There was a summer not too long ago that I read the book Plant Witchery by Juliet Diaz and spent time learning the names of my houseplants. Not their botanical names, but their actual, self chosen, names. Did you know you can ask them? It never occurred to me to ask before then. The most surprising name shared was from my Monstera who chose the name, “Margaret”. She made me laugh. I actually learned to ask their names from a Tea Spirit gathering where we met the personality of Chamomile (who is very childlike with a gentle playfulness). The whole idea of communicating with plants is a premise in the book, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. Nobody could have prepared me for this tear-jerker, except for maybe Jane Goodall who famously said, “How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?”
Sometimes I forget that I grew up in a fairly remote part of California, up near Lake Tahoe, in the community of Glenshire (it even sounds like a fairytale village). But these formative years being pulled on a sled across the snow or ducking through branches to get to crystal clear lagoon water in the summer, with very few neighbors in-between, never felt like social isolation. Instead, I felt very free. The Gene Keys would call this environment ripe with Devas within the forest, or Aspara in the clouds and waters. These benevolent, supernatural beings are the living forces behind nature.
SEASONAL FIBERS, WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Fashionable attire wasn’t invented on the runway. In the earliest days of wearable attire, the Indigenous Americans used hides from all varieties of animals in the colder months and in smaller proportions in warmer weather often reflecting the flora, fauna and findings of a local environment. Plant dyes, feathers, fur and shells were used to craft personal details and tribal design work into the hide, while natural oils were used to soften them.
In the southwest, cotton was used as early as 1500 BC while those living in the Northeast prepared cedar bark into a textile known as tapa. There was time, effort and skill into every piece of clothing and thoughtful consideration of climate and purpose. There is a contemporary textile artist, Lily Hope, who still uses the process of retting, which soaks the inner bark of a tree in water to allow bacterial breakdown, before preparing cedar bark into her textiles and preserving the knowledge for future generations. The natural retting process is immensely time consuming, so what we see in the stores and online is actually highly chemically processed fibers.
In addition to hides, cotton and cedar bark, there were Inca tribes and Mapuche who used alpaca and wool yarns to make textiles, spinning the delicate hair by hand. While the Ancient Egyptians had been donning linen from the Flax plants at all classes, it was reserved for only the most prominent figureheads in Mesoamerica. And even though Flax was and is still quite easy to grow, it pulls a lot of nutrients from the soil and can only be planted once every six years to allow the soil to replenish. In cotton farming, this is called crop rotation - which uses beneficial plants in succession to help with soil fertility and communication.
In the 1600’s, we finally tried our hand at producing silk in the US - beginning with manufacturing in Virginia. If you know silkworms, you know they eat a lot of Mulberry leaves and their feeding schedule rivals that of a newborn baby. Mulberry grows in the Eastern region of the United States but even so, the raising of the worms proved too difficult (and costly) to manage. And ultimately, silk is not considered a sustainable fiber because the hard working worms are boiled to retrieve the silk thread. If it’s any consolation, the worms are sold and a crispy snack to locals so they are not completed tossed aside. Ethicist, however, would call this forced labor with the male silkworms favored for their larger outputs. Silk was imported from China until World War II, and today India, Korea and Italy are the biggest importers into the United States and will run about $30 per yard and upwards of $800 per yard for custom prints.
MATERIALS FOR OUR MODERN LIFE
By now, you probably have your favorite materials for each season. It’s ok if it’s silk is one of them, there are beautiful vintage finds still out there. Here is a rundown of my favorite materials for the colder seasons and some sustainable brands to check out.
1. MERINO WOOL
There are two kinds of wool yarn - merino or itchy. I’ve only ever met one woman, a designer, who preferred the classic wool texture that I refer to as the itch. But for the lux experience, you can pretty much convert any summer silhouette into a merino version of the same. My favorite t-shirt is a wool /cotton blend that I wear year round. Try wool trousers, blazers, long sleeves, cardigans and tanks, but make them wool for fall.
Source: Merino wool comes from Merino Sheep out of New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina
Benefits: Breathability, Moisture Management, Insulating, High Frequency (see below)
Certifications: The Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) aims to improve the welfare of sheep and the land they graze on using transparent, direct relationship with farmers.
Fun fact: Wool has one of the higher frequencies for energetic healing. According to Dr. Heidi Yellen's study, pure wool has an energetic frequency of 5,000 hertz (Hz) as measured by the Ag-Environ machine in 2003.
