Fibershed’s Rebecca Burgess: “What Do Clothes Have To Do With Agriculture?”
Through developing regional and regenerative fibre systems, Fibershed are on a mission to redefine the relationship between our clothes and the land. Charlotte Turner spoke to founder Rebecca Burgess about how best the fashion industry can be inspired by agricultural practices.
“What do clothes have to do with agriculture?”
As it happens, a lot. And it’s a question that Rebecca Burgess asks in her new book Fibershed: Growing a Movement of Farmers, Fashion Activists, and Makers for a New Textile Economy. “Think of it like food,” she explains. “Our food system has become fairly industrialised and there are so many things that people are asking because of health issues. Well, some of the chemical compounds that we’re concerned about in our food are also used to grow fibre crops.”