It was so very special to be able to be part of the ‘Fashion On Earth’ event in Bristol, in November 2024. Being surrounded by so many makers with similar aims was highly inspiring. Plus, I was over the moon when the organisers, The Sustainable Fashion Week, referred to our jeans as the core piece of the garment exhibition.

The motivation behind our jeans, the community-driven, local ethos, and our focus on regenerative making seems to resonated with the organisers reminder about the current state of textiles:

We are critically disconnected from our clothing, how it is made, its natural source, and the many hands each garment passes through before it reaches us. All the resources that cloth our bodies come from this Earth, and how we choose to care for and use these resources plays a significant role in planetary health.

Our jeans directly address these issues by reconnecting people with the origins of their garments and demonstrating the power of local textile practices.

Amazingly, we were positioned next to the GOTS stall. Our stall neighbours were delighted by our approach, especially the fact that we used GOTS-certified Tencel thread, dyed with kitchen waste, e.g. onion skins. We now have the official GOTS sticker which we can proudly add to our thread 😊.

We set up early in the day, to make sure not to interrupt services at the cathedral. As a result, we were busy between service times talking to the pubic about flax and its potential to make linen. People enjoyed processing single stalks of flax and turning the resulting fibres into cordage. The responses and flax love was incredible, with so many people keen to learn more about the sustainable techniques behind the jeans, all while being surrounded by the stunning exhibition.

The ethos of the Gaia exhibition provided the perfect backdrop for our jeans. Luke Jerram’s Gaia installation—a large-scale depiction of the Earth—served as a reminder of the interconnectedness of all life on this planet. This powerful visual reinforced the message that all the resources we consume, including the clothing we wear, have a significant impact on planetary health.