Brand Highlight: Arket, Cream Sweater
2. ALPACA
“I need you to find a source for alpaca.” That was the first time I’d heard of alpaca yarns, and that was when my then Design Director placed a sweater of his on my desk to source. So I went to work to find alpaca in Peru only stopping short of a planned visit because I got pregnant with my son. I was willing to fly at 7 months, but my team was not as enthused. Alpaca, while technically considered a wool its not actually wool because it doesn’t have lanolin oils, it is also warmer and much softer than standard wool. By warmer, I mean, it will keep you toasty within minutes. Great for those who run cold.
Source: Alpaca comes from the soft hair of an alpaca that lives primarily in South America. The alpaca are sheared during the spring so they can stay cool when the warmer weather arrives.
Benefits: Breathability, Moisture Management, Insulating.
Certification: Alpacas are considered more sustainable than wool because of their naturally gentle environmental impact. Even their hooves are lighter on the soil allowing the pastures to be grazed without being destroyed. Because the fiber isn’t coated with lanolin, there is no need to caustic soda to wash the fiber, just a gentle cleanser will work. And, the animal is sheared and not slaughtered for their hides.
Fun Fact: Alpacas pluck grass because they don’t have any upper teeth, just that cute little underbite we know and love. Plucking prevents the alpaca from tearing apart the pastures.
Brand Highlight: St. Agni, Blue Crew Neck
3. WAXED COTTON
We don’t usually think of cotton for cooler weather, but cotton treated with a waxed coating can offer additional weather protection for the in-between seasons. The Barn Coat is a classic Fall to Winter staple that can benefit from a coating during dewy mornings and lighter rain.
Source: Waxed cotton uses a paraffin or beeswax to “impregnate” the yarns, meaning it coats the yarns rather than sitting on top of the fabric like a waterproof coating.
Benefits: Wax coatings are slightly more eco-friendly alternatives to durable water repellents (DWR) found on rainproof jackets. While paraffin is petroleum based, DWR is made from corrosive gas and has a half life of 55-85 years which means it takes 55-85 years to break down to half of its potency due to its chemical cocktail called PFAS.
Certifications: Cotton garments, including outerwear, are available as Fair Trade Certified and GOTS (organic) Certified. Fair Trade is a program dear to me because I helped launch the program in Liberia when it first started within the United States. Fair Trade ensures all non-management employees receive a premium payment that is pooled for their collective investment. Examples of investments included building a schoolhouse, buying mattresses and purchasing uniforms for employees children. GOTS preserves the soil where the cotton is grown so both the environment and the farmers are protected from chemical exposure.
Fun Fact: Cotton is grown in a variety of staple lengths. The most luxurious staple length is called Pima, which means is a long fiber, grown in Peru. Pima is great for those with sensitive skin. The shortest staples of cotton are recycled cotton and I have yet to feel a product made of recycled cotton that compares to pima cotton.
Brand Highlight: Alex Mill, Barn Coat Matona
4. SILK VELVET
A quintessential holiday material, velvet, was originally made from silk. It was regal and refined. Then, to save on costs, it was developed as a rayon, and now much of the velvet you feel today is purely synthetic polyester, viscose or acetate. Don’t be fooled by the expensive price tags- many of those options in the $300 range are polyester.
Source: Silk Velvet is actually made of two layers of silk that is connected by an extra warp yarn (the one that goes up and down). The most sustainable silk will use plant based dyes.
Certifications: There are three primary certifications for silk processing. First, there is Peace Silk, called Ahimsa. Peace silk allows the silkworm to complete its lifecycle and emerge from the cocoon before harvesting the silk. Silk can also be certified organic with GOTS. And finally, there is even a form of silk called Wild Silk, which are sourced in open forests.
Fun Fact: Bolt Threads, a bio tech company, has created a form of micro silk using yeast, sugar and water. This is a protein process used to make environmentally friendly alternatives to petroleum based fibers.
Brand Highlight: Etsy Vintage
Each year I seem to purge more synthetics from my closet in favor of natural fibers. And with studies like that of Dr. Heidi Yellen, there is a whole world of material, color and plant frequencies that we have yet to integrate into healing and daily life. Can you imagine a world where a baby is wrapped in a merino swaddle to welcome them into the world within the highest frequency fibers? Or where hospital gowns are made of linen to promote wound healing?
If it’s no longer a good idea to grow our foods with chemicals, perhaps it’s also safe to say we are ready to remove chemicals from what we put on our body as well.