Clothing reloved with botanical dyes for Fashion Revolution Week

Fibreshed Producer's Directory

If you are a textile professional working in Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Durham, Tyne & Wear or Northumberland and want to let people know that your work supports regional agriculture, a local and fair economy and ecological balance, consider becoming a member of the Fibreshed Producer Directory.

Criteria

Northern England Fibreshed Producers listed in our Producer Directory live and work in the region and meet one or more of the following criteria*:

  • Grow or farm natural fibres and/or natural dyes in Northern England
  • Produce products which are made with regionally (or nationally) sourced fibres, natural dyes and made within Northern England N.B. This need not be true of entire line of products but Fibreshed logo and any claims made regarding Fibreshed can only be used on, or regarding, products which meet these criteria. Please see Exceptions below.
  • Offer services for processing natural fibres and/or dyes in Northern England, either on a commercial or an artisanal scale
  • Offer services for manufacturing garments from local yarns or fabrics
  • Offer a retail site (physical or online shop) that is geared toward consumers who would support and buy into the Fibreshed ethos e.g. an ethical or sustainable fashion/lifestyle store
  • Offer education or tuition in Fibreshed-related concepts

All members must have a demonstrated commitment to working with ethical, sustainable (or even better, regenerative) systems of production and be willing to actively participate in, and advocate for, the Fibreshed community.

Exceptions

Note: We have based these exceptions on our knowledge of the textile and fibre industry in the North and expect them to be under ongoing review.

  • We are aware that the region has limited natural fibre and dye processing facilities and are therefore happy to consider on a case-by-case basis supply chains and end products that are sent elsewhere in the UK for processing when the required service is not available in the North. We also acknowledge that this may be due to issues of volume or timeline rather than availability of service
  • Sewing thread and other haberdashery items are not yet manufactured in our region on a commercial scale.  We therefore expect members to:
    • make every effort to to modify their design and manufacturing to minimise the need for such items
    • to source UK-made products wherever available
    • to source ethically produced and traceable products where UK-made products are not available
    • ensure that items contain 5% or less of nylon, poly cotton, or poly thread by weight and clearly label this, since the product will not be biodegradable as a result

Membership benefits

  • Inclusion in the Fibreshed Producer Directory, including your business bio, contact information and links to your social media
  • Inclusion of your upcoming Fibreshed events/workshops on our calendar of events
  • Opportunity to attend face-to-face and online meet-ups and events across the North
  • Usage of Northern England Fibreshed product logo for web and print – tags and signs are a great way to communicate to customers your commitment to working within our bioregion. We have seen a growing number of customers looking for locally grown materials, and Fibreshed tags are a great way to verify your work
  • Opportunity to share relevant research
  • Your work showcased on Northern England Fibreshed social media

Fees

Membership is currently free of charge as we build the community. There will come a time when we need to implement an annual fee and this is something we intend to discuss with our members in future.

Join

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* current criteria shared with kind permission of the SW England Fibreshed