The challenge: I have to collect 10 articles of clothing that change the way people think about the clothes they wear and where they come from.
Everything - from the fibers to the labor - is sourced from within 200 miles of my house in Montgomeryville, Penn.
I was inspired by Rebecca Burgess, who for one year, only wore clothes completely sourced from within 150 miles of her front door in northern California. She went on to found Fibershed, a non-profit organization that promotes the creation of a thriving bioregional textile culture in northern California.
The Swadeshi movement, part of the Indian independence movement, was an economic strategy that involved boycotting British products in favor of self sufficiency. Mohandas Ghandi encouraged Indians to make their own khadi, a hand-woven cotton cloth. Khadi production allowed for rural self-employment, and some people in the movement wore khadi cloth and discarded their foreign-made clothes.
This is an Envirocrat Project.
