Fiber of the Future

That seems like a weird sentiment coming from a natural dyer, knowing that I’m using technology and materials available in the past.

Row of mason jars filled with natural dye ingredients: weld, madder root, Hopi black dye sunflower seeds, cosmos flowers, cochineal, marigolds, and yellow onion skins on wood background

A whole slew of forward-thinking, innovative, and optimistic people catapulted us through the Industrial Revolution to our present-day Globalized economy. We’ve made enormous strides in innovation. But because of all that progress, we’ve lost sight of the health of our planet. And everyone is suffering immensely from the waste we’ve created.

I’m not here to paint a picture of doom and gloom but one of hope and resilience.

I am reading about some incredible start-ups and technologies being developed using today’s material science and incorporating renewable materials that have always been here. Things like kelp, mushrooms, and fruit sugars can be re-engineered to mimic polymer, foam, and leather. There’s a fundamental shift in thinking and efforts that’s unfolding.

And I am so excited for that future.

We realize we can’t keep filling the world with plastic and toxins. Even though it’s incredibly cheap and easy to exploit the earth for its precious resources, we can instead look around us and use the materials that re-grow or re-generate.

orange osage, indigo, soda ash, wheat bran, and madder root on dark slate backroundlogwood shavings and weld on dark slate background

Image used with permission from The Shaniko Wool Company

Animals, plants, bugs, minerals.

With the right methods and science, we can produce amazing products. Fleece and plants will continue to grow. It just takes a collective mindset to invest in this path.

I believe in the mission. It’s not just yarn. It’s a commitment to support my local economy, to source from ranchers like The Shaniko Wool Co Farm Group, domestic suppliers, and seed growers who aren’t monopolizing the market.

The way to heal is to learn from the past and find ways to improve it.

If you’re reading this, you are an early adopter. Yes, you! This idea is still not mainstream, and I have a feeling that you’re here because you see what I see—a future where we embrace balance and think twice about over-consuming plastic-coated, toxic-filled trinkets.

An industry shift is happening. In the past four years, I’ve seen a new crop of fashion brands focusing on using natural materials and natural or low-impact dyes to color their products because demand is on the rise.

So, let's dress ourselves in wool, cotton, silk, linen, bamboo, hemp, cashmere, alpaca, and angora!

Wool & Palette started because I saw a glimmer of a resurgence of that back-to-homemade, slow-fiber movement. It felt missing from my life, and I was desperately looking for a way to be a part of the answer.

That's why I'm here! To bring the art of natural dyeing back to the world. But to also show that we can lift up other small business who are sourcing mindfully.

I’m excited to be here to witness this change. You are the key ingredient! Collective change can’t take place without you, so I want to say thank you for being here.

Thank you for reading this, and thank you for supporting small businesses like mine.

Love, Emily

 

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