Textiles
Local food is relatively easy to obtain, but clothes and other fibres are not. Stroud has a long and proud heritage in making textiles (particularly woollen clothes) and much interest and expertise remains.
We are working with members of the Stroudwater Textile Trust (http://home.clara.net/clempson/index.htm) and local producers of handmade garments to rebuild the local economy of textile production in Stroud. You can find out more about the existing economy for local textiles on the Local Production of Textiles page. Eventually aims include the establishment of the Stroud Hemporium, a co-operative to manufacture clothes from home-grown domestic textiles.
We are sharing skills and having fun making new clothes, mending old ones, and making clothes we already have more exciting and attractive. For a list of forthcoming events please see the Textile Events page.
The primary motivation of the textiles work is to reduce CO2 emissions but the exposure of the appalling conditions of the workers who produce our clothes also brings home the need for changing the way we think about the fashion industry (see more on the Fashion Victims page).
It was pointed out that the things we can do seemed to fall into two categories: ways of making better use of what comes to us via the global economy; and stuff we can do to restart genuine local production of textiles.
Reduce—Reuse—Recycle
Relocalisation