Radically Local

EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF BIOREGIONAL BRITISH FIBRES, FABRICS AND FASHION SYSTEMS TO MOVE US LUXURIOUSLY TOWARDS REGENERATIVE FUTURES.

WHAT ARE THE POTENTIALS OF AND OBSTACLES TO REGENERATIVE LOCAL FIBRE, FABRIC AND FASHION SYSTEMS?

The global fashion industry contributes significantly to the environmental degradation of our planet and to climate change. Many fashion practitioners are looking for alternative ways of producing their clothing to conventional extractive systems. The word ‘regenerative’ increasingly is appropriated in marketing campaigns for brands that seem not to understand its meaning. It is crucial now to create our clothing in regenerative ways – how might we demonstrate what this really means before the term is washed of meaning, in the ways that ‘sustainable’ has been?

How might we create clothing in radically benign and transparent ways, regenerating local ecologies and communities, and rediscovering our distinctive creative identities, and reducing its carbon footprint?

The Radically Local project explores the potential of reviving heritage British textile systems for the 21st century, to reimagine contemporary, sustainable luxury clothing solutions that are distinctive, culturally-grounded and expressive of a heritage that has been almost erased by the industrialisation and globalisation of fashion.

Our team is exploring a series of bioregional textile sourcing strategies, and analysing their successes and challenges, to formulate strategies and recommendations for designers that are seeking to transition to a sustainable and regenerative approach. Alongside this, we are excavating traditional local knowledges relating to fibre, colour, techniques, textiles and aesthetics, experimenting and reimagining what ‘local’ might look like from macro, meso and micro perspectives.

Ultimately, we will test the viability of our research and disseminate its findings in a range of locally-produced garments whose provenance is clear, compelling and embodying a vision of optimism for small-scale, heritage craft-based clothing production that is beautiful, luxurious and operating in harmony with people and planet.

TEAM MEMBERS

MACRO:

Kirsten Scott is researching regenerative, local wool and alpaca fibres and yarns, that may be used in luxurious knitwear and woven textiles, sourcing from specific farms and sheep breeds. She has identified some insistent, traditional, regional aesthetic vernaculars that have historically emerged across a range of British material culture, seeing kinship between late medieval timber-frame buildings in the midlands of Wales and England, and the black and white patterns found in Sanquhar and Yorkshire Dales knitting.

Her research asks questions about what remains of the heritage knowledge relating to how and from what we make our clothes, which was once part of our collective commons; it challenges the sytematic de-skilling and de-knowledging that turned too many of us from engaged, creative citizens to mere consumers. The research is deeply influenced by Linebaugh’s (2008) The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All, Standing’s (2019) Plunder of the Commons: A Manifesto for the Sharing of Public Wealth, Federici’s (2017) Caliban and the Witch, and Niessen’s (2020) Fashion, its Sacrifice Zones, and Sustainability, arguing that our local fibre, fabric and clothing knowledge is a sacrifice zone to industrialised fashion.

(https://www.kirstenscott.org).

MESO:

Emma D’Arcey is researching local, naturally-dyed, regeneratively-farmed British wool, meeting with farmers and fibre processors to capture the opportunities and challenges they face. She has created a series of natural dyes for wool and alpaca, using colour she has extracted from agricultural tree waste in Somerset. As well as creating seasonal colour palettes, she has tested the dyes in a high-quality, heritage jacquard fabrics.

(https://www.aotextiles.com/emma-darcey-bio).

MICRO:

Clare Lopeman is researching a new and regenerative model for British couture for the 21st century, including the role of coding in personally-customised weaving and garments. Creating jacquard patterns from coded personal narratives, in partnership with a heritage mill, she is experimenting with creating the ultimate bespoke clothing, drawing on theories around emotional durability.

(https://clarelopeman.com)

Dissemination to date:

Practical outcomes of the research selected for exhibition by British Wool at Groundswell Festival, July 2025.

Heirlooms: heritage fibres, colours and textiles for postgrowth local fashion futures. Paper selected for presentation at the 11th International Degrowth Conference hosted by University of Oslo, in June 2025.

Radically Local: exploring the potential of British fibre, colour, fabric and aesthetics for regenerative, postgrowth fashion futures. A presentation of research to date at DeFashion Dorset in May 2025, at Hawkers Farm, Stour Provost, Dorset.

Upcoming:

Radically Local: excavating and reconstructing heritage aesthetics, fibres, colours and textiles for postgrowth fashion vernaculars. Paper selected for presentation at the What Is Fashion? conference hosted by Westminster University, in October 2025.

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM:

Zoe Gilbertson is researching regenerative fibre systems in the United Kingdom, supporting the RL project with a particular focus on wool and bast fibres (https://www.churchillfellowship.org/ideas-experts/fellows-directory/zoe-gilbertson/).

It is envisioned that the Radically Local project will incorporate other local textile traditions as it develops, including lace making, linen and hemp fabrics, and knitted items to compose a regenerative, 21st century British wardrobe.

This research will support smaller fashion brands wishing to transition to truly sustainable, local production and has significance for a fashion industry that must embrace radical change.

Local fleece, patterns and yarns - meanings and methods

What patterns are traditional to the British Isles? What histories do they carry?

Work in progress from Kirsten Scott, experimenting with reconstructing Sanquhar and other knit patterns in natural fleece shades of certified organic Shetland wool from Tamarisk Farm (https://tamariskfarm.co.uk/our-wool/), purchased at DeFashion Dorset (https://www.hawkersfarm.org/defashion-dorset).

There is nothing quite like knitting, weaving or plaiting to allow the mind to run free, to think laterally and make seemingly random connections, to find possibilities. The wool for these samples is all local, organic and in the natural colours of the fleece. Wensleydale is a revelation: very soft, quite fine, and silky. I was led to using it after listening to Julia Desch describe it as more luxurious than merino. The Shetland yarn from Tamarisk Farm is lovely to knit with too.