150 mile wardrobe: local fiber, real color, Gandhi economy

[belmontartwork]

UR adorable...smiles...thanks



[truepres]

It's lawful in California. She would just need to do it under the medical use recognition.

[Sassymarkrep]

Love this! We have become so reliant on modern technology and that is part of the downfall.

[truepres]

Outstanding!

In trying to get a more full understanding of the implementation of the mechanism of usury and its consequential degradation of real culture, I stumbled across a copious lecture series giving a very well researched history of it between the years 1470 and 1770. I don't know if you realize it, but your work illustrates a slice of what a non-usury economic culture would start and look like at the basic level function. It's life before the abuse/control mechanism was naively accepted.

[cloudld]

Too bad she can't grow hemp for raw materials.

[macoafi]

@cloudld nettles would make similar materials, from what I've heard.

[grarrs]

This is so cool!

Ive been sticking to wearing only natural materials, like cotton, wool, leather. But this is extreme! Very nice initiative!

[bohemiana]

Good idea, but the bathing suit is gross!



[TELunus]

Local fiber is one thing, but something I see being completely unemphasized yet entirely prevalent in these discussions is the assumption that modern manufacturing techniques will not be used in the production of this clothing. One commenter pointed out that if a knitter spends 120 hours on a garment it will either cost way too much money or the knitter will be below the poverty line. however with automated manufacturing processes that will be unnecessary.

[miakialchemy]

Thanks to Rebecca for the hours of study and work! Awareness is so important. I love the map and her way of walking a person through a high-level of the processes. If we just share Rebecca's knowledge to gain an awareness and appreciation, it is a tremendous service to all. If we keep taking baby steps toward local sourcing, we will eventually be surprised at how far we can get. The challenge here is getting this message out to those not in the choir. ;->

[mocon1000]

great video thanks

[GlennZ0429]

congrats and thanks for sharing - this brings a lot of awareness to my generations (late baby boomer) and afterward - to the "millenials" - I love your message at 7:30 into the video! Again, thanks for sharing!

[exee1]

Consuming local products is good, but trade is also beneficial. There seems to be a lot of talk these days about 'Made in China' or basically, not made in America. Yet, we ignore companies such as Apple, or Walmart, or Facebook, or Google or Citibank or Goldman Sacs and on and on. We just focus on.. GM, textile industry, manufacturing industry. Actually, we just focus on what the media has drummed up, and we keep quiet about all the other INTERNATIONALLY dominant companies that are... American.

[macoafi]

@exee1 But if you look at Apple and Walmart in particular, where are they making jobs? Not America. Walmart forces their suppliers overseas to meet a certain pricepoint, and Apple moved all their production overseas years ago. Just because the CEOs live here doesn't mean the labor is done here or that transporting the items to stores is fuel-efficient and short.

Besides, trade is only beneficial when it's exports. Imports are a loss.

[greenknitter]

Wonderful idea. In my country (Ireland) I'd love to see more people making and wearing locally sourced and produced clothes. Unfortunately we've embraced the American fast clothing throw away culture of cheap sweat shop badly made clothing that exploits man and nature in our headlong rush to "progress" and modernisation in the Celtic Tiger years. We've lost so many traditional skills in the last 20/30 years, it's awful :(

It would be great to see working models of this in every country.

[MyLifeIsFireworks]

"who cares who's measuring us or who's telling us what our worth or value is.. we just provide for one another"  !!

[c33r0k33]

A really moving story. I Like that we could combine the natural resources within our "sheds" with creative innovations that don't displace local economies or rather that recreate local economies. However clear or unclear, Rebecca, shares a vision that's possible to refine in our own lives.

[mcksy]

a great story again. thank you!

[blukatzen]

This is SUCH a WONDERFUL, SWEET little story, oh thank you for telling this. I just ate it all up with my eyes.

[PREPAREFORTHEKING]

americans are a throw away society, fast and faster, money money money, we have forgotten simplicity

[bikemandan510]

Buying clothes at a thrift store is infinitely more efficient. This seems like nothing more than yuppie self gratification

[1971mgb]

@bikemandan510 yuppie self gratification? It is about as far removed from that premise as you are removed in understanding her concept.

[LithiumLogica]

@bikemandan510 Infinitely more efficient is a bit of a stretch. It may make more economic sense, in the short term, but for it to truly be worth doing forever it would have to be sustainable. As it is, we depend a great deal on super cheap labor(exploiting the difference in social affluence between nations) to justify our current system. Slave labor, child labor, poorly-paid workers who simply have no other choice due to their local economy; we depend on all those things. Nevermind fossil fuel.

