Rustbeltfibershed

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Rustbeltfibershed Local fiber. Local color. Local labor. Regenerative Agriculture. Creating hope, health, and belong

Weather’s coolin down and YOU KNOW WHAT WILL BE HERE BEFORE WE ALL KNOW IT?!It made us a little nostalgic today going th...
08/24/2026

Weather’s coolin down and YOU KNOW WHAT WILL BE HERE BEFORE WE ALL KNOW IT?!

It made us a little nostalgic today going through some of these incredible photos by 𝕀𝕞𝕠𝕘𝕖𝕟 𝔹𝕖𝕣𝕘𝕚𝕟 with their super special camera— a reminder again that we are so so blessed with talent in all parts of this community, not just the fiber.

The annual RBF Symposium will be held the last Saturday of January again this year, Jan 30th, 2027! Save the date! And if you’re close to Cleveland, come to Oxbow Orchard Farm & Market this Friday for their final Friday but with a fiber twist! A portion of donations goes to the RBF to help us do the dang thing on January 30th, and keep it relatively accessible.

We love this life-giving event so much, and we’d love to have another stellar one this Jan. Many many many more details to come about the symposium, but join us this Friday if you can, and if you can’t, we would so appreciate any donations through our link in bio.

Thanks, all ❤️❤️❤️
Sarah and Jess

Last year at our Rust Belt Fibershed Symposium, Lex Evans gave an inspiring talk that we’re still thinking about, and sh...
08/16/2026

Last year at our Rust Belt Fibershed Symposium, Lex Evans gave an inspiring talk that we’re still thinking about, and she opened with the first slide here with the caption. “Did you know it’s all dying?”

Working as a horticulturalist for the state of Pennsylvania, Lex was assigned a plot of land that to was crying out for help. Instead of asking “what was wrong with the trees” they looked at the conditions by testing the soil, uncovering its contamination, and eventually experimenting with different varieties of flax as part of the work of remediating the contamination.

Obviously, this creates a lot of possibility for flax growers.

We also love this story for what it asks of all of us:

What if we got more curious about the conditions before judging what’s struggling within them?

We aren’t looking at the unhealthy tree as if it’s solely the tree’s fault. Of course we look to its environment. We have to do the same thing with each other if we’re gonna build this thing.

That feels especially important as we work toward a healthier regional textile system. Less purity. Less scolding. More careful attention, relationship, repair + tending. With all THAT comes accountability.

Local systems work because of course we are accountable to those we are in direct relation with.

And more people in the circle, not fewer.

Photos + work by Lex Evans.

We’re already beginning to imagine the next Rust Belt Fibershed Symposium, coming at the end of January 2027, with more people, experiments and ideas like this, brought together to ask what a healthier textile ecosystem could look like right here.

This year over 70 people in the Rust Belt Fibershed decided to put flax seeds in soil as a part of the Rust Belt Linen P...
08/05/2026

This year over 70 people in the Rust Belt Fibershed decided to put flax seeds in soil as a part of the Rust Belt Linen Project.
And here’s why some of them decided to participate.
We hope you’ll join us next year! Make sure you’re following along for the “bioregionaling” of textiles!

👏👏Peep that OYOO feature in another INCREDIBLE issue from the environmental and sustainable textile magazine based right...
06/19/2026

👏👏Peep that OYOO feature in another INCREDIBLE issue from the environmental and sustainable textile magazine based right here in the Rust Belt, Clearline Magazine ! We are so lucky to have this publication in our backyard, at a time where it feels more important than ever to put a spotlight on slow, hand-made, expressive textiles.

In addition to many drool-worthy photos and interviews, Issue 006 features our One Year, One Outfit. It’s a project we created during COVID, and man has it stuck around. ✨

Participants have about a year to make an outfit with materials from our place, the Rust Belt, from scratch. This issue explores the project through an interview with us and digs into one of the specific outfits from Cohort 3 (2024-25). The spread has interviews with the artists Sally , Melanie McClintock , and Coyote Run Fiberworks, and their outfit sketches, beautiful photos of fiber animals, and the piece itself. You’ll have to get a copy to see more, including so many other talented slow fashion artists.

We just launched Cohort Four a few months ago and will keep you posted with updates from the field (sometimes literally), and we’re so stoked that the editor-in-chef of Clearline Magazine, Sarah Sparkman, was convinced to join us for this cohort!

Go grab yourselves a copy of this beautiful work of art itself at clearlinezine.com

06/05/2026

We could wait for big investors to build factories so that we can scale bioregional textile development.

Instead we are building a community of makers and farmers and small scale mills and reskillers and creative folks and upcyclers and people who just love plants and animals and people who appreciate place and building up culture… and we kinda feel like we find the cheat code to the whole thing.

Doesn’t the purpose of a new textile economy go beyond jobs? Are we sure we want the large scale industry in here? Could it be possible to have small-scale,community level work done in ways that are generative? Ways that connect people with each other and build into place something that will enliven this world?
We don’t think it’s too much to ask bc we’re already doing it! 🥰
And with everyone’s participation, it can continue to grow.
Thanks to everyone who engages, who acts creatively, who loves.

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1305 W. 80th Street
Cleveland, OH
44102

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