During a weekend nettle mentorship, participants gather to harvest fresh nettles. Photo: Louis Bockner
The West Kootenay Fibreshed promotes the journey of fabrics from “soil to soil”
by Janna Dickinson
The West Kootenay Fibreshed is weaving together a new path of regenerative agriculture, leading local communities in building a resilient and circular textile economy.
Marking a bioregion of 100 kilometres centred on Kokanee Glacier Park, a network of producers, processors and makers are developing a sustainable fibre ecosystem.
The “soil to soil” pathway. Source: West Kootenay Fibreshed
Much like a foodshed, a fibreshed follows the path textiles take from seed and soil to plant or animal fibre; common plants sown, grown or wild-harvested include flax, hemp or nettle, while animals such as sheep, goats, rabbits and alpacas are raised for wool and fleece. The fibreshed then documents the transformation of these items into the fabrics and linens used in our clothing, and their eventual return to the earth.
A fibreshed slows us down from the global fast-fashion markets competing for our attention. Its primary concept of a “soil to soil” pathway prompts us to consider the composition and origins of our clothes, the journey they take to get to us, and where they go when we are finished enjoying them.
Danielle Soucie is the director and founder of the West Kootenay Fibreshed. She is also the owner of Earthborn Textiles: on a homestead in Argenta, she raises alpacas for fleece and processes it into yarn, dyes it, and weaves it into garments. “‘Soil to soil’ is a framework for creating a closed-loop system within fibre creation,” she says. “In the modern world, so much clothing is made with fossil-based fibres that shed microplastics, which persist for generations with no meaningful end-of-life pathway.”
A former class participant once described the slow nature of fibre artistry as “inherently radical.”
The ultimate goal is for our fabrics to fully decompose after use, with little imprint, waste or pollution, and offer nutrients back into the ground.
Joining makers and movers
In 2010, the term “fibreshed” was coined by Rebecca Burgess in Northern California, who could only hope that people like Soucie would heed the call and join the movement that would travel all the way to us here in the Kootenays.
Founded in 2024, the West Kootenay Fibreshed aims to support the local fibre economy while promoting supply chain transparency and material literacy. Its directives—and its member directory—connect components, curators and community. Soucie says there is a role for everyone within this network, and tries to make every potential collaboration succeed, whether it’s with artisans, farmers, processors or even the general public and social service organizations.
Flax gets harvested by pulling up from the roots, here done by a child whose family grew flax within the Flax to Linen program. Photo: Louis Bockner
In partnership with the Doukhobor Discovery Centre, for example, the Flax to Linen program explores the viability of flax across the region. As part of this, growers across the West Kootenay planted plots of flax, observed its growth, and met to discuss challenges and successes.
The West Kootenay Fibreshed is also diligently developing other creative relationships. This includes an initiative with Bigby Place in Nelson, in which adults with diverse abilities will make art out of cloth panels and found objects, to be presented in a gallery show. Other partners include the public library in Nelson and the Central Kootenay Invasive Species Society.
Translating ecological cycles into human experience
When it comes to deliberately cultivating a culture of sustainable creation, repair and re-use into society, the West Kootenay Fibreshed invites us to participate, too.
Workshop facilitators Tracy Fillion and Stefania Zwirello have guided students into the craft. Bringing decades of experience with natural fibres, Fillion, a former Kootenay School of the Arts educator, offers community workshops on plant dyeing. Zwirello, a therapist by day, brings a trauma-informed lens to her dye and spin classes, viewing textile practice as a modality that weaves wellness into day-to-day experiences.
Retting and roving, although sounding like a Celtic jig, are steps within the harvesting process. Savvy crafters and “fibre-curious folks” of any experience level can also discover the activities of rippling, scutching, hackling and spinning. In addition, the group is working on acquiring a permanent studio space to offer a formal textile learning centre for anyone to enjoy.
A former class participant once described the slow nature of fibre artistry as “inherently radical.” And Soucie posits that small, gentle actions spanning seasons can build upon the isolated meditative moments when holding fibres.
It’s a captivating process—and the West Kootenay Fibreshed is successfully demonstrating the reach a fibreshed can have toward people and communities in the region.