[LocumRex]

I love this ideal and concept. However... if it takes 120 hours to make a complex Norwegian sweater w/zipper and the knitter wants around $10.00/ hour then that sweater will cost $1200. Mind you, $10.00 / hour (@ 40hr work week) is less than $21,000 a year and below the poverty line. This is why we continue to buy from a faceless indentured labor force, overseas and ship it over. Is there any way to change this paradigm anymore? Local and Affordable?

[kirstendirksen]

@LocumRex Rebecca doesn't expect everyone to live only within the fibershed, we've just gone too far in the other direction (nothing/little in the fibershed). Also, not all clothing has to be complex handknit stuff. Rebecca told me that 5th Ave is interested, "but if we want to put our yarns, from our sheep and our alpaca on mechanized equipment we need this to be a lot finer (points to handknit sweater) and we need the spin to be a lot tighter. So for that to take place we need new equipment."

[macoafi]

@LocumRex there are knitting machines. I think you can buy them at JoAnn fabrics even. Then you cut up the knitted fabric it made and sew it into a sweater. That's how most mass-produced knit fabric is made, just far far away.

However, this DOES explain why wardrobes were SO much smaller historically. Average woman in 1930 had 9 dresses for her whole wardrobe--and that's long after the industrial revolution.

[Anothercoilgun]

Seems the native Americans had the answer after all.

[Anothercoilgun]

You pick some of the best stories and people.

[namer1990]

I LOVED the idea but what do you do about shoes?

[signalfire6]

As usual with your wonderful site, a most beautiful interview. I love them all, keep them coming, and get them on regular TV!!!! :)

[BoringPeopleEnt]

great job, very interesting people and stories you find expose.

[kirstendirksen]

Rebecca isn't saying we should go back to the past. Her response to my question about that: "Now we have the ability through an information age that's come.. My goal is to use the best of modern technology and the best of self sufficiency that we could learn from our ancestors. Combine self sufficiency with modern technology and that combo, like a solar-powered cotton mill on a farm. That mill is very advanced, yet at the same time it's very new and old. I love this new old thing. "

[Dustrick]

"The world doesn't stop just because Wall Street Journal lost a few points..." I KNOW, RIGHT??

[Dustrick]

@MrElektrolyt I disagree, here in America, we've grown ourselves and all the people around us to live like we do and we're suffering tremendously for it. We, as a whole, need to stop and rethink our situation and understand that we need NONE OF WHAT WE HAVE, other than farming and shelter to survive. Just look at how the REST of the world lives!

[boscoitalics]

love that!! i dont like fashion..etc. this is so cool!

[boscoitalics]

love that!!

[srvvlhm]

I drink Pepsi for breakfast. I could never drink Coke for breakfast. I understand,

[pepperminttea42]

I'd love to see this idea take off.

[mscameron22]

i thought the title meant that she had a wardrobe 150 miles deep!! :3

[1dutchgrl]

beautiful, wonderful, inspiring.........together we can do this. Thank you so much for posting this video and showing us what is possible.

[1dutchgrl]

beautiful, wonderful, inspiring.........together we can do this. Thank you so much for posting this video and showing us what is possible.

[earthbowl]

wonderful :)

[shtfgear]

it is a very impressive and noble project. well done. Although it will require a large scale change in economics and public behavior for it to go mainstream. if all 800,000 people in SF wanted their clothes done this way, how long will people be walking around nude before they got their orders fulfilled?

[hotm96]

@shtfgear raising awareness is a already good enough goal of this project.

[BoringPeopleEnt]

@shtfgear Not as long as you would think, a lot of people are unemployed so why not create a few plants and manufacture clothing. No every piece of clothing would be made in North America but imagine if 30% of your clothes were made here. That number would grow over time greatly. Nothing happens over night.

[shtfgear]

@BoringPeopleEnt I would be interested in seeing the economics of this model. things like the earnings per hour that would need to attract the unemployed away from the current public assistance programs for them to give those up to work in a textile factory in the US. It easy to imagine putting all those millions of unemployed to work but much harder to put it in practice.

[Wagy1]

This is amazing! I'm in the Los Angeles area and do all sorts of crafting, how can I get involved?

[nagaempress]

Ill be honest when she started talking about the gold pants I started crying. Im crying for what we have lost. We live in a generic society where everything is plastic and preservatives. Where we go to big box stores and buy clothing that are made by kids. We are starving in this counrty for jobs. Bring the cottage industries back and support these people. I know the clothing will be more expensive but years ago people didn't buy clothes every year. We can go back to that and be happy.

[MrElektrolyt]

@nagaempress yes cause it was SO wonderful working in this industrie. Why do you think there will be any difference to the working condition of the 3. world?! This is painfull work, as a hobby as a projekt - yes. But yesterday never IS the answere for tomorrow.