fibershed

The geographic region from which come all of the resources to make an article of clothing.

Like a foodshed, a fibershed is a small geographical landscape, or bioregion, where artisans produce goods using natural dyes, materials and farms located within 150 miles of their front door. Whereas some fibersheds focus on creating sustainable clothing, Livingston said the Los Angeles event is about educating the community through "re-skilling" classes like spinning, lap loom weaving, knitting, sewing and dyeing.

However, don't get it confused with a watershed, warns Burgess, because a fibershed must necessarily cross multiple topographic boundaries to work ecologically and economically. Right now, that means stretching the definition of "local" way out -- at least until sustainable fiber production takes off.

A movement to use textiles that are sourced locally.

Now, it’s on the lips of the kind of environmentally conscious fashionistas who filled Toby’s Feed Barn in Point Reyes Station this month for the first ever fibershed fashion show.

“We are part of the fibershed movement, proud of making beautiful, useful items, in a sustainable, humane manner, with a low carbon footprint,” said Adkins, 63, a retired environmental ecologist.