What Makes Yarn Sustainable
Over the years, I have enjoyed learning how to make and create my own clothes, with wool, linen and cotton forming the backbone of my wardrobe. They keep me cool in this beautiful early summer heat, and warm when the wind and rain start to cascade their way down the mountain where we live.
I love how these earth-bound fibres work with my body, and will go back into the ground when my time with them is over.
This personal conversation that I have with my own style has started to be shared with other spinners, dyers, and fibre creators, and our focused question is:
What makes yarn sustainable?
In an age of consumerism that is unlike any we have seen in history, it is little wonder that the fashion industry is trying its best to clean up its appearance; the style of ‘Earth Stripper’ isn’t en vogue right now, and it is the same for the yarn industry.
There are so many tempting options for our needles, but if we are choosing to knit with sustainability in mind, what are the best choices to cast on with?
In this blog, I want to share my ideas on how to best support an ethical and sustainable wardrobe at home by broadening the subject, rather than simply listing different fibre contents of yarn.
If you sew your own clothes, the same ideas can flow through your decisions in your fabric stash!
The Origin Story
The origin of our yarns is the first place to start thinking about how your new project can help sustain both your wardrobe and the earth around us.
When you are choosing your yarns, have a think about where they are coming from around the globe. Here in the UK, we are blessed with some of the highest quality wool in the world, and they are blended with skill and knowledge at mills around the country, and are created with the final product in mind, whether that is socks for your hikes, or sweaters to keep you warm.
The same is true across the globe, as in each country you will find materials that are produced geographically close to your knitting nook, whether they are shepherded Merino sheep in Australia, and Alpaca from South America, or farmed cotton in India, linen in Europe.
We can’t be unrealistic in our thinking however, as there are some moments where we will not be able to know where our fibres are coming from.
But, we can start asking questions to initiate the wider conversations when we visit our wonderful local yarn and cloth shops; if they know that we are interested in the origin stories of products that we are buying to support sustainable, hand-made fashion, they will start to ask the producers.
It is our responsibility as consumers to start a wave of interest that forms the change within the industry.
If we remain silent, we don’t offer the yarn industry an incentive to fully support ethical fashion.
I know that not all my clothes can be made with fabric produced in the UK, but each time I choose my natural yarn fibres, knowing their origin story and how my financial ‘vote’ is being cast, helps ensure that my choices are considered I can keep within a sustainable framework.
Local Knowledge
With regional yarn shows popping up around the country each month, it is becoming increasingly easy to find yarn that is local to you. Shepherds, spinners, and dyers flock to the shows with their small batches of lustrous wool. They are a wonderful place to meet the people who are passionate about their product, and have built their small businesses on the basis that they want you to experience the joy of high quality wool.
The local breeds that have evolved to weather that landscape around them offer different qualities; from the soft crimps of lowland sheep, to the hard wearing fleeces of those who stay out in the sleet and snow in the Scottish highlands. Through the local knowledge of the product, spinners and mills can mix and match the qualities of the wool to produce a yarn that is like no other. Rare breeds are prized within this ecosystem of smaller scale production, with their wools being used sparingly and with thought, rather than churned out at a rate of knots with little consideration.
Each time you purchase from a local or regional producer, you are offering your support to not only the people who raise the sheep and look after the land, but also the community around them; their families, the farmers, the vets, the mills, the spinners and the dyers. The place that you love to live thrives through the local connection that you have to the yarn on your needles, and in a world that has become so disparate, the reconnection to the land around us can only be a good thing.
The Colour Of Green
Greenwashing isn’t just about big corporations saying they are trying their best to cut ocean pollution when we all know they aren’t, it is also prevalent in the yarn industry.
Sustainable yarns are ones that cost the earth very little. The use of plastics and high chemical dyes in yarns cost the planet in water and fossil fuel, as acrylic is pure plastic.
Water runoff from industrial dye vats for clothing pollute river systems and cause a huge amount of health concerns for the local residents.
This is not talked about when it comes to yarn dyeing, and I hope that we start to see a rise in both conversation and research about how our multi-million dollar industry that is yarn production can start to heal the earth instead of constantly taking from it.
Learning the colourful power that can be unleashed from plants has been life changing for me, as well as the knitters and makers who choose Nellie and Eve yarn. The vibrant blues from Indigo, the deep dark browns from walnuts, and the greens from alder and onions are all dyes that create unique hews and variations.
To be able to create yarn from wool that comes from the sheep I see in the fields around me, and to dye it in plants that I gather from the land around me is a wonderful experience of freedom away from mega fashion corporations.
Flight Times
The other one thing that is little talked about is the flight time of where our yarn comes from. We have known for years that the fashion industry contributes 10% of the carbon pollution each year, and the yarn industry is part of this.
When we purchase wool from Canada, South Africa, Europe, or anywhere else, we are adding more carbon pollution than we need to. We have enough material of the highest quality in the world to provide for all our knitting and creating needs.
When we choose to buy British Wool, we are also supporting sustainability and farming practices that are traceable, and with the knowledge that the sheep have been looked after in a socially responsible manner. We can’t buy wool from around the world with the same assurances, or farming principles.
Ethical doesn’t necessarily mean sustainable.
The most sustainable knitting yarn will always be from a natural fibre, and here in the UK, wool will always be here to bless your needles.
As I look out on the landscape around me, I am reminded every day at how our rich earth gives so much. To show my respect for the soil through the fibres I create my wardrobe with is how I can thank it for all it has offered me.
Until next time, walk gently.
Love, Helen.
Image credits: Helen Hickman, @deepakrautela, @williamnavarro_