Holistically farmed wool from the Mendips, near Bristol, offers the highest standards of animal welfare along with soil rebuilding techniques and maximised carbon sequestration.

Organic plant dyes are used by Botanical Inks non-toxic natural dye studio, to apply natural colour to the fleece, which compliments the un-dyed natural fleece colours of white and dark brown, used to create this herringbone weave design created by weave designer, Wendy Kotenko.

Woven at the Bristol Weaving Mill, our local independent producer of fine artisan woven fabrics.

Featured on:

BRISTOL CLOTH

2ND EDITION

The Bristol Cloth project showcases British heritage, preserving what this land has always offered and what British communities have done for centuries. We are set to prove that it is still commercially viable to make cloth on our shores, sustaining British tradition, culture, community, land and the economy.

Bristol Cloth is made with holistically farmed and biologically washed wool from Fernhill Farm, using carbon sequestering practices to lock carbon back into the soil where it belongs, regenerate soil fertility and offer the highest standards of animal welfare. Our soft yet strong lambswool yarn is naturally dyed with GOTS certified organic plant dyes by Botanical Inks. And woven at the Bristol Weaving Mill, the first industrial loom to open in Bristol in nearly 100 years. The entire process is done without the use of toxic synthetic chemicals and set mainly within a 15 mile radius of Bristol. Reducing the carbon footprint and creating a cloth which is actually safe to make, use, wear and go back into the ground at the end of its useful life cycle. Our system is fully traceable and contributes to our local community and economy, with fair pay terms to all suppliers.

By supporting this campaign, you can help re-create a local, resilient textile economy in the South West, offering an alternative to the unsustainable global textile production systems which have threatened traditional British cloths almost to extinction and critically damaged the health of our soils, waters and biosphere; Support regenerative agriculture which captures carbon from the air and locks it back into the soil whilst also replenishing soil fertility; Help recreate our ability to dye textiles using non-toxic organic plant dyes; and bring artisan textile production back into our local economy. 

We are thrilled to work with Bristol based tailors to provide an exciting selection of locally made garments and accessories, to close the loop.

Brown In Town are available to offer tailor made mens jackets and suits, Jokoto Tailors have two flattering ladies kimono jackets available for bespoke orders and also make our homeware pieces and accessories. While oB wear brings a choice of a unisex jumpsuit and a zero-waste t-shirt. All bespoke made-to-order. Please get in touch for more info about these services.

We’ve been overjoyed by the success of this project so far, with £7,000 raised in the first 5 days of our crowd funder campaign, smashing our first target and carrying on to meet our second target of £15,000 over the following weeks, finally reaching over £18,000.

The amount of support and enthusiasm for this project has been electric and ever so heartening! Sky News and the BBC have graced our story with a full 3 minute feature on Points West News (below); Radio 4 have been in to interview us, and we have been written up in Selvedge Magazine, No Serial Number Magazine, Permaculture Magazine and several local Bristol papers including Bristol 24/7, The Bristol Magazine, Bristol Post, Bristol TV and the Mendip Times.

Limited meterage of Bristol Cloth available now as long as stocks last.

BRISTOL CLOTH ON BBC NEWS:

Thank you to each and every one of you who has contributed to this project, be it with donations and pledges, sharing posts online and spreading the word amongst your community, writing about us, talking about us, encouraging us and sharing our excitement about this vital work. Together we are changing the way we manufacture textiles and positively influencing our shared future.

With so much gratitude, Babs xx