial systems but is ideally suited to mid scale and artisanal processing, making it an ideal material for (re)creating localised, fair and transparent clothing systems.

The following resources delve into darkness of our clothing industry, past and present, as well as point the way to a better future:

Barber, Aja, 2021. Consumed: The need for collective Change: Colonialism, Climate Change & Consumerism.

Burgess, Rebecca, 2019. Fibershed: Growing a movement of farmers, fashion activists and makers for a new textile economy.

de Castro, Orsola, 2021. Loved Clothes Last: How The Joy of Rewearing and Repairing Your Clothes Can Be a Revolutionary Act.

Fletcher, Kate, 2016. Craft of Use: Post-Growth Fashion.

Siegle, Lucy, 2008. To Die for: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World.

Thanhauser, Sofi, 2023. Worn: A People’s History of Clothing. Chapter on Wool.

Twigger Holroyd, Amy, 2017. Folk Fashion: Understanding Homemade clothes.

Wicker, Alden, 2023. To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick – and How We Can Fight Back.